Advice for family gatherings?

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zingeber
zingeber Posts: 124 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I just returned from a week visiting family, and once again "fell off the wagon" during my time with them. Mindless eating makes for tough logging. And we visit together by sitting around a table laden with tea and cookies/cakes/crackers/ etc, and chatting. For hours. With food constantly replenished. We go out for meals, usually at these little hole in the wall places with no nutritional info posted. I spend a couple weeks every time losing the weight I gain on these trips

This isn't a huge problem a couple times a year. But I'll be moving back to the area soon and need to figure out strategies for more frequent family visits. I know from past logging of the food they make and serve, that I can easily double or even triple a day's calories in one day. So I'm looking to crowd-source good strategies you use to keep yourself focused and deal with family without hurting feelings in these types of situations (because my group aren't the passive aggressive sort, this is just what they know and how they show hospitality and love). What works for you? Thanks for any advice!

Replies

  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
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    Sounds like they love you and would support your journey, if you give them a chance. You need to educate them on what you are doing and ask for their help
  • zingeber
    zingeber Posts: 124 Member
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    Theo166 wrote: »
    Sounds like they love you and would support your journey, if you give them a chance. You need to educate them on what you are doing and ask for their help

    Thanks ☺ Agreed. The other piece of this is that I've tried that from time to time in the past, and force of habit is extremely strong. So I definitely could do better as far as educating, and I'll give some thought to how to best do that. Experience says I'll also need some other strategies to supplement in the meantime, too
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
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    I have this problem with both sides of my family, lol. Large quantities of barbeque are hard to turn down, especially when everyone else is making amazing food.
  • Bentforkx
    Bentforkx Posts: 69 Member
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    Perhaps when you attend a social, you bring a plate of something "nutritionally relevant" to your lifestyle "for everyone".... allowing you to have a better choice of foods to offset what your family is providing?
    Best of both worlds, you still get some goodies, but you won't blow out your nutrition completely for the day.
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,449 Member
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    I don't know but I am going to be on a boat for a week with my family next week and I know I am dreading the combo of"you are fat" and" why don't you want to eat another burger"
  • sabinaholtby
    sabinaholtby Posts: 73 Member
    edited April 2017
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    This is an issue for me too! I love getting together with friends and it always involves food. In fact, I've got one today that I'm trying to navigate. There is always a reason to stray from the plan, and snacking calories are so impossible to log. I say grab a bag of grapes, and a plate of cucumbers. The grapes really helped me avoid a plate of brownies last time. I've also tried to really engage with people and sit as far away from food as possible. It's really the people in excited to see, not the food. I also have saved a cheat time for an event where I'm really wanting to be able to eat the food.

    I'm following for more ideas too.

    I keep thinking about how to make this a forever change and I'm never planning to stop hanging out with friends and snacks.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,665 Member
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    Since logging accurately will be a challenge, how about setting some eating and activity guidelines for yourself, which will help minimize the damage? Things like, I will only eat from a plate. Or, in between each bite I'll take a drink of water. I'll do something active each day, whether people want to join me or not. Make it a game to keep it top of mind. For different purpose (improving family dynamics), I sometimes make myself a little Bingo card to stick in my pocket, and when I succeed, I check off a box. When I "win", I get to reward myself with something that's just for me.

    My family is similar. Lots of wine, cheese, crackers, snacky thing of various kinds. I don't think they'd even notice if I changed things up slightly -- not saying no to things I'd normally eat, but changing how much and how I interact with the food.
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
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    zingeber wrote: »
    Theo166 wrote: »
    Sounds like they love you and would support your journey, if you give them a chance. You need to educate them on what you are doing and ask for their help

    Thanks ☺ Agreed. The other piece of this is that I've tried that from time to time in the past, and force of habit is extremely strong. So I definitely could do better as far as educating, and I'll give some thought to how to best do that. Experience says I'll also need some other strategies to supplement in the meantime, too

    You definitely don't wan't to sacrifice family time because you are avoiding food.

    - Can you agree on some healthy snacks to sit besides the biscuits and sweets?

    - look at the online menu before you go out? Even without calorie numbers, you can set a good mealplan before you walk in the door. I find this increases your control vs waiting to select when you get there and are influenced by everyone else's yummy orders.

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