Paranoid about calories

I try not to let myself get bored which leads me to looking at the fridge which gets me in deep trouble!

I've managed to do a lot of renovation, reconstruction, gardening and sundry other things around the house that would have otherwise not been accomplished as I sat down in front of a big sandwich or bowl of ice cream!

Mind over matter? Sure and sometimes my mind wins :grumble:

Ahh yes, the dreaded weekend night out with the friends. All the bad stuff, alcohol, which is bad for a diet in many ways, bad food, and friends that are "less then supportive". All the stuff you just love to fight.

Well, there are a few things you can do. None of them guarantee you sucess, but they could help, I know they have kept me from falling off the wagon (mostly) a few times.

1st. most wine has about 80 to 150 calories per glass, so if your going to have it, count it up before hand. I have switched to Gin and tonic with lime. It's about 30 calories per drink less then beer, and I like the taste, you could switch to vodka and tonic for about the same amount, add a splash of cranberry or some other juice and you'll still be about the same (tonic has 10 calories, soda has 0, so the juice would even it out.)

2nd Eat before you go out, something with high fiber and water content, and protein, so that you remain full. And if you do find yourself hungry when you go out, eat before you have too many drinks, remember, drinking impairs judgement, which ahh, will influence what you choose as your meal.

3rd, make sure your friends know what your doing. If you don't tell them your trying to curb your eating habits, then they won't know not to do things to sabotage it. Tell them what you are drinking before hand if they buy rounds, and if food is being ordered for a group, make sure you have at least 1 healthy thing in the mix so that you don't have to sit there and watch others stuff their face with pizza or nachos or breaded buffalo fingers...etc.

And the biggest thing I have done is to reduce the number of days I drink. Be the designated driver sometimes, you may not want to give up the alcohol at first, but after a while nobody, yourself included, even notices, and sometimes it's fun watching others make fools out of them selves.
Remember, alcohol has another big downfall besides calories, alcohol REPLACES carbohydrates for fuel in the body, so any carbs you normally would burn while drinking (well, many at least) would be stored as fat instead.

EXCERCISE! it earns you bonus calories, right? It won't neccessarily make up for any big fat and carb splurges, it will most certainly make you feel better, and there are infinite possibilities on weekends! My fiance is a high school phys ed teacher, so on weekends especially we go over to the school and use the equipement for a game of badminton or tennis, its great! Plus it makes running laps possible... All our snow certainly prevents me from doing them outside!

I exericse to balance it out...

Was at a birthday party today, and ate a touch too much, so tonight instead of dinner I'm hitting the treadmill, and then just an apple in the evening... can't let myself get away with this.... for me, this is how I fall off the wagon... treat here, glass of wine there...