Sabotage! When family outings attack..

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There are a couple of things you can do.

You can save up your calories over the week, like just short yourself 150 or so a day and use them there.

Or, like someone else said, eat at home and just go and socialize.

Workout a little longer the next few days.

My tactic of choice to avoid letting the new normal tell me how to eat is claiming that the ride or heat knocked out my appetite, then ordering off the kids menu. I get a lot of nods and knowing smiles from waitresses if the contrast is pretty up there.

(throws hands up) THANK YOU! Glad someone said it!

Last weekend while choosing restaurants for a family get together, my family members sounded off various restaurants. I threw out Outback Steakhouse, because I know I can get a 6oz steak and loaded baked potato for 600 calories or less. Of course this suggestion was pitched and Buffalo Wild Wings was selected to my dismay. Looking at the calories..and saturated fat..there really wasn't anything there I could order besides the Naked Tenders, which I will NEVER recommend to anyone. (The taste to price ratio was by far one of the worst out there.) I left there with a stomach ache and was thoroughly disappointed.

Next weekend everyone wants to go to Famous Dave's.

My question is, what do you do when it comes to these situations? If I suggest healthy options, I get glares and ridiculed, but I also don't want to go out and waste $40 on a meal I won't like but I still want to be social.

Any advice would be much appreciated...I'm already feeling anxiety thinking about the coming weekend.

One meal a week like that shouldnt kill everything you have done. You can find something to eat within your limits no matter where you go.
If you are going to BW's, and know you are going to eat 1000k calories........supplement that buy skimping the rest of the day.
There is absolutely NO REASON you cannot go out to a restaurant with friends and family and be able to enjoy what you want.
Heck..I found that when I do many times I am under my calories for the day as I save up for the dinner. If you are allowed 1200 on your daily plan what is wrong with waiting until that dinner to eat them up??

Another reason why I love the alternate day fasting...days ike this, and holidays, dont faze you one bit...

How long do you have prior to going out with the Family? Can you pre-log, plan for the day with a bit of exercise that you wouldn't normally do?

When I'm faced with this, I often roll with the punches. I pre-log or at least pre-plan what I'm going to have. Using B-Dubs as an example since that's where my son wanted to go for his birthday, I had the "naked wings" with my choice of sauce on the side and a salad with dressing on the side instead of the fries but that was mostly due to diagnosed gallstones and having to think about "fat" content. It wasn't bad although it wasn't the boneless wings I wanted. Everyone who was there had appetizers too, which I did have a few fried dill pickle chips (couldn't resist but wasn't anything like I normally would've eaten). This was all pre-planning, learning what they had and going into it knowing what I was getting.

I choose to protein out at Famous Dave's. I focus on the meat I'm getting and then go from there for the sides. Anything is workable unless you honestly don't like the place. If you don't like the place, then it's a matter of saying "No" and explaining that there is nothing there at appeals to you. Again, if I know it's going to be a calorie rich dinner then I also plan ahead with my breakfast and lunch as well as exercise if I can fit it in.

I also am a big fan of the putting half of the food in a to go container at the beginning of the meal. Anybody asks, and it's simple to explain away by saying "I know I can't eat the portion size here and rather than tempt myself to overeat, I'd rather take it home and have it tomorrow for lunch (or dinner)." That is something everyone I know has accepted. It doesn't highlight that I'm logging everything and it doesn't fit into my calories, nor does it offend anybody because I know my limits.

While it's great that you're taking care of yourself through weight loss and healthier lifestyle and as family they really should support your efforts, this is the real world and what should happen isn't always what happens. So as the one getting healthier while they are not, it's up to you to learn to adapt or forgo the time with your family because you're choosing to limit yourself and not adapt. You've been given great ideas. You can do this!

I don't really get these threads...

There's a buch of options for this type of situation :

Plan your meals accordingly (eat less in the day)
Make sensible choice that will fit into your calories
Exercise more to have your meal fit into your calories
Just enjoy it and don't worry so much about it (really one day over your calories isn't going to hinder your progress that much.

You say they tell you they don't enjoy it because you are being too picky, well all the above should solve that problem

Safest thing for me, if they insist on going somewhere like that, is to load up on protein before I go, then I can have a salad or some sort of carb, and be fine.

I also order off the kids meal menu a LOT.

I'm a big fan of ordering an appetizer as a main. I also love ordering a side salad as a full salad. Finally, you can totally order the high calorie options- just get something that can be reheated and take some of it home.

You can also offer to host more family events.