How do you socialize without food?

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jenthestrawberry
jenthestrawberry Posts: 93 Member
in Motivation and Support
My fiance and I have been together 4 years, living together 2, and engaged for nearly a year. We have always had our restaurants, routines and suck. Since the new year, however, our romantic outings have been severely limited. I can't eat wheat, so most restaurant choices are automatically ruled-out. And many of the gluten-free places are not at all calorie friendly!

We live in Seattle, and it seems there should be so much to do with downtown less than a mile away, but weekends come and go and we don't end up doing *anything*. You can only go to the Art Museum so many times before it stops being a bonding experience!

A lot of you must be in similar situations! Have you started counting calories only to find that food was so much apart of your social life? Do you have any ideas for things to do in that 9pm-2am time when the rest of the world is out wining and dining?

Replies

  • beethedreamer
    beethedreamer Posts: 465 Member
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    Honestly, I find socializing very hard if food is out of the picture, especially during the time frame you specified. With that said, all I can think of is bowling. Most places, at least where I live, are opening during the later hours and are a lot of fun. (Plus you can burn a few calories :P)
  • perrytyra
    perrytyra Posts: 357 Member
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    I don't really get out much. But I do go play pool with my husband ocassionally. He has a beer, and I drink water. I am not a pop drinker, and one of us has to drive. Or we bowl. You don't have to feel so bad about not ordering drinks when you are at a bowling alley. But when you go to the bar to play pool, well they don't make much money off of 75 cent pool games.

    I wish I could give you more advice, but I don't have to avoid wheat.
  • EmilyAnn89
    EmilyAnn89 Posts: 564 Member
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    bowling was a really good idea! ..maybe a laid back bar where you can just enjoy some conversation and a drink. in the summer time i love grilling our own food and sitting on our deck,! maybe you and your fiance could see a movie?
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    If you weren't in seattle, I would say the park. I went every week last summer, no food at all.. just sitting around. movies..?
  • strandedeyes
    strandedeyes Posts: 392 Member
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    I started finding other ways to socialize...

    Going to the movies or going out bowling or roller skating / ice skating. This way people can have their food but I don't have to have any. If you go out to a bar or an open mic night, you can just sip on water and socialize with friends...no need to actually drink if you don't have the calories for it.

    On weekends, I make my friends go hiking with me or we plan scavenger hunts once in awhile to get out of the house. This isn't a 9pm thing but it keeps us out of the house enough that when we do get home by 11pm, we are crashing.

    I am also planning on having dinner parties where I cook for everyone and although this includes food, it is on my terms and my calorie count.

    Hold a craft night with friends or board game night.

    Food doesn't have to be the center of everything you do. You can also save your cals for that time if you know you are going out and want to splurge on that extra drink or a larger sized meal.
  • npryor100
    npryor100 Posts: 99 Member
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    I recently went rock climbing with friends at an indoor rock climbing place on a Friday night...tons of fun and a great upper body workout
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    This is a big challenge for me too. I guess some ideas are cafes, walking in the park or by the beach, art walks, music shows. It's kind of a tough predicament because before I started this health kick, "hanging out" always implied eating and drinking.
  • helenbeee
    helenbeee Posts: 130 Member
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    My husband and I joined a gym together if we plan to out for dinner in the evening (weekend) we go to the gym in the afternoon and do a major workout together its part of our going out routine. That way we earn extra calories and I can have a normal meal (I watch the carbs so usually steak/fish and salad) and a couple of glasses of dry champagne. I can have a skinny latte afterwards if we want to sit around chatting afterwards. Its all in the planning really. We dont do it every weekend but we decided when we began our weight loss plan that we would not give up this activity that we really enjoyed doing together. We did our research and found a workable way around still having wining and dining in our new lifestyle. The good thing is we now have another activity we enjoy doing together - going to the gym! we both really like it.
  • Robin1117
    Robin1117 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    If I were in Seattle I would be out seeing live bands play every weekend!! how amazing the music is there, and typically the times are later so you can have dinner at home and just have water when out seeing a band. Can you tell I'm jealous? Am in Vermont and it's usually almost a 2-hour drive to see live music.....I'm craving it big time. I would guess there are probably plays too, and other events all the time since you are in a big city.

    I totally understand about the wheat situation, as I have a son w/ a nut allergy--it's a definite pain to have to explain the situation wherever you go and worry about what they are serving you-- much easier to eat at home.

    Good luck to you!
  • helenbeee
    helenbeee Posts: 130 Member
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    I just hopped onto google and put in gluten free seattle and came up with heaps of places to go this one ( http://www.locolseattle.com/ ) ticked the boxes good menu good wine list and open 11pm - 2am. You probably have to do a l;ittle research. Maybe thats what you and your husband could do go and crtiques glutenfree eating places in Seattle and start a community blog so others can use the information as well?
  • goron59
    goron59 Posts: 890 Member
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    bedroom? ;-)
  • smota
    smota Posts: 62
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    bedroom? ;-)

    Winner! Ahah!
  • NotAllWhoWanderAreLost
    NotAllWhoWanderAreLost Posts: 615 Member
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    do you have a 24 hour fitness place near you? Maybe you could meet a friend(s) there and do a friendly workout & gab session there and then go grab a skinny latte or something? I sometimes meet a friend of mine at starbucks (yes, at 9pm) and I get a skinny/nonfat/whatever they call it latte and we sit in the comfy chairs and catch up on our chit-chat.

    If you are going to dinner, get the menu/nutritional facts ahead of time, if you can, so you can plan out what you want to order. You may need to shift some of your calories around during the day to make room for a night out, do an extra workout and drink extra water (or all of the above).

    I love the idea of bowling, btw! My bowling alley doesnt care if you bring a granola bar and bottled water in, so thats something you might consider to help keep you away from the baskets of fries and nachos :)

    I don't drink, so i don't have any advice on how to cut calories from alcoholic beverages other than to give them up completely :) Its not that bad--- i swear! :)
  • jenthestrawberry
    jenthestrawberry Posts: 93 Member
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    Thanks for all the great advice! We found a Fencing class to start taking together in April, and once I'm more stabilized on the gluten-free diet I may consider trying some of the gluten-free restaurants around town again! Last time I went to one of the "Gluten-Free" friendly places in Seattle, I ended up quite ill anyway! Again! Thanks! I love this site!
  • seemae
    seemae Posts: 38
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    Where I live, socializing with food is impossible if you want to get out of the house. It's a little better now that we aren't buried in snow (I live in Michigan), so you can actually go outside without wanting to just run back inside screaming.

    But my town is tiny and the best we have is a roller rink 25 miles away and a bowling alley 15 miles away. Other than that... we have a PLETHORA of restaurants and fast food joints. It's pretty absurd.

    That's why we bought a Wii... not only does it make spending time with friends/family easy on your wallet (after buying it, of course) but it's a lot of fun AND there's a good amount of games to get you moving like Just Dance.
  • MakingAChoice
    MakingAChoice Posts: 481 Member
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    If you weren't in seattle, I would say the park. I went every week last summer, no food at all.. just sitting around. movies..?

    The park is a good idea even for us rain sodden Seattlites. :laugh: The sun does come out on occasion here. If my wife and I are out that late we are normally at a casino. I can normally find a couple of good food choices no matter where we go, though I do not have the wheat restriction. You could always just order 'normal' food that is non-wheat and just eat much smaller portions or share a meal if you can agree on the same thing.

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