Friends and Nights out - Strategies to cope?

Mrscush

Woman on a mission!
Hi there

Recently, I have been really re-assessing my patterns with regards to being on plan / off plan etc, and it seems to me that all of the times I fall 'off' the wagon, they are alcohol related!

Let me take this back a few steps..

A few years ago, before I met OH - me and the girls would be out every weekend knocking back the wine, vodka and shots etc, with the obligatory hangover and then this lead to junk food the next day. Nowadays, we still go out - albeit not as often, but we still get rather wasted!

On the other weekends, me and OH go out for nice meals , or stay in with a movie, and I tend to perhaps have 1 - 2 max glasses of low alcohol wine, sometimes no wine / alcohol at all - and I dont miss it.

Next month though, I have many social events in the calendar (every weekend we are busy with friends), and I am, well I guess nervous, of drinking, going over sins and then eating 'bad' food and un-doing my hard work. Part of me wants to say I will go to these events with full determination to have 1-2 drinks and then switch, part of me knows however I will weaken on my resolve and I will end up getting merry with the best of them!

So - what to do?!

I know that deep down I should stick to my guns, TRY my best to have just a couple, really enjoy them and then switch - but I know that the backlash of my friends will be there saying I am boring etc, and just have 1 more! (They arent bad people BTW :) )

What would you do? How would you prepare yourself for the month ahead?

thanks for listening x
 
Hey there!

Understand your predicament, I used to be exactly the same with nights out ... it was a vicious circle for me that would involve late night cheese & onion pasties or supernoodles followed by stodge and crisps the next day!! ;)

I don't socialise so much these days but when I do, even before I started SW recently, if I want to avoid drinking too much and subsequent hangover I'll have soft drinks to start then alcohol later on. I've tried and failed doing it the other way round, trying to stop after a couple, but always get caught up in the party mood and get carried away!

The other thing with starting on the soft drinks too is it seems to bother other people less, they don't seem to get so hung up on waiting til later as they do with carrying on so less nagging from friends! Plus of course you hold on to your will power much better before the alcohol kicks in.

Works for me anyway :)
 
When I know i'm going for a drunken night out with friends, I stick to 5 syns a day for the rest of the week, this allows about 75 syns for the actual night out.
You're going to have to compromise, as far as I can see, to stay on plan you have 2 options:
1. Save your syns as above and enjoy yourself when you do go out. You will feel restricted during the week, but I find that it's not that hard when you're doing it for an event.
2. Go to the events and only have a couple of drinks, staying within your 15 syns for the night and keep your syn levels at about 10 for the rest of the week.

Either option you should still lose weight and be able to enjoy yourself :D

xx
 
I agree with Stackhead - don't fret too much about using lots of syns over the weekend, try instead to compensate a little more during the week.

I have a night out this weekend and will be using fewer syns before and after, and hopefully not go over my weekly limit. Luckily, junk food doesn't usually appeal to me the morning after!!
 
I'd go with all the above advice plus plan for the day after - why not get everything in for a SW friendly cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages etc?
 
Thanks all
Perhaps I am over-analyzing too much?!
I did lose the majority of my 2st going out every saturday and using all my sins in 1 hit and then going practically sin free during the week. I think I just need to do that, and keep exercising like mad to balance out!

thanks again x
 
We had a similar conversation regarding nights out at the weekend. My daughters friend is joining SW on Thursday & her main concern was alchol.

We first worked out how may wkd's she would have in an eve & how many syns that amounted to, which was more than 105:rolleyes:. So we then decided she could have a vodka, lime & soda water for around 5 syns each, & at the end of the evening she wouldn't feel deprived, but she would still be enjoying her nights out.

You could take a look at low syn alternatives to what you normally drink & try & have your syns on a weekly rather than daily basis.

Recently on this forum somebody mentioned putting a straw in your bag for each drink you have then at the end of the day (or next day;)) you can work out how many syns you've had.

I love the idea of having soft drinks at the begining of the evening. Sometimes I do this & it does work.
 
Well, I'm gonna be boring!

Knock it on the head altogether.

My alcohol intake has now risen to 3.5 pints in 19 months.

My weightloss was approx 6.5st in approx 36 weeks. In those 36 weeks I never touched a drop, I never kept back or borrowed syns and whenever I went out, it was made clear I was doing SW and would not be drinking anything other than diet coke.

That is how you cope with booze.

Instead of me fitting in with other's ideals, they were made to fit in with mine. I was always the life and soul, designated driver and never once suffered a hangover and remained 100%.

Not probably what you wanted to hear, but the alternative was to give in, compromise my weightloss or stop going out all together and live a hermit-like existence:p

I've no problem with smokers or drinkers by the way, I trust they have none with me;)

PS might have a half sometime in August:D

and yes, the night fairly fly by in chez maximus lol
 
While SW has definitely helped me to think more about all those wasted syns in alcohol, I would not be the life and soul if I was sober. I am just not that confident of a person. My town is one where it's incredibly hard to have a good time sober - at lease I find it hard. My main problem when I'm out sober, is that I hate drunk people, so I'd rather be drinking, or not go out at all!

Only got 1lb to my Club 10 tho, so I'm not wrecking the chances of that tomorrow night by binge drinking. Thankfully it's so near the end of the month I can't afford it anyway, even tho my flatmate has offered to pay for all my drinks if i go into town with her later in the night... I will not be doing that, my shoes will hurt so much they won't let me... That's the plan anyway!!
 
I'd try and cope with the day after. Like Leapfrog said, a SW fry-up will make you feel satisfied, Have lots of comfort food, etc... beans in the cupboard. Also make your dinner the day before so you don't have to cook, all you have to do is re-heat.

On the night out I have good intentions but it all goes out the window lol
 
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