I need a game plan...
jetsamflotsam
Posts: 170 Member
The next month or so is going to be extra challenging, food wise...
1. My dad arrives tonight for a 3 week visit with a new g/f we've never met... My aunt and uncle are planning a number of big family dinners at their place throughout their visit where I have zero control over the menu. My dietary needs has been a bone of contention in the past with my uncle who does all the cooking, and is not worth the fight. He's in stage 4 of colon cancer which makes things more complicated, so we just smile and eat whatever he makes...
2. Tomorrow is Father's Day and my hubs, dad and son are all skinny insulin sensitive guys who I'm taking out to eat and will be eating all my favorite carbs...
3. Tuesday my son is premiering a short film he helped make and again... We're eating out before the show time... Again with the carbs in my face...
4. My son is graduating from elementary school on Thursday and I have another big family dinner out to go to... More carbs in my face...
5. Next Sunday my husband and I are going out of town for a late anniversary celebration and we were gifted a $100 restaurant g/c to use...
I do GREAT as long as I have my normal daily routine intact and have food prepped, and avoid being around carbs. This kind of month has always derailed me in the past... I want this time to be different. HELP!!
1. My dad arrives tonight for a 3 week visit with a new g/f we've never met... My aunt and uncle are planning a number of big family dinners at their place throughout their visit where I have zero control over the menu. My dietary needs has been a bone of contention in the past with my uncle who does all the cooking, and is not worth the fight. He's in stage 4 of colon cancer which makes things more complicated, so we just smile and eat whatever he makes...
2. Tomorrow is Father's Day and my hubs, dad and son are all skinny insulin sensitive guys who I'm taking out to eat and will be eating all my favorite carbs...
3. Tuesday my son is premiering a short film he helped make and again... We're eating out before the show time... Again with the carbs in my face...
4. My son is graduating from elementary school on Thursday and I have another big family dinner out to go to... More carbs in my face...
5. Next Sunday my husband and I are going out of town for a late anniversary celebration and we were gifted a $100 restaurant g/c to use...
I do GREAT as long as I have my normal daily routine intact and have food prepped, and avoid being around carbs. This kind of month has always derailed me in the past... I want this time to be different. HELP!!
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Try to keep your long range health goals in mind. Say to yourself, "I know I want to put this in my mouth, but do I really want to put it in my body?"
It sounds like you have a lot of fun, positive things to celebrate. Stay strong, and good luck!2 -
Soo... Let's talk about what my options are...
At my uncle's place there will likely be some BBQs and I can pass on the bread basket because I'm allergic to wheat. The biggest challenge will be if he makes gluten free lasagna, which is a fave of his and my dad's favourite food so very likely will make an appearance... He makes it gluten free specifically for me and my wheat allergy, so there's no way to get out of that.
One restaurant we'll be going to twice is a Pasta & Woodfire Pizza restaurant where I'm sad to say my "regular" is always a gluten free personal size prawn and bacon pizza with truffle oil (SO GOOD)... They have a nice caesar salad that I've had as a side before... their burgers are out because they have wheat (I'm allergic) in the patties... I could add grilled chicken to the salad... and diet coke... This is a local family-owned restaurant and they have no nutritional info available so the macros will be a bit of guess work... What's the best way to get around that?
At the movie premiere thing we're going to a local family owned diner and the guys always order a big order of fries because it's quick and our time will be limited between getting off work and school and getting to the screening. My go-to there has always been poutine... best.poutine.ever (spoken like a true Canadian! LOL). I've had their salad before and it's pretty terrible... Not sure what else I could order there? Ideas for diner food?
At the anniversary restaurant it's a slightly upper scale restaurant, so I scoped out the menu and found nutritional facts on their website... They also have a chicken caesar salad (I have a feeling that's going to be a real go-to meal when I eat out) and they have grilled prawns you can add, which would make it feel a bit more special. I'm a bit sad I'll have to pass on dessert... Any suggestions on what to do about that?
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At the bbq, eat a bit of the special dish made for you, and otherwise stick to the meat. Pizza place eat the toppings, they're the best part anyway! Diner food, club sandwich? Something like that? Grilled chicken sandwich? Those sandwiches without the bread, of course! Dessert? What about a small serving of vanilla ice cream, and take some dark chocolate with you to add to it?
It's great that you're trying to preplan for these events! Most of all, have fun spending special time with family!
Last year, during Meativore May, I had both of my sister's birthdays, a niece graduating from college, my son graduated from high school, and a special friends wedding. I made it through all of them (even cut both birthday cakes without even licking my fingers!) without indulging in any carbage. So, it can be done! Built some major strength from that month in many different ways!2 -
Another thing when faced with a bunch of carb foods, try not to let yourself get hungry, or you'll be more likely to grab the tempting evil foods (just using the term evil, humorously here). Eat the good stuff making sure you are full so the temptation to eat the bad stuff is less. Even if it means eating something quick by yourself with or without others knowing and eating less out in the restaurants or at your family's.0
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So the restaurant offers gluten free pizza but doesn't offer gluten free beef?
They need to figure their life out6 -
Smaller than normal portion gluten free lasagne plus lots of bbq meat with no sugary sauces. Hide portion size with lettuce.
Pasta & Woodfire Pizza restaurant is tough. Toppings like prawn and bacon with truffle oil sound good on their own. A nice caesar salad with added grilled chicken also sounds good. Looks like you are thinking of smart choices.
Nutrition wise, I photograph food (excuse like looks great) and then rough estimate portions and build my meal in mfp later.
At the movie premiere thing, local family owned diner, a bunless burger ie meat patty should be quick. You could ring and pre order for set time and check no wheat. If it comes with fries then Ignore fries, as @Sunny_Bunny_ says they are not food.
At the anniversary restaurant chicken caesar salad with grilled prawns sounds yum. If you are a bit sad with having to pass on dessert then have you considered a romantic sharing a dessert and do as French folk reportedly do and just savour 2 small bites. Eat them slowly and focus on the flavour and experience.
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You guys are amazing! Thanks for letting me talk it out before it all starts tomorrow... I'm feeling a lot less freaked out now that I have mental plan for how to handle each situation.
I also joined a diet bet today and paid $35 into it. I have to lose 4% of my body weight over the next month, which translates to about 12 pounds. Fear of losing that money will help me keep my choices in check so I don't go off the rails... LOL3 -
Tonight is event #1. Planning to have Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Wish me luck!!1
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You have a plan, just work it. I like the diet bet thing, should be a great motivator. Enjoy all those family events. Good luck with staying on plan.0
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I had to drop out of the diet bet thing. To qualify for a share of the pot and not lose my money I'd have to lose at least 3 lbs every single week (4% of my total body weight is the min you have to lose). Yeah, right. Once I was approved for the diet bet I shook my head and had to admit I'm more of a 0.5 to 1 lb a week loser. I don't think it's healthy to get myself into a calorie deficit so severe I'm hungry all the time, just to lose weight faster. I'm content with the rate I'm losing now and would rather make this feel do-able long term. This isn't a quick fix, this is a life change.7
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Maybe the upscale restaurant has fresh berries which you could get topped with unsweetened whipping cream? That beats any dessert in my book!
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dmariet116 wrote: »Maybe the upscale restaurant has fresh berries which you could get topped with unsweetened whipping cream? That beats any dessert in my book!
Thats a great idea! I'll ask them.
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Event 1, SUCCESS!! I had the Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Forgot to ask them to hold the croutons, but picked them all out and didn't eat a single one. Didn't taste anyone's dessert, and passed on the mint chocolates. Feeling VERY good and everyone said they were really proud of me for making good choices. I have enough carbs left to have a few triangles of Toblerone while still staying within my macros. WIN!!
Now for event 2 on Tuesday... Diner food... That's going to be the more challenging one...
BUT, there's a new Canada day event coming up now... My brother and SIL texted me tonight to say they are coming out to visit over Canada Day weekend instead of the end of August so they can see Dad while he's here... This one will involve a small roadtrip, an entire day of festivities, eating out, picnics and fireworks, an overnighter, then a small roadtrip home... Gonna need to give this one some thought and preparation!5 -
Event 2 is tonight... Shark week started this morning FINALLY (day 48 of my cycle... good job, sharkie... NOT.)
Thursday's event got more complicated... My son is able to stay for the whole grad dinner and dance thing, so we canceled our restaurant reservation because my uncle called and he's making the inevitable infamous gluten free lasagna for all the adults at his place, and I've also agreed to make my mom's infamous freezer cheesecake for my dad (mom passed away in '98 and I'm the only one who knows the recipe now...). It's a really special day for my son, my dad has refused to eat this special cheesecake ever since my mom died until a couple nights ago he mentioned wanting to eat it again and asked if I remembered the recipe! I'm not going to ruin either thing for one day's macros. Living my life trumps LCHF diet in this case.
So that would just leave the anniversary dinner on Sunday... but Noooooooo... My brother arrives in a week with my SIL and 2 nieces (surprise spur of the moment decision to visit while our dad is here). There will be lots of alcohol and MORE eating out while they are here, Canada Day celebrations are also happening July 1st. So basically the final day of all of this is July 4th when my dad, his girlfriend, my brother, and his family all fly back to their respective homes in different provinces. The game plan right now is to eat low carb as much as possible, don't sweat it too much, and go back to clean LCHF WOE'ing as soon as possible. I may come back whining that i feel like crap soon... prepare yourself.
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You'll be able to eat as LCHF as you want to at those events. Order meat and a salad, bring nuts or pepperoni sticks and cheese to snack on. Even bring your own dessert.
I'm a keto celiac so I know it can be weird to eat differently, but the gluten thing is a really good excuse to skip foods - I would skip 99% of all grain made carbs in a restaurant (pizza, etc) just worrying about cross contamination. I get sick about a third of the time just going with meat, eggs, and salad. LOL If in doubt, just have a coffee and eat later... We're there for the people and not just the food, right? The company is the important part. 3 -
Is it common for restaurants to add wheat to their beef?0
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I just don't trust restaurant food. I went to IHOP once, post my VSG surgery, and I wasn't eating any grains. We were supposed to keep our protein high, our carbs as low as we could. I could taste the flour in their scrambled eggs. I asked them to make me some without the flour, I mean...how hard can it be? They tell me it comes in a mix that way. It was truly making me gag. So I asked for two eggs over easy. They could do that, they told me. Great, I said, 'then could you have the guy scramble them?'
Seriously.2 -
Ahh yes, the FILLERS...
When ordering out at restaurants, just to be sure, I opt for steak instead of hamburg and instead of an omelette or scrambled opt for 2 fried eggs.2 -
I wonder about that too. Anything processed I'm wary of. I wouldn't eat Arby's until I checked out the nutrition because that beef is VERY processed. I used to use bread crumbs in my meatballs and loaf to help keep it together so I would bet restaurants do as well. Now I use pork rinds!! Bread is a cheap filler that we can't taste so...0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »So the restaurant offers gluten free pizza but doesn't offer gluten free beef?
They need to figure their life out
Right?!? I said the same thing!
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MyriiStorm wrote: »Say to yourself, "I know I want to put this in my mouth, but do I really want to put it in my body?"
I love this so much!2 -
Hidden carbs freak me out. Hidden ingredients are particularly troublesome if you're someone like my son and I, with a billion allergies... I tend to ask a ton of questions and annoy the heck out of servers, but my health is worth it... That's how we learned about the wheat in the burger patties... They can roll their eyes and make all the snarky remarks they like, I just play dumb and act like I don't see it...
I really thought I'd be jonesing for carbs more than I am with all these events... It's slowly becoming more natural to choose the low carb food... Today my husband got a dessert that used to be my very favourite and I didn't even want a taste. Went out for coffee with a couple family members in town visiting, had a lower carb lunch, and was totally satisfied... That's mega progress!
BTW... This is jetsamflotsam, in case you missed my post about changing my account...3 -
anewlifeat40 wrote: »Hidden carbs freak me out. Hidden ingredients are particularly troublesome if you're someone like my son and I, with a billion allergies... I tend to ask a ton of questions and annoy the heck out of servers, but my health is worth it... That's how we learned about the wheat in the burger patties... They can roll their eyes and make all the snarky remarks they like, I just play dumb and act like I don't see it...
I really thought I'd be jonesing for carbs more than I am with all these events... It's slowly becoming more natural to choose the low carb food... Today my husband got a dessert that used to be my very favourite and I didn't even want a taste. Went out for coffee with a couple family members in town visiting, had a lower carb lunch, and was totally satisfied... That's mega progress!
BTW... This is jetsamflotsam, in case you missed my post about changing my account...
All the people I go to eat with have developed this way of warning the server when it's my turn. lol
It's usually something like "you better get a pen" or "are you ready for this"
I don't care though. I've never minded being the one that's different.
I learned that many steak restaurants brush the meat with margarine prior to grilling, so I've learned to ask and if they do I ask them to either use real butter or just skip it entirely if it's too much trouble.
I ask a few questions and that's why my friends all order before me and then I'm sitting there like the entertainment while making my order.
Once I was at a friends house and they keep their butter in a dish in the fridge instead of the packaging so I couldn't tell if it was real butter or not. When I asked, they said "well it's not imaginary". When I explained I was trying to figure out if it was margarine or real butter they had absolutely no idea. They didn't know there was a difference!2 -
That's wild that anyone wouldn't know the difference between margarine and butter!! I can't stand the taste of margarine. I grew up on it, we had a big family, and my mom would buy a massive flat of the stuff at a time cause it was cheap, and of course that was the era where butter was "unhealthy"... yuck.0
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I think you are already past the pizza place, but ordering a bigger pizza and just eating the toppings works pretty well for me when I am faced with a pizza-only situation.
You have a great attitude... & way to go! being pro-active instead of just resigned.1 -
Yesterday the hubs and I had our belated anniversary date and it turned into a MAJOR cheat day. My dad and his g/f picked the kid up at 8:30 AM to go sailing with them, and we went to the big island on the 10:05 am ferry. I hadn't had any breakfast because I'm REALLY sick of eggs, and nothing in the fridge appealed to me. I've been eating eggs everyday for the last 4+ weeks and they started making me gag the day before. I knew I had money left on a Starbucks gift card though, so we stopped at one on the way (there aren't any where we live) and I got a Grande vanilla bean frap with a shot of espresso, a bag of pepper jack moon cheese, and a seasonal fruit cup. The frap was pretty darn good (can't lie!), the moon cheese was just okay, not my favourite, and the fruit cup was awful. I ate about half the fruit cup then threw the rest away... seasonal fruit, my FOOT. It was soggy orange, a few grapes and pineapple chunks - none of those are in season, especially not here!
We also had a $100 gift card to Earl's Restaurant, and there isn't one where we live, so we did a little road trip up to Victoria, the closest location, and went there for a late lunch. I ordered the chicken tacos with yam fries, and we got a 2 person size virgin mango margarita pitcher (alcohol makes me super sleepy and the hubs is on meds that he can't combine alcohol with). We also shared a dynamite sushi roll as an appetizer and ordered a piece of key lime pie to go. I only had three pieces of the sushi and one bite of the pie later. I also didn't finish my yam fries. The two tacos were small and very bland even though it said they were "chipotle" (lies!!)... the yam fries were okay, but I'm not a big fries person, so I can take it or leave it... The pie was way too rich and one bite was more than enough... Made me realize I'm actually a very good cook and I much prefer my own cooking.
We bought tickets to see Butchart Gardens for the first time and wandered through there enjoying all the flowers, walking leisurely, for about an hour till my hips started giving out, then we went back home... It was REALLY hot in the car waiting for the first of two ferries, so once we crossed over we stopped at a gas station and got big slushies, and the hubs picked up a caramel chocolate treat for me.
Around 9 PM I started feeling hungry and had a piece of my uncle's leftover lasagna that my dad had brought over earlier in the day and left in the fridge.
Considering I didn't even finish many of the things I got I didn't feel like I'd done that bad... At no point did I feel stuffed full, or like I'd binged... Yet when I logged everything in MFP last night before bed, my stats for the day were a shocking 4211 calories, 382 net carbs, 226 g fat, and 92 grams of protein. WHAT?!!! I've been averaging 1300-1500 calories and 50 net carbs for over a month, and feeling totally satisfied, so seeing those stats was a real eye opener!! I used to eat meals like that EVERY day (not eating out, but those kinds of meals and drinks) and never felt like I was eating that much... The scale was up 2 lbs this morning, and honestly I didn't really enjoy anything I had THAT much...
This morning I'm back to eating low carb and not craving any carbs. Made myself a nice big salad for lunch with smoked salmon, feta, bacon and veggies with a delicious creamy dressing... it was 100x better than anything I ate yesterday. Yesterday after I took my first sip of the virgin margarita I remember thinking a diet coke would have been much more refreshing... it was WAY too sweet. Live and learn... I'm still very much a newbie to this WOE, and I'm chalking up to a learning experience. Not letting it derail me... Cheating is such a waste!! I know I'll do much better this week while my brother and his family are here visiting now that I got that out of my system...
PS I seriously debated not logging, not talking about it, and just moving past it, but after thinking about it last night I decided it's important to debrief and will actually help me make better choices in the long run. I made my dairy private so I'd actually log honestly, but going to make it public to friends again now that I've come clean.
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I log my cheat days as they happen so I can go back and remind myself that it wasn't worth it. 2
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Absolutely, @Midnightgypsy0 - logging the food and entering a comment about the possible triggers is a great idea, if we can't at least learn from the eating incidents we are unhappy about, we haven't gained anything except weight.1
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