I also thought something was not quite right in the calculation. A cup of pasta is a 2 oz serving, 200 calories.

If it were me, I'd go through my MFP entries for the meal and fix that pasta error, then look at everything else and maybe rethink some of those, too.

See that is how new I am to dieting. Never calculated the cooked and uncooked pasta. I fixed MFP and feel alittle better. The calories in the pasta alone went down from 800 to 200. MUCH BETTER. Still tonight I am going to eat wisely. I need to be firm with myself.

Yep. 8 oz of uncooked pasta is HALF A BOX OF SPAGHETTI / penne. Maybe even a whole box, depending on the size of the box. The pasta I buy from the local bakery is packaged in 8 oz / 4 serving packages.

My Fitness Pal is calculating your meal as having 800 calories from pasta, when you only had 200. Your meal was 600 calories at most. 200(ish) from the pasta is you had just 1 cup. 120+ from 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette. 100 to 150 for the bread. The remaining for the rest of it.

That was a perfectly healthy meal, especially for a family celebration. I actually think that lasagne is easier to eat out than many pasta dishes because you really can be satisfied with a fairly small slice. It does not call out to you to FILL THE PLATE with it.

Eat the lasagne and fill your plate with salad. Have a small slice of cake for your dad's birthday, or skip it if it is early in your plan and you want to skip it.

Maybe bring a special flavored decaf coffee instead and have that as your 'dessert'. You can absolutely enjoy family celebration meals while losing weight.

You are doing great, Emid! It is good to be careful! Have a nice time tonight!

I think you did a great job of handling how much you ate and I'm happy to see others were able to catch an issue with your calorie counting :)

Normally if I know I'm going some place where I might have a higher calorie dinner, I'll plan my day around that. If I have a big lunch, then I'll plan to have a BIG salad for dinner. If I know I might be going out for dinner with hubby, I'll plan to have a lunch full of veggies for I'm full until then.

I'm with everybody else that said that your 1200 calories seems extremely high. I always estimate high just to be on the safe side but I can't see that being 1200 calories in such a small dinner.

Even if I was, you learn from it. Don't beat yourself up on it. I used to be a sushi fanatic (still am) but I never realized how many calories are actually in it. One day when I saw how many calories I ate I was shocked. But I knew better for next time. Just work harder today!

My family has dinners all the time and everything is always deep fried and covered with cheese lol. Lots of pasta too. So now I still go to the events but sometimes I bring my own food in a personal container or I fix a healthy dish and eat that with some veggies. My family still gives me a hard time because of it but this is my body and my health!

I love the suggestion to aim for 'better' and not 'perfect'. Personally, I have beaten myself up so much over a couple of rough days and just given up. Now, I'm trying to remember that I want to eat healthier for the rest of my life and there's just no way in **** I'm going to eat perfectly everyday. It's a learning process and I think we could all probably be a lot nicer to ourselves. Think about what you would say to your best friend if they were in the same situation and apply it to yourself.
Well, that's what I'm trying to do :)

Dinner lastnight was good. Had a small serving if lasagna and salad. Passed up the italian bread this time. Dessert was amazing! My sister made a Weight Watchers Angel Food cake with pineapple and fat free whipped cream. Thanks to everyones support. It really is uplifting!

Glad that your family dinner went so well and it is AWESOME that you sister made a lower-calorie dessert that you could enjoy. How great to have such a supportive family. CONGRATS on making such good choices!

Glad your dinner went well. I know how hard it is with family get-togethers. My family is quite large because they love to cook and eat food. I try to take a small portion of everything to appease them, but load up on veggies these day.