Someone posted that they had a nice Chinese meal where they shared plates with others, and then ate a complete portion of fried rice brought out by mistake because it was non vegetarian leaving them as the only person who could consume it.
They were wondering if 1600 Cal would be a reasonable estimate and whether this would cause damage to their goals since they just recently started dieting.
Also, apparently and based on how quickly they deleted their post, they were particularly sensitive to a pretty neutral toned responder who indicated that it was not the OP's responsibility to save the food from getting thrown out.
Below is my response to that post
Not sure why you would delete a pretty reasonable post which addresses a whole bunch of reasonable concerns that people often need to address in order to better manage their weight.
issues raised (overtly or not)
--damage done to "progress" via over-indulgence
--how to estimate calories during a restaurant meal
--whether to worry about precisely estimating calories during a restaurant meal
--whether to eat items that we do not consider to be worthwhile for the calories we're spending
--whether a fairly rapid rate of loss is sustainable or not
Some things to consider:
--if you over-eat you on a particular occasion you will likely need to wait a little bit longer for your "on-track" days to bring about the results you're looking for.
--usually the "damage" is less than the exact number of calories would imply. However because of water weight variation caused by sodium and food in the gut (and possibly carb refeeds for people who low carb), the APPARENT damage over the next day or two may be much more than the underlying reality. Weight trend apps/websites help a lot in terms of smoothing out some of the spikes and variations and showing the underlying trend better.
--eating out calories are hard to estimate. The meal you described could have been 1500 and could have been 3-4000 Calories (a favourite chinese food restaurant's fried rice platter would be in the 3K range due to size). How full you feel may be a good indication of the amount of calories you consumed once you've had some good logging experience and data to base your estimates on. In the meanwhile you can clock the meal in as the 1600 you mentioned and you will probably be close enough for your purposes!
--tomorrow keep on going with your NORMAL plan and avoid purposeful (over)compensation.
--I personally find that photos of my plate when I eat out are helpful. It helps me fill my plate and eat my food and then repeat (if I want to) as opposed to just "picking" little bites here and there which usually leads me to eat more! And I can use the pictures to better estimate calories without the pressure of doing it on the spot.
--if you're finding yourself angry at not achieving results because the effort you've put in should bring faster rewards, in MY BOOKS, you're crossing into over-trying and non-long-term-sustainable territory. You would be better off to aim for a smaller and more sustainable deficit.
Last but not least we get to the issue of eating stuff we don't really really really want.
First of all the "simple" solution: take it "to go" and share it with your dog, cat, or leave it in the fridge for another day. I don't actually advocate this as a preferred solution if you really don't want the item. But it is an obvious way out if you want to avoid discussion at the time.
Anyway: I wonder what a random MFP poll would come up with. I sure as **kitten** have been (and even today remain) guilty of eating things just so that they don't go to waste.
I sure as **kitten** have had "discussions" with friends and relatives when I announced that "going to waste" was no longer a good enough excuse for me go on and eat the item.
It still causes me distress, yes, but when people insist on loading me with food I don't want (for whatever reason), and after I've made a sincere effort to stop it from happening... the next step is either the garbage can, or the toilet to flush it down the drain. Regardless of the dead relatives and starving children who may look down upon me for doing so. Neither the one nor the other are able and available to eat THIS food and eating it FOR them doesn't work!
The same applies when eating out with friends (who would regularly foist upon me whatever it was they over-ordered, or didn't want to eat)--**I** did not order this, thank you! Feel free to take it home if you don't want it
IF the item is appropriate, I do tend to share it with the house canine, so packing it "to go" is always an option.
