Missteps: For your consideration

Apparently I've found my weakness: eating out with a friend.

Yesterday, a friend of mine came to visit. I haven't seen her since I got married and we were extremely close in college. A lot of our time in college involved food and/or drinking, and last night was very reminiscent of that. We had dinner together and 2 drinks. I completely blew my calories for the day (probably for a couple of days) and ended up feeling slightly sick.

The menu included:

Cheese fries dipped in ranch (we split them)
A cheeseburger with (you guessed it) french fries
2 vodka drinks
A piece of chocolate cake that we split
A piece of carrot cake

I haven't been able to figure out the exact calories, but I think it was close to 2,500 just for that dinner. My normal daily allotment is 1,800! I worked out that morning, but still - that was insane. I did well the rest of the day as far as eating healthy.

So how do I avoid this again? It's not like I don't know what I should do, but it felt SOOOO good to just partake of some comfort food and drink with my old friend. And there were salads on the menu, of course - but I hadn't had a burger or anything in a couple of weeks and I was really craving it. Also, I let myself get over-hungry. I had a very light lunch around noon yesterday, and we didn't eat until 7pm. Normally I have a small snack and light dinner.

I realize this is not the end of the world and that I can't completely deny myself the occasional indulgence. But I do feel like I over-indulged and I'm not feeling so great about that. I could have easily cut down on the calories by not having an appetizer or any dessert, which is what I will strive for next time.

So I am back to it! My husband will be off early today and I'm going to go for my first run/jog while he's home. I have done much better about spreading out my calories evenly today (I'm just past lunch and have eaten 900 calories, which is half my daily number, which is where I should be by lunch in my mind).

I guess one of the reasons for doing this blog is because I know I'm not perfect and I know most people who are trying to lose weight aren't perfect at it, either. It's incredibly hard to overcome the habits that you've made with eating, especially when you get good feelings from it. Last night it felt like we were back in college. But what I need to realize is that the habits I made in college were not necessarily good ones. I can look back on them fondly (sitting around with spoons eating directly from a tub of ice cream??), but that's not who I am now. I could just as easily have eaten a salad and had the same conversation, and next time I will be more mindful of that.

I would appreciate any advice on overcoming this sort of thing - it wasn't just the eating out, but the association I have with some of my friends and food and good feelings from it! I need better ways to spend time talking with friends that don't involve sitting around a table but that allow for conversation.