Trying to Get My Head in Right Place for Brunch Today
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CMNVA
Posts: 733 Member
Hey everyone, just looking for a pep talk, support, strategy for this one this morning to keep me from falling off the wagon here.
Normally, when I'm well into "eating right" a situation such is this I would get through but I'm worried about today.
During the past year, I've put on 20 lbs due to poor eating habits. I'm 5'7" and around 160 lbs (age 55). I generally feel good at about 145 lbs, but due to a small frame, my ideal weight is in the upper 130s but I am really no longer able to get there without tons of discipline. But generally, I don't get above about 152 and can sort of maintain that. Last December I was at my "highest" weight and knew I had to do something. I didn't do anything and, in fact, also injured my posterior tibial tendon (still injured) so upright exercise was now something I couldn't do. Between January and May, I put on another 10 lbs. It has freaked me out. I have about 4 outfits I can wear to work now.
Finally 2 weeks ago (when I had a colonoscopy) I figured it was a good point to get back to eating like a normal person and, at least dropping 10 lbs. Starting is always hard for me as is it with anyone. Add to it, that I am a sedentary, menopausal woman and I also get very few calories. So 2 weeks ago I started, MFP has me at 1450 calories. I weigh everything. I think I'm doing well and have 95% stuck to my caloric goals. For the last few days, I've stayed in the 1300 range knowing this brunch was coming. I have lost 1/2 pound in the two weeks. Not much but my stomach feels much less bloated so I'm good.
It's the mental aspect that I struggle with. In any "beginning" of an eating change, I like to be very disciplined and stay out of restaurants, carry outs, Starbucks, etc. It helps me with staying on track at first. I can usually handle it much later in the game.
Today's father's day brunch is a buffet. There is no option to order off the menu. It is $33 per person. It looks fantastic. My first thought was to not worry about the money, and just go there and eat some eggs, fruit, some bacon and be done with it. But that seems like that might not be the most mentally healthy approach, nor does gorging myself. My plan of attack is to skip breakfast this morning (which would have been two hard boiled eggs). Then, of course, skipping my lunch, which would have been around 300-400 calories. So 600 calories to stay on track.
I guess what I'm asking is, for those of you triggered to overeat by something like this (and I don't just mean triggered for one meal), how would you deal with this? Just say the heck with it, try to moderate, or something else? I feel great about the 1/2 lb. I lost and I know this will probably reverse it if I eat everything I want.
Yes, I know when reading this, I sound ridiculous!
Thanks,
Christine
Normally, when I'm well into "eating right" a situation such is this I would get through but I'm worried about today.
During the past year, I've put on 20 lbs due to poor eating habits. I'm 5'7" and around 160 lbs (age 55). I generally feel good at about 145 lbs, but due to a small frame, my ideal weight is in the upper 130s but I am really no longer able to get there without tons of discipline. But generally, I don't get above about 152 and can sort of maintain that. Last December I was at my "highest" weight and knew I had to do something. I didn't do anything and, in fact, also injured my posterior tibial tendon (still injured) so upright exercise was now something I couldn't do. Between January and May, I put on another 10 lbs. It has freaked me out. I have about 4 outfits I can wear to work now.
Finally 2 weeks ago (when I had a colonoscopy) I figured it was a good point to get back to eating like a normal person and, at least dropping 10 lbs. Starting is always hard for me as is it with anyone. Add to it, that I am a sedentary, menopausal woman and I also get very few calories. So 2 weeks ago I started, MFP has me at 1450 calories. I weigh everything. I think I'm doing well and have 95% stuck to my caloric goals. For the last few days, I've stayed in the 1300 range knowing this brunch was coming. I have lost 1/2 pound in the two weeks. Not much but my stomach feels much less bloated so I'm good.
It's the mental aspect that I struggle with. In any "beginning" of an eating change, I like to be very disciplined and stay out of restaurants, carry outs, Starbucks, etc. It helps me with staying on track at first. I can usually handle it much later in the game.
Today's father's day brunch is a buffet. There is no option to order off the menu. It is $33 per person. It looks fantastic. My first thought was to not worry about the money, and just go there and eat some eggs, fruit, some bacon and be done with it. But that seems like that might not be the most mentally healthy approach, nor does gorging myself. My plan of attack is to skip breakfast this morning (which would have been two hard boiled eggs). Then, of course, skipping my lunch, which would have been around 300-400 calories. So 600 calories to stay on track.
I guess what I'm asking is, for those of you triggered to overeat by something like this (and I don't just mean triggered for one meal), how would you deal with this? Just say the heck with it, try to moderate, or something else? I feel great about the 1/2 lb. I lost and I know this will probably reverse it if I eat everything I want.
Yes, I know when reading this, I sound ridiculous!
Thanks,
Christine
5
Replies
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I have the same problem as you, the smallest deviation would send me off track, self sabotaging the progress made already or progress that will be made in the future.
Im struggling with a meal I ate last night, I not only didnt enjoy it but it put me over by 600 odd calories and its annoyed me now.
So I should take my own advice, its one meal, its a special occasion, its not going to happen every day. If you skip breakfast and lunch you'll be starving by the time you get there (is this in the afternoon?) which means you are likely to just shove everything in your mouth thats there. Eat a very light breakfast. Enjoy the brunch. Calculate what you can and then get back to normal tomorrow.
You wont reverse the loss long term although in the first few days after the brunch you might see the scale rise, ignore it (or better still dont weigh).0 -
It's a Father's Day celebration. I would just enjoy myself. Try to pay attention to your feeling of fullness so you don't over eat, but eat what you want.
I can get obsessed, too, and have to "talk myself down" (NOT an easy task). Try to focus on the reason for the celebration (the "Dad(s)" in your life) and not the number of calories you're ingesting. Enjoy yourself and the company you're with and have fun!
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I would definitely skip breakfast, eat whatever I want at the buffet. But I would not eat anything else the rest of the day.8
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If you skip breakfast and lunch you'll be starving by the time you get there (is this in the afternoon?) which means you are likely to just shove everything in your mouth thats there. Eat a very light breakfast. Enjoy the brunch.
Fortunately, the only reservation we could get was 10:30AM. I'll be in the car by 9:30. I generally don't eat breakfast until 8AM, so it's not TOO much of a stretch, but, yeah, I'll be hungry. Knowing myself, I don't think a light breakfast is going to hold me back any so I'm trying to skip it. I'm going to try to moderate and eat SLOWLY to see if I can just not overdo it.
I'm also trying not to think of the $33 I'm wasting!!!
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biggiwig4483 wrote: »I would definitely skip breakfast, eat whatever I want at the buffet. But I would not eat anything else the rest of the day.
That last part might be hard for me. I defintely won't need lunch, and my experience with previous brunches is that I tend to skip dinner and then about 7-8PM I get really hungry.
My plan is to have a small salad or low-calorie bowl of soup.4 -
I would discourage skipping meals. going in hungry is when we make worse decisions out of sheer hunger. you can eat LIGHTER in the day up to the brunch but don't go in starving. I personally also become super cranky if i don't eat before a brunch where eating isn't until noon
And people just do'nt want to be around me.
it's also not all or nothing. fill most of your plate with healthy options you preplan, and leave 15% open for splurges. Opt for one plate VS 2.
I also wouldn't NOT eat the rest of the day. this could lead me into DAYS of bad eating habits. eat a lighter dinner and skip snacks. but eat. But i will note everyone is different. Heck many people do best with version of intermitten fasting and smaller eating windows but that has never been me. thread cautiously while finding what works for youl3 -
I would discourage skipping meals. going in hungry is when we make worse decisions out of sheer hunger. you can eat LIGHTER in the day up to the brunch but don't go in starving. I personally also become super cranky if i don't eat before a brunch where eating isn't until noon And people just do'nt want to be around me.
it's also not all or nothing. fill most of your plate with healthy options you preplan, and leave 15% open for splurges. Opt for one plate VS 2.
I also wouldn't NOT eat the rest of the day. this could lead me into DAYS of bad eating habits. eat a lighter dinner and skip snacks. but eat. But i will note everyone is different. Heck many people do best with version of intermitten fasting and smaller eating windows but that has never been me. thread cautiously while finding what works for youl
Fortunately, it's an early brunch. I'm a little hungry but I'm doing okay. Since my calorie levels are already so low at 1450 a day, honestly, my breakfast always feels "light." So to lighten that up even more and eat something for a 100 calories, I know from experience, will keep my appetite into high gear. But, for sure, if brunch was at noon, I'd be having an egg or some Greek yogurt for breakfast.
While sort of dreading this (and my backtrack on the 1/2 pound of weight loss), I'm sort of excited to see how well I can manage this.0 -
Then you figured it out already.2
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Enjoy the brunch and try to make up for the extra calories consumed by going for a walk after.0
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Well, I'm back and I think I may have done "okay." It's impossible to know the calorie counts on the food, of course. But I've tried to estimate what I ate and I'm coming in at about 1400 calories for the meal. I could have easily eaten twice that amount. I think my biggest calorie bomb was the Cedar Plank salmon. It was delicious and in these 1-2 ounce squares. I had about 6 of those. It had a glaze on it that was probably fairly caloric. The other delicious item (and I had three of these) were something called bruleed oranges. They were naval oranges, peeled and cut in half. Then broiled with a brulee glaze on top. Had two halves. At the very end, I decided to take one item off the dessert table. It was a shortcake biscuit with a little bit of strawberry compote and some whipped cream. It was all very low in sugar (or rather, it didn't taste sweet at all which was good). I wasn't going to have any dessert at all but just decided to. I was not full when I left and, it's a shame to say that 1400 calories did not make me feel full at all, but none of the food seemed heavy.
I stayed away from the things like mac and cheese, lasagne, french toast with all the toppings.
Now the really challenge is not to let this mentally get to me. It's tough looking at my diary entry right now. I'm over for the day at 4:00. Sad to say but I am feeling a tad hungry so I will need something later.
Thanks for the feedback this morning. It helps to know that others feel challenged by events like this!9 -
Doing the same thing tomorrow. Fancy brunch place have been looking forward to trying for long time. Already know I’m going over but oh well. Being able to enjoy celebrations without guilt has been the best lesson I’ve learned. Have come a long way from old “all or nothing” way of thinking.1
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Good morning! So, got on the scale today expecting to see it go up due to water retention from the buffet foods. Suprisingly, I was down another 1/2 pound which was a nice surprise. So overall, this has been a more positive dining out experience with moderating my intake and managing the rest of the day.8
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Doing the same thing tomorrow. Fancy brunch place have been looking forward to trying for long time. Already know I’m going over but oh well. Being able to enjoy celebrations without guilt has been the best lesson I’ve learned. Have come a long way from old “all or nothing” way of thinking.
Good luck and enjoy!1 -
I think that sticking with your plan to just have eggs, bacon and fruit sounds like a good plan. $33 dollars sounds like a lot for brunch and I get you about the waste of money, but you shouldn’t feel bad about not getting your money’s worth. I would rather feel bad about that than eating too many calories.0
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missysippy930 wrote: »I think that sticking with your plan to just have eggs, bacon and fruit sounds like a good plan. $33 dollars sounds like a lot for brunch and I get you about the waste of money, but you shouldn’t feel bad about not getting your money’s worth. I would rather feel bad about that than eating too many calories.
Welcome to living in the D.C. area!! Although I have to say that there were a LOT of really good things on the buffet that made the price seem okay. It wasn't a simple eggs/pancakes/bacon brunch.
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missysippy930 wrote: »I think that sticking with your plan to just have eggs, bacon and fruit sounds like a good plan. $33 dollars sounds like a lot for brunch and I get you about the waste of money, but you shouldn’t feel bad about not getting your money’s worth. I would rather feel bad about that than eating too many calories.
Welcome to living in the D.C. area!! Although I have to say that there were a LOT of really good things on the buffet that made the price seem okay. It wasn't a simple eggs/pancakes/bacon brunch.
@CMNVA Founding Farmers?1 -
missysippy930 wrote: »I think that sticking with your plan to just have eggs, bacon and fruit sounds like a good plan. $33 dollars sounds like a lot for brunch and I get you about the waste of money, but you shouldn’t feel bad about not getting your money’s worth. I would rather feel bad about that than eating too many calories.
Welcome to living in the D.C. area!! Although I have to say that there were a LOT of really good things on the buffet that made the price seem okay. It wasn't a simple eggs/pancakes/bacon brunch.
......but still......I haven’t been to a brunch buffet since my dd was a Girl Scout, and her troop stayed overnight at The Science Museum here,with about 50 other troops (she is 35 now). If I remember correctly, it was about $15. Makes me appreciate my local restaurant that has a breakfast special daily. Two eggs cooked anyway you want, choice of sausage, bacon, or ham, and whole wheat toast that is baked specially for them, for $5.50. That’s cheap, and no other restaurant comes close to price or quality. When we first started going there about 25 years ago, it was $3.50.
Glad you did well with your special brunch 👍🏻 it sounds like you enjoyed the food and the salmon alone would probably take care of the price of the buffet! Kudos to you for losing!! Well done!!!!!0 -
missysippy930 wrote: »I think that sticking with your plan to just have eggs, bacon and fruit sounds like a good plan. $33 dollars sounds like a lot for brunch and I get you about the waste of money, but you shouldn’t feel bad about not getting your money’s worth. I would rather feel bad about that than eating too many calories.
Welcome to living in the D.C. area!! Although I have to say that there were a LOT of really good things on the buffet that made the price seem okay. It wasn't a simple eggs/pancakes/bacon brunch.
@CMNVA Founding Farmers?
Yup!0 -
Great job!0
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