NSV and maybe also partially a failure...?

Congratulations on the date: Good for you in gaining confidence! As to eating somewhat off plan, I suspect your therapist will tell you that the healthiest way to handle that is to not beat yourself up and just get back to your usual eating afterwards. HALA has some great advice for the future as well.

I think you are doing great!

He is a very understanding and kind man! He's been nothing but on my side since I first met him. Every day I'm thankful for him and the people that helped me when I was in a terrible place. Makes me wish I had done this years ago instead of trying to get past it (which clearly didn't work).

So proud of you! You are NEVER a failure, Mershmellow. Hold your head high because you have accomplished so much. Every day we face challenges and choices. When you eat out again make a different choice. We have the power. Have to remind myself daily. Exciting and so cool re: your date.

Thank you! You are right, the power is always with us to make good choices about our lives.

Awesome!

Right on for the hot date! One thing that does concern me is that in an unfamiliar situation uou slipped into "old habits". Don't beat yourself up over it but do learn that in future situations to be careful.

All of that being said, I asked my wife for homemade brownies and vanilla ice cream for father's day. Dessert at an event is an old habit for me so I really had to think and plan a little bit.

I skipped lunch and barbecued chicken marinated with light italian dressing and hit it with crushed red pepper at dinner. Obviously I had more carbs and sugar than I normally do but my calories were still kept down.

Definitely. I feel like a lot more unfamiliar situations are my way regarding that, but also school coming up. I need to be prepared and not let nerves open the door for the old Mershmellow to eat what she wants! I am bad with meal planning in general and I need to get better at it. It mostly stems from wish I never had to eat again. Since I'm not hungry, planning meals feels like work and I believe when I try too I begin to put TOO much thought into meals and then hate it and avoid it when I can. I need to just stop trying to make a feast of all varieties of food in my one meal and keep it simple.

Hope you have made a love connection :)

If you know the restaurant ahead of time look it up online... helps with picking quickly and not thinking through the options... also generally if something is on the menu they will sub so I often will ask for a veggie from another item to sub for the starch... usually cheaper for them and they rarely charge me to do that.

I curse places that don't have nutrition menus! If I had things my way every restaurant would be required to provide the nutrition contents of all their dishes, though I realize the menu would likely turn into a short story at that rate. Fortunately where we ate I knew my good choices already, but unfortunately I decided not to pick one. I didn't even think about it, it had been almost like auto-pilot when ordering. One more bad habit that needs beaten back with a stick.

LOL... yes that is a famous quote ;) or should be haha "have bariatric surgery and carry a big stick" It is hard to break the auto-pilot... holidays are one that took me awhile to adjust. We had go-to menus for YEARS and I needed to make a few modifications or bring something to share that was "me approved"

Another great site for menus in case your restaurant doesn't have one http://www.dietfacts.com/fastfood.asp and a few tips that have helped over the years... http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2010/01/strat egies-for-eating-out.html

Keep us up to date on the date.