Night out

pookey26

So how do you deal with night outs?
I recently started my journey again and have been within my calorie goal, but tonight I'm out and the meal is build your own burger, plus I would like a couple of gins, I promised myself I'd log everything, but I struggle when I see the numbers and I'm over my calorie intake and feel like I've failed!
This time round I want to be honest but I'm finding it hard facing it.... I guess this is my problem lol and why I'm here.

Any thoughts?

corinasue1143

Yes. Log every calorie. Your body will count every calorie, whether you do or not.
Learn from it. Look at what added the most calories, whether each thing was worth it, and how you can do it better next time.
Move on.. tomorrow’s another day. Get right back to it.
Don’t feel guilty. It’s life. Christmas happens. Birthdays happen. You need to learn to handle them the best you can. Don’t expect perfection every day. Expect good every day.
Put it in perspective. Remember, if you lose weight MOST of the days, the end result will still be weight loss.

ReenieHJ

It is important to keep logging no matter what. Face the music and get back to it!! Everybody should and needs to enjoy life along this path, it's certainly not a sin or crime. Just keep yourself accountable to stay on the straight and narrow. Couple meals or nights out isn't going to break you in the long run, it's the giving up and never getting back to it that will do you in.
I stopped counting(and even exercising) during the holidays:( and it took a lot of self determination to get back to the program afterwards. I started to panic that I just couldn't do it again. But the more I tried, the better my healthy lifestyle muscle grew back. You can do this.
Just_Tomek posted something right before the holidays that I swear helped me keep my perspective more than anything.....not his exact words(cause I CRS)but the gist of it was 'worry more about what you eat during the rest of the year and not so much during the holidays'.

pookey26

Thank you, I just need to switch my mindset a little you just reminded its not what you do between Christmas and New year but what you do between New year and Christmas! I've had my night out was mindful with my choices but ate and drank what I wanted.
Got up this morning and just carrying on with tracking and making rise decisions x

Stiles321

It’s a journey, not a pass fail every day. If you are rigid it will not be fun and definitely will not turn into a lifestyle.

The occasional night out(1-2 month) even if you binge will not destroy all you work for. 1 step back, 3 steps forward.

If you feel inclined to count calories on those days, do so. If you do and you find you went over your goal for the day. You got a few options

1. Screw it. I don’t go out often and one night isn’t gonna make or break me. I’ll be careful the rest of the week.
2. I’m gonna enjoy myself but watch what I eat and stay on the healthier side even though I know I’m gonna go over
3. I’m gonna count the calories that I had going out and try and reduce them from my daily count for the next week (1,000 cal over, eat -100 cal for next. Ten days.
4. I’m not gonna eat while I’m out because I know if I go over, I’m gonna look at it as a total failure and stop dieting all together and will go on a binge for the next week because I’m such a failure.
5. Gonna have a veggie burger or a bun less burger, cut my meat in half because they just gave me 3xs my allotment.



There are many options out there. You can only decide which is best for you.

But if you are so rigid like a taunt rubber band, you will break at the slightest pressure. Good luck

AlexandraFindsHerself1971

I always figure out what I'm eating ahead of time. (A lot of places put their menu and calorie counts online.) Given my food restrictions, I know that the places I can go will give me enough food for two, maybe three meals. I order and eat planning to have the rest later. It's why at Mexican restaurants I always get fajitas; once I've had two little wraps, I know that tomorrow and the following day I can wrap the remainder up in a large tortilla, heat it up, and enjoy for lunch with chips. We're going out for barbecue tonight, and something similar is happening.

It is not the end of the world if you go over, I know it stings to see the numbers in the red. Mine are sometimes because I refuse to not put that 15 calories of whipped cream on my hot chocolate just because it would put me over by four calories.

What I would tell you to do is to try to make the best decisions you can when you're out. Share things with the table so you can have a taste. Eat vegetables and salads, not deep-fried stuff. Cut it in half and eat the other half tomorrow. Have one drink, enjoy it, follow with a water, and let yourself decide later if you really want the calories in that other drink, or if the one drink actually did satisfy your urge to taste that night. And view each time as a learning experience. You'll learn more about yourself and what you are able to do as you go.

AprilMLowe

Just go out and enjoy yourself! Put the diet on hold for 1 evening! Your diet is a lifelong commitment and you have to make it flexible enough to follow! You have made a big commitment in joining the app here! If your looking for more friends feel free to send me a request.

April🤗

ReenieHJ

pookey26 wrote: »

Thank you, I just need to switch my mindset a little you just reminded its not what you do between Christmas and New year but what you do between New year and Christmas! I've had my night out was mindful with my choices but ate and drank what I wanted.
Got up this morning and just carrying on with tracking and making rise decisions x

Yeh that.
And getting right back to it is the answer.

speyerj

What ever you do, don't put your life on hold during the weight loss journey. Going out, enjoying yourself and learning how to fit that into your fitness goals is an important lesson - one that you will use a lot during the rest of your weight loss journey and maintenance. As April said above, this is a lifelong commitment.

Danp

Firstly perspective.
Say you're attempting to achieve a VERY modest 250cal/day deficit. Over the course of a year you'll be accumulating an overall deficit of 91,250 calories. Do you really think an extra couple of hundred calories every now and then really matters? Assume you 'let your self go' to the tune of 1000 calories a month so you could enjoy nights out, or what not. You're deficit would still be 79,250. All this adds up with 0.06lbs per week difference in rate of loss. Is it really worth missing out on enjoying your life so you can lose weight 6/100ths faster?
No one got fat because of special occasions or one off events that constitute 1% of our life. It's what we do during the other 99% of the time that counts. Fix the ordinary and enjoy the extraordinary.

Secondly, life doesn't stop while you lose weight
You can't, nor should you put your life on hold while you lose weight. One of the biggest pitfalls is putting of being happy until you lose the weight. I've seen so many people fall into the trap of thinking I'll suffer now because when I'm thin THEN I'll be happy. Don't wait, working towards a healthy weight and enjoying life are not mutually exclusive. In fact I think being able to enjoy life while working towards being a healthy weight is a massive key to success. Life goes on and all aspects of your life need to be a part of your plan to lose weight and part of your plan once the weight is gone. Living your life is a factor.

Thirdly, don't do anything to lose weight that you're not willing to do forever.
You hear people talk about 'making a lifestyle change' and often I think those words are uttered as little more than a slogan. People call the their 'diet' a 'lifestyle change' because it sounds better. The key I've found to making a 'lifestyle change' (btw. I really hate that term. So cliche) is to never do anything to lose weight that you aren't 100% willing to do forever. And by forever I mean ever and ever and ever. Any change you make no matter how good is only as valuable as it's longevity and any changes you make, no matter how good, that are temporary will only yield temporary results. So unless you're willing to never again enjoy a night out, then nights out need to be a part of your plan.

G'luck

Back_4_more

I eat less during the week so we can do a cheat meal on Sunday.

csplatt

Honestly, I don't log nights out. It makes it hard to have a good time. I'm just over a year into my logging. I lost 20 pounds and put 5 back on, and I'm maintaining there.

I was such a party pooper going to parties and restaurants with friends trying to log exactly what I was eating. I learned that I CAN TOTALLY skip logging once a month, or once every other month, and be fine. Once a week would be different - quite inadvisable! Those calories would add up so quickly they would replace your deficit.