Friends birthday - I'm conflicted!

Holla4mom

I happened to have received this in my email today from Mayo Clinic Diet. During the first two weeks, they actually encourage staying away from restaurants while a person is establishing new habits. But eventually you are going to go to a restaurant again, right?

---

Plan ahead. Many restaurants include information about the nutrition values of their entrees at the restaurant itself or on their websites. Take advantage of this resource when it's available, and research food or meal options at those establishments to help you make healthy choices.

Choose appetizers that feature healthy vegetables, fruits or fish.

Drink a glass of water before your meal arrives.

Ask your server to put half your meal in a takeout container before it's brought to your table.

Instead of french fries, request a salad of tossed greens or spinach, without added cheese, eggs or meats, and with fat-free or low-fat dressing on the side. As an alternative to salad dressing, try a squeeze of lemon juice, splash of flavored vinegar or some salsa.

If you want a dessert, choose fresh fruit.

Don't hesitate to make special requests. You're simply doing what it takes to stay committed to your meal plan, and most restaurants want to make customers happy.

Angierae75

Honestly, for events like that, as long as I don't go over maintenance, I don't worry about it. So right now I'm eating at a 500 calorie deficit, so as long as I don't go 500 calories over on a day, I'm still not going to gain weight. I may lose a little less this week, but a birthday celebration with a friend is worth it to me.

You just shouldn't do that every day.

foxlme

Is the meal going to be at a workplace or someone's house? I would wager a bet that at least a few of your other friends would like to have a salad with their pizza anyway. Grab some of the to-go bags of prewashed salad and announce you're covering the "side dish!" That way you can have half a plate of salad and still partake in a slice of pizza.

sullus

toriilana wrote: »

Hello! Thanks for all the replies so quickly.
She wants to get take-out from dominoes and I have had a quick look through the menu online. The pizza's are quite high in calories but I could potentially get a small (I have enough calories for one) or get a pizza and then spread it between today and tomorrow and eat it with salad tonight.

Pre-Plan: https://order.dominos.com/en/pages/content/nutritional/cal-o-meter.jsp

The Artisan Spinach and Feta pizza is only 150 cal/slice ....

FenTiger89

The gluten free crust is really good, and the pizza itself is pretty small. I've had three slices with just veggie toppings (mushroom, onion, peppers) and it came in just fine for my calorie allowance.

silentKayak

You have to figure out how to make social events and restaurant meals fit into "the plan". The difficulty is that you're "spending" calories on food you wouldn't otherwise eat.

Most people understand "I brought my own lunch because I'm on a diet". So you can do that if you want. But at some point you'll have to learn to navigate restaurants. So yes, a small pizza split between 2 days (or shared with someone else) isn't a bad idea, especially if you like pizza.

You definitely need balance between "I'm not eating anything not on the plan" and "Today is a special occasion so to heck with the plan". There are lots of ways to get a little of both approaches.

My approach is: if I'm eating out, I probably won't order diet food like a salad or plain chicken, because that's boring and what's the point of paying $20 for a salad I could make myself at home?

But I do pick a "better" option (e.g. small steak instead of lasagna - or I often end up with seafood). I order a smaller portion, skip the starchy sides, and usually pass on dessert or eat a bite of someone else's if they'll let me. And I do a big workout and also eat lighter at other meals on days I know I'm eating out. So it all works into my day.

mhauswir18

If you're concerned about the amount of calories, try to do something active during the day to help make up for the calories. You can't be good all the time, and a cheat meal every now and again is a must.

lawlifehanna

foxlme wrote: »

Is the meal going to be at a workplace or someone's house? I would wager a bet that at least a few of your other friends would like to have a salad with their pizza anyway. Grab some of the to-go bags of prewashed salad and announce you're covering the "side dish!" That way you can have half a plate of salad and still partake in a slice of pizza.

This is genius! I also agree with others, it's a celebration and life will continue to have celebrations.

If it's socially awkward to bring salad / skip / split with someone, just eat 100cals less every other day that week? 100 is not too much to cut, and that would give you 600 extra cals a week. If you do one additional 400 calorie work out that week, that's 1000 calories. There's your pizza.

Or, just accept that when life brings you pizza, enjoy it. You didn't gain the weight (or get into bad eating, you didn't actually mention weight) eating one pizza, you won't mess this up eating one pizza. Just don't let the one pizza turn into one a day.

kailibertsch

Do what will make YOU happy. It is just one meal, if you feel better skipping it and eating something before hand or utilizing any of the other posters suggestions, so be it. If you want to join in with your friends, try and do it without guilt or beating yourself up!