How do you handle what I call, "EATING EVENTS"

Its one day. If you miss goal for one day nothing bad is going to happen. Will you have an off week? Maybe. Is it the end of the world? Nope... no zombies coming for us today.

Dont go into it with the mindset of 'eff it... im missing my goal so I might as well miss it by 17 bajillion calories'. Enjoy... just dont overenjoy just for the sake of doing it.

I find it very difficult. Sometimes I go and do not eat. Often this is easier than trying eat the correct amount. Sometimes I go and try to control myself and STAY AWAY FROM THE DESERT-NONE. One desert is, for me at least, too many and one thousand is not enough.

I guess what I am asking myself is will I have any fun at these things that are usually all about food if I am sensible and controlled in what I eat?
I mean what's the point of going to a chili cook off if I'm not going to try 50 kinds of chili? And some nice cold beer to wash it down.
Yes that is only one day and i know in the grand scheme of things it will not make an impact either way.
It is just coming up on the time of year when all of these type of events take place in a cluster followed by the holidays.
Maybe I need to plan on new traditions that don't center around overeating unhealthy food.

I agree. This ONE day might set you back a week, but if you're in this for the rest of your life, 1 week is NOTHING.

Also, decide what's really worth the calories. When I'm tempted with desserts and whatnot, I carefully think to myself if I love that dessert enough to cheat. More often than not, they're not, so I pass. If you really love a certain food, effin' eat it and make calories for it.

I agree with everyone. These events are one time things- I wouldn't go totally crazy, but have fun and eat what you want in moderation. Eat healthy/light the day before and after. Believe me, it may in the long run help your weightloss since you won't feel so deprived....good luck!

I would go to the chili cook off and try one bite of 50 kinds of chili. I would enjoy my cold beverage with it (beer or otherwise). I'm not sure now that I have been eating smaller portions for two months that I could eat more than one bite of each without feeling sick.

I stay away from the food vendors at the fair. Bad for the body and the budget.

I would either be the DD for the gala, as someone suggested above, or I would save up calories and enjoy it. That's your call

The first of many "eating events" is coming up at work. My boss is very into Halloween and we are having a "treat day and costume contest" on the 31st. My plan is to make a GF fruit pizza for breakfast (vanilla Greek yogurt in place of cream cheese), eat chips salsa and queso for lunch and go on with my life. If someone brings a veggie tray, I'll eat from that. (Admittedly, it's easier for me because celiac disease eliminates a lot of the things others will bring from my diet. ) oh, and I will eat two pieces of my friend Missi's Peanut Butter fudge. I will use a break to walk up and down the six flights of stairs to pay for that. :-)

I don't worry about it too much, I just make sure to log all of it.

ALL of it.

Then for the next event, I know what I did last time, and what it "cost", so I can make a fully informed choice on how much to "control" myself.

Things like the 80/20 rule are problematic - if you're perfect on the 80%, and the 20% is only twice as bad as it should have been, you've just wiped out pretty much all the effort from the 80%.

Just curious how all of you wonderful people handle what I call "Eating Events"? You know the kind of thing that basically the food brings you out to. There are several of them coming up that I usually attend and I'm wondering what I should do.

a)just not go
b) go and TRY to control myself
c) other- cause there's always an other

Examples of these kinds of events that are coming up in the next two months are a chili cook off, the county fair, and a charity gala. The Gala is more of a drinking issue for me than overindulging in food. But the fair, OMG, fried oreos, caramel apples, funnel cakes.....

Guess I'm not really looking for advice. I know what I NEED to do. I just wonder how other people deal with these sort of things.

Learning how to handle these kinds of outings properly is necessary, because you'll be dealing with them for the rest of your life. Just because you hit goal at some point and transition into maintenance does not mean all of a sudden you'll be able to not have a plan for these kinds of events. Avoiding them is not practical nor is it any fun

What works for me-
Be picky! Because my husband does volunteer work with teens we were invited to over ten graduation open houses this spring and of course every single one of them had food and The Cake. Some Sundays we had 4 of them right in a row. The 'old' me would have eaten at each one, as well as had a piece of cake at each. This summer (having lost the weight and now in maintenance), I only ate the food that I actually really wanted. I did NOT eat out of obligation or to be 'polite'. I turned down the pushy relatives trying to shove plates of meatballs and sloppy jo sandwiches at me. I also only ate the cake that looked really good-which meant I skipped eating anything at all at several of them That paid off though because a few of them had fantastic food (can we say lasagna wee!), and I ate that guilt free, because I hadn't been wasting calories on sub-par food. I also had some cake, but I cut those massive pre-cut pieces in half or even fourths.

Portion Control-like the above cake example, have some food but cut back on the portions. Now my whole family splits a funnel cake instead of me eating my own (and then taking some of my kids as well :blushing: ). Have one fried oreo instead of three. Just cutting back on the amount of each thing you eat will be a huge calorie saver!

Be 'Rude'. I touch on this one above, but don't be afraid to say no, if you don't really want what's being offered or aren't really hungry. I've actually gone to pot-locks, brought a dish to pass, and then sat there and sipped water and had some veggies and fruit while everyone else mowed down on three heaping plates worth of calories. I go into these events knowing what's going to be offered (the brunch potluck I go to every year always has one fruit platter and then about 10 quiches and gobs of pastries/bagels/donuts/muffins ugh). Sometimes I'll eat before going to one of these events, so I'm not really hungry and have an easier time declining food/choosing the lesser calorie options. There's nothing wrong with politely declining food or taking a small amount, but still participating in the fellowship going on

But the fair, OMG, fried oreos, caramel apples, funnel cakes.....

Honestly some things you should never eat ever. If a friend buys a funnel cake you can have one bite. I always bring food with me to festivals so I don't need to buy anything.

I would say go, eat , have fun .. but pace yourself so that your level of fullness catches up with what you eat .. you will find that if you have been restricting your calories it will not take much to make you feel full!