How to reduce/avoid movie theater snacking?

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  • jessicagreen1828
    jessicagreen1828 Posts: 133 Member
    AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »
    But to answer the question of craziest thing snuck in, I used to work at a cinema, and once I bought Burger King on my lunch break and brought it into one of the theaters. Everything was going fine until a guy in from of me whispered very loudly to his date, "I smell french fries!" I hustled out of there pretty quick after that.

    Also a few years after that, I went on a double date to the movies, and we snuck in Smirnoff Ices (the glass bottles). We were admittedly already a little lit, and I tried to put an unopened bottle in my cupholder armrest, not realizing the hole in the bottom of the cupholder was bigger than the diameter of the bottle. It slipped through to the concrete floor, and even though it astonishingly didn't break, it very slowly and VERY loudly rolled with a grind-tinkling racket aaaaaaaaallllllllll the way down the slight incline to the front of the theater. We were so positive we were going to get kicked out. :D

    That's nuts! I think I've heard this happen before actually. The bottle rolling down the floor is hilarious. Must've been at the same movie haha!
  • nicolejo143
    nicolejo143 Posts: 214 Member
    Be poor. Then you won't buy any overpriced junk food. Haha.
    I once "snuck" in two burgers, two fries and a drink because nobody working at the theater even cared. Lol.
    I've brought in large sodas and starbucks drinks before by covering them with a jacket.
  • schac061
    schac061 Posts: 41 Member
    Just went to the movies over the weekend with my oldest and didn't do too bad. I bought a small popcorn for us to share and I only had about half of it. I usually drown it in extra butter and I didn't this time (for the sake of watching calories). It wasn't horrible but it was definitely easier to only eat half of a small bag without all of the extra butter. I snuck in a few of those crunchy rice rolls in case I wanted something sweet and ended up not eating them. I did have a small Diet Coke and handful of my kid's sour skittles, though. I went in with a plan to make it my "lunch" and pretty much stuck to it.
    The craziest thing I've ever snuck in was chicken nuggets and a burger in my teen years. I usually always sneak in a pack of hot tamales candies too. Those are my absolute favorite, but I decided not to for some reason this time.
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    Tacklewasher wrote: »
    I'm all for you smuggling in healthy snacks, but no carrots or celery please. Make sure they are QUIET healthy snacks.

    But I'm going to enjoy the popcorn.

    Ha! I brought carrot and celery sticks to the last movie I saw, along with a bottle of homemade carbonated water which got fizzed up on the way and leaked all over my purse. My mom was amused but still willing to sit next to me.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,029 Member
    smoothswimgirl wrote: »
    Does anyone have a tactic for avoiding overeating at the movie theater? What's the craziest thing you've snuck into the movies? I was thinking an apple bulging out of my pocket would be kinda suspicious!
    smoothswimgirl wrote: »
    Does anyone have a tactic for avoiding overeating at the movie theater? What's the craziest thing you've snuck into the movies? I was thinking an apple bulging out of my pocket would be kinda suspicious!
    Eat before the movie.

    Personally I plan for movie eating. I usually have: 2 hot dogs, nachos with cheese, small popcorn with butter, Milk Duds and a diet Coke (lol, have to save a few calories). Usually ends up being 1600 calories or more. Then I have a lighter dinner.
    To me, movies are to be enjoyed and movie food is part of the fun.


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  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,953 Member
    I've snuck in chocolate covered almonds, cashew crunch squares, a sandwich baggie full of those cheddar flavored mini rice cakes, sugar snap peas, assorted other candies, Brookside candy (the fruit and chocolate flavored ones) and beef jerky. Not all at the same time and I'm sure there are other things I've brought in that I don't remember. I can't eat most of the stuff there and they don't sell what I consider to be good chocolate so I sneak my own in. Craziest thing? Probably the collapsable water bottle so I could fill it at the drinking fountain instead of paying five bucks for a tiny water bottle. I don't like soda and prefer water but I'm not paying those ridiculous prices!
  • Boland_D
    Boland_D Posts: 85 Member
    I bring a granola bar with me or just enjoy myself and have a little popcorn and diet soda.
  • slickmickey
    slickmickey Posts: 113 Member
    My mom has totally brought in those 100cal microwave bags in her purse. and she's not even dieting, just cheap!
  • DearestWinter
    DearestWinter Posts: 595 Member
    What are jello bites?

    I buy the kiddie tray with no butter on the popcorn and a diet soda.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    I'm curious about the butter thing, how does that work? In the UK you ask for sweet or salty and that's it. Added butter? I don't know what that is! Enlighten me oh over the pond friends.
  • Lou_trition
    Lou_trition Posts: 41 Member
    I alwasy treat myself at the cinema with mini treats that make me feel like im eating a lot- I pop my own popcorn, take mini bags of haribos, have a treat size chocolate bar and a mini marshmallow flump- all totalling about 200 cals but Id be munching away for the whole movie
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    I'm curious about the butter thing, how does that work? In the UK you ask for sweet or salty and that's it. Added butter? I don't know what that is! Enlighten me oh over the pond friends.

    Here, movie theaters have vats of butter-flavoured oil-type substance, that they normally pump onto the top of the popcorn.
  • crevtion
    crevtion Posts: 72 Member
    Think of your goals and ask yourself if it's worth it. That's it really.
  • Myki3012
    Myki3012 Posts: 152 Member
    Three options. Work in into your intake so it doesn't put you over your budget with either exercise or by subtracting other food on the specific day. If that's not for you then try not to eat anything while you're there or of course the third option is to just not go to the movies.

  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    edited February 2017
    A multipack of individual bags of popcorn from the pound shop. It's far easier to stop eating when it's portioned out, and being pound shop bags, the portions are pretty small. So I still get my popcorn, just not a bucket of it bigger than my head.

    It doesn't seem to be an issue here in the UK to bring snacks into the movies from outside, I've never seen anyone have a problem and there are no signs. I still keep it subtle, though.
  • JohnnyPenso
    JohnnyPenso Posts: 412 Member
    Eating popcorn and chocolate is a ritual for me. I'm there on average about once a month and I usually bring a bottle of water and share a large bag with butter and and a bag of candy. I add it into my calories as best as I can figure and usually skip lunch and dinner just to fit in the popcorn although I often end up with a late snack if it was a matinee, or an early snack if it's night time movie.
  • Xvapor
    Xvapor Posts: 1,643 Member
    JohnnyPenso wrote: »
    Eating popcorn and chocolate is a ritual for me. I'm there on average about once a month and I usually bring a bottle of water and share a large bag with butter and and a bag of candy. I add it into my calories as best as I can figure and usually skip lunch and dinner just to fit in the popcorn although I often end up with a late snack if it was a matinee, or an early snack if it's night time movie.

    This is what successful people do
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    edited February 2017
    If you don't bring anything into the theater and you don't buy anything while you're there, it's really easy to avoid overeating. I'm usually too busy watching the movie to care about snacks. It's harder at home because you can pause, or there are commercials, and you have easy access to snacks.

    I've never been one to eat in theaters - the crap they sell is pretty unappealing, plus waiting in concession lines and paying 5 times the normal price for food is extremely off-putting. Paying for the tickets is bad enough. When I was a kid, we only went to the movies to see a movie, not eat, then we might go out for lunch or dinner afterwards. There was no association with going to the theater to eat a bunch of crap. Probably people who were raised with the full theater snacking experience don't feel like they are getting the real deal if they don't consume a bunch of junk when they go to the movies...

    I get that overeating at the movies must be a problem, because I see most people with these huge troughs of butter-saturated popcorn, over-sized boxes of candy and giant sodas all over the place. Then there's that guy who sneaks a tuna sandwich in. We're all trapped in with that stink. Thanks a lot. Sometimes the sound of other people opening wrappers, stuffing their faces, crunching, slurping and chewing can be distracting if it's really crowded. It sounds like feeding time at the farm. :p But that's just my perception. Who cares what I think? You do you, right?

    As far as "dealing with overeating" goes, I think that if movie theater food is a treat for you, you should still eat it. Just plan ahead for it. Exercise to earn more calories and/or make sure it fits your goal. Then enjoy!

    ETA: Craziest thing I've ever snuck in - cold pizza. (Not that crazy.) I usually would sneak in a box of candy to share with my husband.
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