Chinese - I honestly doubt that anything will be figure friendly, but just in case there is a veggie something that isn't too bad, thought I'd ask you all for input. (so far, Google is telling me to run for the hills!)

I have NO problem now when these things happen of eating what I bring myself. The crew here knows I'm fully into eating my own way. I will get the (can you horf over it?) comment "oh you've done so well, can't you just *fill in the blank*"

*sigh* - people, ya know????

Tara, I know what you're going through. Since you know what's coming up, my advice is to go prepared with food you can eat, or have a protein drink and perhaps nibble on some meat or veggies that don't look too much covered in sugar or cornstarch. Maybe eat the innards out of an egg roll. But stick to your plan as closely as you can!

People tend to think of "diets" as something that you can set aside for this occasion or that occasion. Let your co-workers know you are doing so well because you stick to your way of eating, and you will not detour!

I wish you success with this hurdle. I've been there, I know what it's like, but my co-workers also know that I will NOT eat that stuff, even if I have to go hungry, so they don't pursue it at all. They've seen the results, and back me up 100%.

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Nita

Oh, thank you Nita!! Basically their pretty good about it here. Me being on Weight Watchers for a year they've learned it's just my 'thing' to eat my own stuff when we have these gatherings. Sometimes it's not an issue, if there is a big salad and some chicken, but I know PLAN PLAN PLAN and stick to it!!

Yet, there was cake on Friday (the old birthday high carb demon!) and THREE people brought me a piece.

o.0 - honestly!

No one offers me cake or anything else anymore, they know better! LOL! There is a jar here that gets filled with cookies from time to time, and I just ignore it, and a candy jar that gets filled with hard candy, which I ignore, and right now the remnants of a can of popcorn from our retirement group, which I ignore. After doing this pretty consistently for 6 years, it's getting to be just the way it is, and everyone accepts it. Now, when I go to any kind of get-together with friends, they often ask if I'm still "on that diet", and I tell them, yes, for the rest of my life. I have diabetic friends who eat the cake and cookies, white bread & chips, but I avoid all that like poison. And I'm not diabetic, either, I just don't want to become diabetic. The last get-together we had was a going-away lunch for friends, I heard that it had been changed as to date & time at the last minute, did not have time to prepare a dish, was told there would be plenty, and arrived to find that plenty was plates of sandwiches and bowls of chips, and a table groaning with sweets. Dh & I grabbed a diet soda, sipped on it while we visited with everyone, stayed about and hour and then went home and had some good food for lunch! I wish I'd stopped at the store on the way and bought some lunch meat & cheese, at least!

Anyway, it sure pays to be prepared, to either take your own food, or skip what is offered if it's not on your plan. My personal philosophy is that it won't kill you to skip one meal unless you are diabetic. So if I skip a meal, no big deal. I just drink a lot of water or tea or coffee until my next meal.

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Nita

"on that diet"
oh that cracks me up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yeah, I've heard it all before. "One X won't kill you." Whatever. It might not kill me, but it might make me feel yucky and have me craving carbs for the next 3 days. no thank you!

Chineee is tough. If you do want to participate in the group luncheon thing somewhat, one thing you could try is bringing your own "mock rice". Which is cooked califlower run through a food processor. Since it's mild flavor, dump some stuff on top and it looks and tastes very much like real rice. And you can either bring your own veggies to add, or see if you find something among what they have that won't be be too tough. obviously, sweet and sour anything is not a good idea. but if you do go heavy on the veggie part and light on the sauce part, you may be able to squeak out without too many ill effects. i would, however, NOT eat any rice whatsoever. besides the carbs themselves, after eating lc for a week or two, it will make you feel like total crap and you might well start cravings back for a few day.

If you do eat any of the takeout stuff, i'd probably up my water a bit the next day or so and avoid the scale for a couple of days. that stuff tends to be packed with sodium and can make you retain water for a few days thereafter.

good luck!

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EatSmart Nutritional Scale Review

"it will make you feel like total crap"

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

OK, that's enough to make me NOT even want to try any of it!

I'm going to make an egg drop soup with shrimp and mushrooms and I'll have that - besides the weight issue, the how I feel issue is REALLY important to me! After months of over doing bars and frozen dinners on Weight Watchers I'm now REALLY enjoying being mentally alert!!!

after eating lc for a week or two, you're more sensitive to carbs than you were before. so think "bloated, sluggish, foggy and tired." that's been my experience, at any rate. it's not like you go 5 carbs over you're gonna feel it, but if you eat akin to how you did before, odds are you'll feel crummy for at least the rest of the day.

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EatSmart Nutritional Scale Review

Tara, I feel your plight.

Where I work, the "break room" is like a rolling carbohydrate festival. There's always some reason to have some kind of unacceptable spread laid out. A birthday, a holiday, "just felt like baking", etc. Then there are the "official" times when an actual catered deal takes place and only rarely can I pick out an item or two - always good news when there's a regular tossed salad, LOL!

The good news is that, after - OMG, this fall will be 10 years! - of doing this, everyone is used to my "eccentric" eating habits.

No one takes offense if I float in and look over the offerings and leave without taking anything.

Always with a smile, of course. It's not their obligation to provide me with what I want to eat.

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MEF, isn't it amazing the difference you feel not ingesting all of that...well... "stuff". lol

I'm very sensitive to carbs and feel dingy, zingy and like I've taken an overdose of antihistamines when I eat 'em.

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Ozzie's Place

When you know one of these group luncheons is coming...
Have you considered asking the person hosting it to order something that you can eat? It is as simple as something like broccoli-beef or spicy chicken and you're good to go. I find that many are more than willing to make minor modifications to what they would order. An example for me, tomorrow night is a club meeting. They usually order in some big pizzas for the group. The guy hosting asked me if I would like to have him order in a salad or something. I'm gonna ask him to get an Anti-Pasto for me.
You have absolutely nothing to lose by asking. You will either get something that you can eat or not. Give it a try.

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To think is to create!
So What? Now What?
Tom
Restart LC 7/05/08

Tara, unless I have specifically ordered something when we are having a catered lunch, I always bring my own. If, by chance, there is something that I can eat, I can always decide to either eat what I brought or leave it in the refrigerator to have for the next day's lunch. I used to ask our HR department what was being brought in, however, I no longer even bother to ask.

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Henry

Tom - roflmao over your icon - I love Python!!!

Henry, I will play it safe and just bring my own food - I really don't mind and they are used to me doing that here. They've ordered from this place before and if memory serves - it's pretty dicey stuff regardless of what your personal eating style is (lots of sugary fatty stuff) Thankfully this isn't one of those birthday things - goodness the cake pushers here are rabid!