I'm going to start off and say I already have my plan for this situation. I'm giving everyone a chance to role play here and do some problem solving.

Every year I attend an outdoor concert festival called Country Thunder USA ( www.countrythunder.com ) at Queen Creek, Arizona (they also have one at Twin Lakes, Wisconsin in July). It is 4 days of camping, concerts, craft booths and food and drink. You CANNOT bring any food or drink into the festival grounds at all (and yes there isn't a single thing you can bring in (except of course baby food/formula but you can't bring in water or milk for it you must purchase that inside the grounds).. Not even a bottle of water. They do search bags. The food booths are typical carnival type with no fresh fruit or veggies (here is a hamburger/hot dog booth, a Mexican booth, the SPAM booth (by the way it is made of pork shoulder and ham, and secret spices), a Stagg Chili booth, Pizza booth, a BBQ booth and a Greek booth along with the ice cream booth). Rarely will you even find diet soda but they do have light beer. Your campsite is usually about 1/2 - 1 mile away from the festival grounds so going out between acts is hard as there is usually only about 30 minutes between acts. DH and I usually go in for the first act around 10:00 am and leave after the second act at around 11:00 pm. We like to listen to the up and coming artists. We eat at the food places inside but this year we spend the extra money ($400 a seat) for VIP tickets which include a continential breakfast, lunch and dinner along with all the non-alcoholic beverages we want. We also get 1/2 price alcoholic drinks (yeah). But I will still eat at my favorite booth (SPAM - for a grilled SPAM and cheese sandwich) for one meal.

These are the acts that are playing:

4/26: Chad Stevens, Tim Rushlow, Warren Brothers, Chris Cagle, Groupo Vida and Clay Walker

4/27: Ragin River, Tom Wagner & Western Bred, Chris Chitsey, Jenny Mack, Bellamy Brothers, Emilio, Little Joe Y La Familia, Creedance Clearwater Revisted, Neal McCoy

4/28: Melody Dunn, Eric Heatherly, Mindy McCready, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tulane Blacktop, Sammy Kershaw, Lorrie Morgan, Sawyer Brown

4/29: Coal Train, Crimson Rose, Tricky Pony, Rascal Flatts, Shannon Smith, Andy Griggs, Jo Dee Messina, Wynonna

What would your plan be?

I would eat as many fruits and veggies and healthy type things at the continental meals (although in college here they aren't that hot, but here's hoping for you). Take big empty bottle along, and refill with water somewhere onsite. Maybe a brita one if you are picky about flavor.
I would also try to stash some food somewhere in my camping gear....i mean, they can't really search *everything* can they? I would shove a few powerbars into the sleeping bag or tent....but I'm a dirt poor college student who would really resent paying high prices for food and water.
I'd also walk a lot.
It sounds like you'll have fun! Take care and enjoy the concerts!!!

andrea

Kelly it's only a few days, and there is only so much damage you can do in four days. Even if a person went bezerk and did four 100-point days, what's the most you could possibly gain? Not even 5#. So one could just say to heck with it, and have the "plan" be one of "damage control"... making sure you get back OP with a vengence on Day 5, and making a pre-emptive strike by being a model WW'er from now until the concert. Bank, and then reverse bank. Over the course of a couple weeks or so, it will all work itself out.

Of course, there are always ways to minimize the damage done during the event itself. However, I recall when you posed this question last year (has a whole year gone by already? whoa!).. anyhow, i recall that several suggestions were given, all of which you deemed completely unworkable due to the restrictions imposed by the event organizers (evil evil people!). So i know better than to suggest sneaking in power bars or sneaking out for lunch, because you've made it clear that neither is possible. So the scenario is... you have to eat something, and it will have to be purchased on site. But even if the majority of the food choices are cr@p, one can make the best of it. Does Spam and Cheese taste ok without the cheese? ~shuddering at the thought of fried Spam and suddenly leaning towards fasting as a preferable solution! but hey, to each their own! but i digress~ If it were me, i would simply remember the food you eat is "concentrated", so since there's a big whack of points in every bite, adjust your portion size accordingly. It's not the way i prefer to eat, as a little bit of densly-caloric food is not nearly so satisfying as a whole lot of points-friendly food, but on occassion you just have to do what you have to do. Also i would put a little extra enthusiasm into my exercise routines to help counteract the food excesses that cannot be avoided. Maybe not your favorite option, but it is an option one has.

We just need to remember, it's not what you do for a couple days that makes or breaks you... it's what you do consistantly over the long term that creates (or fails to create) the desired long-term effect.

Deb
195/139: prone to short-term pig-outs, yet still holding steady at goal by exercising and eating sensibly most of the time

oh ohh... things get weird when i stay up late surfing the net...

back to that Spam issue... how about a Spam and cheese, hold the Spam? Did you know, Kelly, that it would take you over half an hour of steady jogging to burn off one 2-oz serving? *LOL* OK so i can't substantiate this! I found it here, under the sub-heading "Burning off your Spam Gut"..

http://web1.caryacademy.pvt.k12.nc.u...am/Default.htm
ewwww!

As I am a real country music fan, I would think probably good music would be worth it!!. If it were me, I would stand at the food booth, and make the best choice I could possibly make, eat it and go back to the music. I would also drink as much water as possible. Rather a simplistic view, but it is only for a few days!!

Elaine

Since you cannot control the types of food you eat, your only option will be to practice some serious portion control by eating a smaller quantity of the high-calorie food available.

Have just a plain hamburger, and skip the fries / chips. Have a small bowl of plain chili and skip the extra add-on stuff like cheese. For breakfast, have fruit or a small amount of pancakes without syrup (use jelly/jam instead).

Or try simply eating half of a regular order. If you are tempted to eat the whole thing, simply throw away what you do not plan on eating before you start eating. (Now is not the time to feel guilty about wasting food)

Good Luck and Have fun!

Kelly,
I'm curious to know what your plan is (as I'm sure are other people).

What a fascinating problem! This one's a mind-bender.

You are courageous for doing this; I think I'd just say, "Well, I can't possibly go" and then kick myself for missing something I'd have really enjoyed.

Agree with gsc4 that portion control is probably your best bet. You don't say exactly what kind of food's available at each booth, but some choices have got to be better than others: chili without crackers/cheese/sour cream, hamburger with no cheese, fajitas without cheese or corn-tortilla chicken tacos, barbeque sandwich without fries or chips (or choose Wow chips or pretzels, if they have them). If the ice-cream booth has low-fat or fat-free ice cream, you could try that out. Unless it's only gyros, the Greek booth might be your best bet--Eastern Mediterranean food is generally heavy on the veggies and rice.

This is also one place where it's worth it to spend big bucks to make sure you get enough water, I think--especially because almost all the foods they have are salty.

Can't wait to hear your plan.

My plan! People want to know my plan! WOW!

Deb, Yeah I do this question every year to help others learn to plan and yes a whole year has gone by.

Trixiepup, We can have whatever we want at our campsites it's just inside the festival grounds we can't bring in food.

PLAN: Since we spent the extra money for VIP seats we get all the non alcoholic beverages we want for free. I'll be drinking alot of water during the day. We are renting an RV with a group who couldn't afford VIP seats and they are doing their own breakfasts at the site so I'll probably do some Egg Beaters and salsa for mine or maybe even take some cereal and skim milk along. For lunch and dinner DH and I decided we'd go to our free food at the VIP tent and check it out with the exception of the Sunday when we'd do the SPAM and cheese sandwich (grilled yummmmmm). I've talked to some others who have had VIP seats and they said it's a buffet type meal so I'll follow this link http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...&threadid=2439 for tips on handling that. We do alot of walking between acts at the craft and sales tents along with the walk between the campsite and the festival grounds so I'll be getting in activity (hey Deb I wanted to mention I'm doing some weight lifting and riding a bike almost daily now) and nights will be reserved for light beer alternated with water. Last year I managed to lose 2 pounds during this week and the year before I maintained. I also plan to try to do a 15-20 minute walk before we head to the continential breakfast (DH needs his 99 cups of coffee in the morning). I'm hoping there is some fresh fruit at the continential breakfast that I can stick in my bag (since it is inside the festival grounds) and eat as snacks during the day.

First of all.. I am so jealous... that sounds like a bunch of fun and what a great line up!

When I know that I am going to be in a situation like that... especially when many calories will be consumed in the alcohol form I try to bank some points before hand. I also try to pretend I am something that I am not. This may sound weird... but in situations like that... I just tell myself I am a vegetarian. I know this sounds kind of weird... but it keeps me steered towards the healthier stuff... corn on the cob... and whatever other stuff they might have. I know that not all vegetarian is low fat/low cal, but I eliminate that stuff as an option. I know that I must be a big pain in the butt to who ever I am with when I am on the search for food or making weird requests from the vendors.

Anyways... best of luck... I am sure you will do just as well as you did last year!

Jules

KELLY... I am from Wisconsin (the home of 3 HUGE country music festivals!) Anyhoo, I used to go to the Hodag Country Music Festival and they were much more lenient. We are able to bring alcohol, coolers, etc into the festival grounds. That makes it much nicer. Although, it does turn into a huge drunk fest (not my idea of fun). Now that I have a baby, we will not go there anymore, plus my friends are new parents also.

Anyhoo.... I agree with your plan. And if your festival is like ours, it is beastly hot and you walk everywhere... so you are bound to lose weight if you are sensible. Drink a ton of water!!!

Have FUNNNN!

Well my plan didn't go exactly as planned! LOL! I wasn't able to get my grilled SPAM and cheese because they didn't have it so DH talked me into a BRAT! Never had one before....gosh they are killers but YUM!

I drank a ton of water (with a few sodas thrown in) during the day because temperatures were close to a 100 everyday! Had 3 or 4 20-ounce beers at night.

Danced and screamed and jumped and yelled a lot! Our campsite was 1/4 mile from the VIP entrance so I didn't get as much walking to and from as I'd have liked (and no I didn't get up and do a 20 minute walk as planned) but I did a lot of walking amoung shops between shows.

DH ended up with a very bad sun burn on the top of his ear (so bad it bled) but he is surviving. I got burned on my shoulders only and now they are pealing from RED back to WHITE!

The lunches and dinners had veggies and fruit along with a pretty decent selection of lean grilled meats (with the exception of Friday when they had ...yuck... fish. Plus we had burgers, hot dogs and brats free all day.

We purchased our VIP tickets for next year! I can't wait. And I will be at GOAL then!