Falling off the food wagon...hurts - any advice?

PiscesMan123

It all seems like fun a games...get together with my brothers, have a couple of appetizers and some beers, through a couple of salt water taffy's into the mix and 3500 calories were just consumed and that was my dinner. Add my lunch and breakfast (which were reasonable caloric intakes) and I would be a big fat cow in less than 5 weeks. Dang, dang, double dang. I feel like a shark whose eyes roll back into his head when on an eating frenzy. I don't regain consciousness until the next day and then I am embarrassed, ashamed and discouraged. What tricks do you all have to go out and enjoy yourselves and not go crazy?

zdyb23456

It is hard to hold back (and no fun) when everyone around you is indulging.

I try to limit those outings, say once or twice a month and make up for them by limiting my intake earlier in the day and working out a little bit extra/harder.

For instance, I love sushi and by sushi I mean all you can eat sushi. And not the healthy little pieces of rice and fish, I mean the specialty, big rolls usually made with something fried and spicy mayo.

Edited to add, I can pack away 5 of those specialty rolls! It's pretty impressive!

SueInAz

All you can do is own it, learn from it and move on. It has happened to all of us at least once and a lot more frequently for most of us.

I've found that if I know I'm going out that I need to choose to either drink my calories or eat them; I can't plan to do both. Alcohol invariably leads to bad food choices. If I know I need to eat something first I pick the item on the menu with the lowest calories and eat that first then avoid food the rest of the night. I also try to pace myself by ordering a glass of water at the same time I order my first beer. If we're bar hopping (a family tradition), I will often alternate beer and water. I'm not above telling the bartender I'm the DD to justify my seat at the bar while I sip my water.

healthygreek

I do a 90 minute workout early in the day and drinks lots of water.

Francl27

With a 500 calorie deficit, assuming your TDEE is 2000, and that you ate 4500 calories that day, it would take 5 days to break even.

Hardly the end of the world, as long as it's not a regular occurrence. If it is, well, you're going to have to learn to do with one beer and lower calorie food.

court_alacarte

i have to echo a couple of peoples' advice: just work out and limit your food intake for the rest of the day if you know an outing is planned. make it your cheat meal for the week.

and don't be ashamed. don't give food that power to make you feel badly for having a good time. take it one meal at a time and then move on. start again the next day.

believe me, i love going out as much as the next person. perhaps instead of beer, get vodka sodas or wine or something with not as many calories and not so bloating. just definitely don't make the drinking outings multiple times a week. that way, when you actually DO drink, your tolerance will go down and you'll get that buzz without drinking so much might be easier said than done on a man, though.