My social life is ruining my diet!

Know your limits and save some calories for your social events

I have no social life. I find this helps weight loss. But not sanity.

I am in the same boat. I have cut back on my social activities over the past few months but still try to get out at least one night a week to see friends if the opportunity arises.
I am keeping Saturday as my 'FUN' day where I allow myself a little alcohol and some naughty food but I also ensure I do a good work out on Saturday morning so I don't feel I haven't had any exercise.
I am finding Sundays my worst day as I am tired after partying it up on Saturday night. I have started making healthy soups and pies to freeze and I can eat them on Sunday's when I am feeling too tired to cook and it is really helping.
I think you just need to try to find a balance that works for you and if you are working hard all week and trying to make healthy choices when you do go out things will come together in time.
Good Luck

deffo weigh on Fri mornings!

I go out and enjoy myself. I want to lose weight... not lose all sense of perspective.

If you're training 5 days a week, you can cut back on your daily calories and build a deficit for weekend excesses. As you say in your profile, you're not looking to lose massive amounts of weight... just keep in shape and there's no reason why you can't have your cake and eat it too... literally!

But you can also make sensible choices ... have a break between drinks and have a diet coke or slimline toinc or J2O... and then don't have a pizza or kebab on the way home :bigsmile:

Right, i'm good generally Mon-Fri and train 5 times a week. I always seem to have something in the diary that ruins it. I get on the scales on Monday and kind of wish i hadn't had so much fun, but then sitting at home all weekend and restricting myself is boring. I hate saying no to going out with friends and family.

How does everyone else cope with this?!

Go out, but behave yourself. Consider it an exercise in self control.

heh i guess there are some benefits of having no social life

It's all about choices and it's all up to you.:drinker:

You can go out with your friends and still be responsible! Make sure you work out in the morning. Choose healthy foods (just because your friends are ordering cheese fries, it doesn't mean you have to do the same), and stick to lower calorie drinks. Vodka tonics and whiskey with diet soda aren't too bad for you. Yes, a lot of my friends will make comments about how strict I am with myself, but I let it roll off my back knowing I'm doing something good for myself. I'll also say, "I'm not judging the 3,000 calories of grease, sodium, and fat you're putting into your body, so don't judge the healthy, good for me stuff I'm putting into mine!"

Try and set your calories to maintenance over the weekend. You will lose a little slower than the suggested loss a week but it will be easier to stick to.

It shouldn't be a "diet" but more of a healthy lifestyle. Lot's of people have active social lives and you need to learn to control when is good and when is not.
Do you go out both Friday and Saturday night? If you do, maybe limit yourself to just 1 night unless it's a special event.
If you go out alot in the day, pick healthier options at restaurants/cafes, or plan nice meals to take with you.
If you order takeaways, lots of places have the nutritional informations. Look it up and fit it into your daily calories (with maintenance this should be easier and you'll be less likely to just say "forget it" and go loads over.

Can you not have rest days exercise-wise during the week and exercise over the weekend instead. If you're on maintenance as well, this will bump your calories up really high and you should have no problem staying under

Agree with the above - it should be a lifestyle change and not a 'diet'. MFP taught me the things I was doing wrong when out socialising - calories in alcohol and three course meals! But we all have to live a little too. I used to have one 'cheat' day a week (normally a Friday) which would involve a meal and/or drinks with friends, then carry on my calorie limit as normal for the rest of the week - this kept me sane and I do quite believe it tricked my body from getting a bit too used to a samey food intake routine. Celebrations such as weddings, birthday's etc have been times to celebrate and indeed eat cake - for these are the times that cake was invented! ; ) As above I would do what exercise I could (maybe a long walk...even shopping will burn a fair few cals) and keep cals as low as possible until I was out at the meal, or with friends in a bar.

Overall though it's a huge learning learning curve! I love my exercise now and it's also a legitimate reason for me to say 'no thanks, I'm not drinking too much tonight because I'm running in the morning.' Plus...from downsizing portions of food, exercising more and cutting back on alcohol - I've become a pretty cheap date! ; )

I find this hard too. It doesn't help being around skinny people who aren't concerned about weight at all. The one thing that really ruins my diet is alcohol. I am good most days out of the week, and then I let loose on Friday-Sunday. All I can say is that it helps me maintain my weight, but not really lose. I've been testing out a few things on how to ~be good~ over the weekend, but the only thing you can do is maintain self control and remember that you have to incorporate weight loss into your overall lifestyle.

It doesn't help being around skinny people who aren't concerned about weight at all. The one thing that really ruins my diet is

Skinny people are concerned about their weight. It's the reason they are skinny. Changes are they: 1. are active, 2. have good genes, 3. follow the 80/20 rule (eat well 80 % of the time). I'm a size 8 now and you can bet your bottom I CARE about my weight. Everyone I know that is an 8 or a 6 or smaller CARES about their weight. Don't make generalizations like that--it's kinda mean to those of us that worked their tails off to get to this point.

I often go overboard on weekends and eating over maintenance for even one day results in a couple lbs of water weight for me, but it's gone by Tuesday and my weight loss has been steady.