Frustrated with free food!

I can relate. First of all, I am working on my PhD and living off of my teaching stipend, so I'm not terribly wealthy. I spend more than the average student on food because I really care about the quality and nutritional value of what I eat. Nevertheless, I still like to take advantage of the occasional free meal that I get as a result of being on numerous committees. Not only that, but sometimes I find myself on campus ALL DAY and even if I think I have packed enough food, I find myself unexpectedly hungry by the time I get to one of these meetings with food. And then.... disaster strikes when I end up consuming far more than I thought I had. I do my best to find out what the food will be ahead of time so that I can either look it up and plan or just have something else, but I still haven't been completely successful.

First of all good job on eating only half a sandwich and removing the cheese! You made your meal much lower in calories due to that. Second, I totally get how you feel. I started asking if I could "help by ordering and picking up the food" so I knew what was what calorie wise and so I could order a healthy choice for myself. That has helped a lot. Plus my boss thinks I am being helpful. :devil:
All is not lost, try to have a really low cal dinner and if you can take a short walk this afternoon. Sometimes when I have a high calorie day that I was not counting on I lower my calories the next day to make up for going over the day before. :embarassed: I know am going to get hate mail for posting that advise, stay above 1200 but skip the extras you can live without like if you have a snack of peanut butter with apples slices pass on the peanut butter for the day and only eat the apple. Things like that can add up fast.

:flowerforyou:

Your sandwich was probably a little higher in calories because of the avocado, but it is a wonderful source of good fat that will help you stay satisfied. I also will carry over calories from one day to the next. Today I spent two hours moving boxes from one storage unit to another and 40 minutes walking my dogs. I went out for Chinese with some friends and I knew I had calories "to burn" so I had a drink, and I even ordered a dish with some noodles in it. I only ate half my entree because it was huge. I came home and had something that I like for dessert for about 100 calories. After logging my dinner, I still have 550 calories left over, which I will simple let sit there, as I was over by 200 yesterday. This is something I have done for as long as I have been on MFP and I have been very successful and losing, and also at maintaining during the past 3 months, though I am back on a losing streak now that some personal and health issues are resolved.

Remember, every day is a new day. The other posters gave good advice about not stressing and making the best choices you can in a given situation.

If I know I'm going to be eating out, I preplan my meal by looking up the calorie content before I order something. So called "healthy choices" could wind up being higher in fat and calories than something else. 400 really isn't all that bad. I've gone to choose salads with more than 500. It helps to look up the nutritional information before you eat something.

Yesterday at work they offered as a moral booster Philly Soft Pretzels. I looked it up before indulging and it was 360 calories, 70 carbs and 1200 sodium! That was before the dipping sauces. I told someone that and got yelled at for being the food nazi. I am okay with having 360 calories for a meal but not for an afternoon snack and I never want something with 70 carbs and 1200 sodium.