Chinese Buffet

[CoffeeInBed]

Okay ladies and gents, I need some help. My 7yo is off on a sleepover and my mother in law is taking the baby for the night tonight so we’re 100% child free and she has gifted us a voucher for our favourite Chinese buffet my partner isn’t doing SlimmingWorld and is so excited for drinks and the buffet. I’ve only started on the 1st and I’m down 10lbs already. It’s also my Nana’s 70th birthday dinner on Sunday but I can choose good choices for that. There isn’t anything good really at the buffet. So will I just enjoy myself for one night with food and drinks and get straight back on plan? I know I can get back on plan easily as I’m actually enjoying it and find it easy. I just don’t want to bring my partners night down either with more weight talk and assessing everything

 

[matt9210]

Hi!
OK, so from when I was in group, my consultant would often remind us of 3 strategies:

Strategy 1: You stay perfectly on plan. The easiest way to do this with a buffet would be to research syns beforehand and what is free (the only thing off the top of my head would be boiled rice). Look at syns beforehand (use the syns search engine or the list in the back of your SW book under takeout). Some people would be perfectly happy with this, knowing that they can still enjoy their night and likely see a loss on the scales the next week.

Strategy 2: Not perfectly on plan, but set limits which mean you can still enjoy your night. For example, raising your syn limit for the night to a number you feel you could still enjoy. This still allows you to feel in control, as you'd still be counting syns. Other ways of setting limits may be a maximum of X glasses of wine, X number of plates of main/dessert, still keeping a third of your plate as speed (or other veg), etc. The limits can vary in their extremeness (e.g. 25 syns vs 75 syns). With this strategy, you'd be accepting that you might not see a loss on the scales the next week, but you know you can get straight back on it after.

Strategy 3: Stuff it. No sticking to plan, you won't try and keep track or set limits. You likely won't see a loss, but you're fine with that - it's one night only, and you're OK in expecting a gain, whatever that may be, and getting straight back to it after.

There is no right or wrong strategy - different strategies suit different people best, and you know yourself better than anyone! I've used each of these strategies at various times. There's been events and nights which are extremely rare/once in a lifetime, and on those occasions, I've felt OK using strategy 3 because we all need to let loose once in a while, right? For family meals at the pub, I'd usually stick to strategy 1. For nights where perhaps I'll be wanting to try new food, I'd perhaps go with strategy 2 - have an off plan meal, but stick to water/diet coke and not have dessert.

I'd recommend having a little think about what you think suits you best for tonight, and what will allow you to enjoy your night. Another bit of advice is that we all have things going on which could get in the way of our weight loss, and I'm sure we'd always prefer to go with strategy 3 whilst seeing losses, lol. But if you have a number of occasions happening which you want to strategy 2/strategy 3 and you wouldn't be happy with accepting a slower weight loss for those few weeks/month/whatever, then that's when you'd perhaps need to look at making more of those occasions strategy 1.

Whatever you decide, have a lovely evening!

 

[Nanny Doreen]

Thanks for that Matt. I have been putting on weight for a few months, just lost a pound this Friday.
I am going to a birthday celebration tomorrow.
Reading your 1,2 and 3 has reminded me the best way to go. I think no 2 for me.
I will only have one can of cider as driving. Taking diet drinks with me. Corned beef and onion pies for the others.
I am hoping there will be done SW food.

Thanks for that reminder.

 

[CoffeeInBed]

I’m gonna accept a gain and enjoy the night. I suppose it’ll help me accept future gains if I get over one early. Thanks for the input