Eating Blind

Lady_Grell

I'm going to a dinner at my church tonight, but the thing is I have no idea what foods will be there. I'm going to eat a little, but I've learned all too well how many calories can be in foods that you'd never expect. I don't get signal at the church, so I can't check out how many calories things are, plus these will be homemade, and I won't have the recipes to log them in correctly. I know if I go over one night, it's not going to destroy all my efforts, but I also know that this won't the last time I'm in a situation where I can only guestimate the calories consumed. What's the best way to handle situations such as these? My plan at the moment is just to go with small portions, but does anyone else have any advice?

peachyfuzzle

Do the best you can, and don't beat yourself up over it.

Lady_Grell

I just realized the dinner is tomorrow night. Oops.

Either way, just make this a learning experience and don't be to upset if I don't do perfectly the first time around?

FluffySandwich

Every Sunday and Monday I go to work, and they offer me something to eat (restaurant job). I have NO clue how many calories are in the food I eat, but I try to eat until I am no longer hungry and then stop, and then I try to overestimate how many calories were in the food rather than underestimate. Of course, there's no way to tell, really... but I just try to get back on track for Tuesday. I'm sure it's not going to hurt you this one time

jenncornelsen

Theres no easy way to do these things. Small portions no seconds have fun and call it a day. Once in awhile it happens. Gotta still live life. Just get back to keeping accurate track the next day

Lady_Grell

Okay. I've tried really hard to be accurate in the past. I'll just eat small amounts and not go crazy. I'll do my best to log it in later and jump back into more accurate logging the next day. Thanks.

segacs

MFP, food scales and calorie counting are all tools. They're meant to be educational. They're meant to help you understand portion size and how to moderate food intake and make better choices.

The more you do these things, the more you learn, and -- paradoxically -- the better you're able to do without these tools.

I eat in restaurants fairly regularly. I don't know the recipes or ingredients and I don't have access to my food scale. But, thanks to weighing food at home, I've gotten a lot better at guesstimating weight and portion size and calories. I've gotten better at approaching a buffet table and strategically making better choices. And, despite my frequent restaurant meals, I've lost nearly 35 pounds in 6 months.

You gotta give up a bit of control sometimes and trust yourself and your ability to make good choices even without the crutches of the scale and the database. That's when you know you'll be successful in life.

Lady_Grell

segacs wrote: »

MFP, food scales and calorie counting are all tools. They're meant to be educational. They're meant to help you understand portion size and how to moderate food intake and make better choices.

The more you do these things, the more you learn, and -- paradoxically -- the better you're able to do without these tools.

I eat in restaurants fairly regularly. I don't know the recipes or ingredients and I don't have access to my food scale. But, thanks to weighing food at home, I've gotten a lot better at guesstimating weight and portion size and calories. I've gotten better at approaching a buffet table and strategically making better choices. And, despite my frequent restaurant meals, I've lost nearly 35 pounds in 6 months.

You gotta give up a bit of control sometimes and trust yourself and your ability to make good choices even without the crutches of the scale and the database. That's when you know you'll be successful in life.

That is really great advice. I'm still a bit of a newbie at all this. Yesterday marks the third week I've been trying to change the way I approach food and life. If I don't do so well at this dinner, I'll learn from it and move on to do better next time.

segacs

Lady_Grell wrote: »

That is really great advice. I'm still a bit of a newbie at all this. Yesterday marks the third week I've been trying to change the way I approach food and life. If I don't do so well at this dinner, I'll learn from it and move on to do better next time.

That's pretty much all you can do. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Approach the event with a mindset of wanting to eat in moderation and make good choices, log things as best you can remember when you get home, and treat it all as a learning experience. One day won't derail you anyway, so don't worry, just have a good time.

The worst thing you can do this early on in the process is to start dreading social events and holidays. These are the good things in life. You're losing weight to change your life for the better. Don't turn the good into the bad.

annette_15

Maybe try to pick items that are easy to recognise and doesnt have too many ingredients in them. Get sauces on the side, try to eat grilled and steamed instead of sauteed and fried. Get a coffee instead of dessert and dont eat too much bread. Dont forget to have a good time!

jemhh

Segacs has given you good advice.

My general rule when it comes to this type of meal is to look for the foods that I know the calories for or that I know are lower in calories first. This usually means that I head for the the veggie tray or salad. I fill my plate half with those things and then I try to find some sort of protein for 1/2-2/3 of the remaining space and the last little bit I'll add in some sort of casserole or macaroni salad or something like that. Of course that is all dependent on what is being serve but for potlucks it usually is okay for me.

Lady_Grell

jemhh wrote: »

Segacs has given you good advice.

My general rule when it comes to this type of meal is to look for the foods that I know the calories for or that I know are lower in calories first. This usually means that I head for the the veggie tray or salad. I fill my plate half with those things and then I try to find some sort of protein for 1/2-2/3 of the remaining space and the last little bit I'll add in some sort of casserole or macaroni salad or something like that. Of course that is all dependent on what is being serve but for potlucks it usually is okay for me.

That's good. Usually for these dinners there's ham, green beans, broccoli casserole (my weakness) macaroni and cheese, desserts, etc. Even the vegetables will be fixed with oil or lard. I'm from Kentucky, and that's what people around here do. Still, I can eat a little of the meat and vegetables. I actually don't eat bread. I am going to let myself have a small desert, but just not go crazy with it. Of course, I'll be drinking water.

jemhh

I'm guessing the green beans will be beans simmered with onion and bacon or ham? Eat some of those. (Now I'm wanting some myself actually.)

snowflakesav

Do the best you can. Plan on an activity the day after like a bike ride or a long hike to burn up any extra.

Liftng4Lis

This is about living life and things like this are going to come up. Be conscientious, eat in moderation, log it and move on.

SLLRunner

Lady_Grell wrote: »

I'm going to a dinner at my church tonight, but the thing is I have no idea what foods will be there. I'm going to eat a little, but I've learned all too well how many calories can be in foods that you'd never expect. I don't get signal at the church, so I can't check out how many calories things are, plus these will be homemade, and I won't have the recipes to log them in correctly. I know if I go over one night, it's not going to destroy all my efforts, but I also know that this won't the last time I'm in a situation where I can only guestimate the calories consumed. What's the best way to handle situations such as these? My plan at the moment is just to go with small portions, but does anyone else have any advice?

Find the foods you love and have just a little bit of each. If you can log later, fine; if not, don't worry about it. Just use your portion control skills.

girlviernes

Food plate and anthropomorphic measurement are useful for this kind of thing. You could take standard plate, skip rim, and one quarter protein source, one quarter starch, half fruits and veg. Just a general guideline and you can be flexible.

phoenixx866

What I usually do if I know this is going to happen is eat something beforehand - a small snack, protein bar, etc. That way I know I'll be less likely to overindulge

Lady_Grell

phoenixx866 wrote: »

What I usually do if I know this is going to happen is eat something beforehand - a small snack, protein bar, etc. That way I know I'll be less likely to overindulge

I was planning on doing that as well. I'm just going to do my best. If it goes well, great. If I go over, I'll try harder next time.

jgnatca

At buffets I first fill half my plate with vegetables, restrict myself to one carb (the potatoes OR the bun), a protein the size of a deck of cards, and use caution with the added fats (butter, salad dressing, cheese). I pick ONE dessert and some fruit. (I used to sample one each of the desserts offered).

callsitlikeiseeit

segacs wrote: »

MFP, food scales and calorie counting are all tools. They're meant to be educational. They're meant to help you understand portion size and how to moderate food intake and make better choices.

The more you do these things, the more you learn, and -- paradoxically -- the better you're able to do without these tools.

I eat in restaurants fairly regularly. I don't know the recipes or ingredients and I don't have access to my food scale. But, thanks to weighing food at home, I've gotten a lot better at guesstimating weight and portion size and calories. I've gotten better at approaching a buffet table and strategically making better choices. And, despite my frequent restaurant meals, I've lost nearly 35 pounds in 6 months.

You gotta give up a bit of control sometimes and trust yourself and your ability to make good choices even without the crutches of the scale and the database. That's when you know you'll be successful in life.

ditto to all that and ive lost almost 30 in 4 months.

if youre not LEARNING while mfp, youre kind of doing it wrong. you have to be able to live life and not be scared of the unknown

Lady_Grell

I think I am learning, but this is like my first test. Everyone is nervous before their first test.

I've lost 20lbs so far, so I don't think I'm doing all that bad. I'm just nervous about taking off the training wheels. I need to, and that's precisely what I'm going to do, but I still want to make sure I can do things correctly.