Determined To Succeed

I have talked many times about prepping yourself for the delicious foods offered at social functions so you don’t overeat. How you do this is by eating before you go and making sure you eat a better, healthier meal at least twenty minutes before so your brain registers that you’ve eaten and that you’re full.

Last night, that was not the case for me.

I attended a social function called a “tweet up,” a gathering of those connected and involved in the Twitter community. Not only was it attended by the coolest people (huge shout out to the Philadelphia/Jersey “Tweeps”) it was also a pretty good party. Alas there was one problem. The function had “that” table – the table of food. The table with chaffing dishes, salad bowls, condiments and such. The table perfectly situated in the middle of the room. The elephant…

…the table I needed to avoid.

I fully admit to two things. One, I am weak and a sucker for the buffets at social functions. Hell, why not be? Some of these swanky to-dos are paid for swanky to-dos and you have to feel you got your money’s worth somehow, right? Two, the more I drink the more my stomach goes “hey, drunkie drunkie! Where’s the food down here? You don’t want a hangover do ya?”

As soon as I walked into the joint I could smell it…wonderful hot foods like slices of beef for roast beef sandwiches (which is what I should have had), gigantic meatballs in gravy (no, not brown gravy – spicy marinara sauce). Plus the usual assortment of bar-type appetizers like buffalo wings, etc. Damn it all looked good. But as the night wore on I just felt my food self-control slipping and slipping as I walked closer and closer to “that” table.

Now, you guys know I will tell you anything when it comes to my weight so I am completely honest when I tell you I was successful in avoiding the table (did I mention it was in the center of the room so you had to walk around it all night and not get away from it?). But as this morning’s headache proves I should have had SOMETHING in my belly to absorb the one martini, glass of wine and gin (ugh, cheap gin) I consumed.

Sigh. I so need to be stronger at things like this and be smarter. I could have and should have had something healthier to eat before. I shouldn’t have been afraid to have something at the event. I shouldn’t have been afraid I’d lose control at the grand center table of food. It would have been fine.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

In the end, my friends, this is where discipline comes into play. Having one or two things at the event would have been OK, just as having the occasional egg roll won’t kill me. But in my quest to try to be good and avoid “that” table, I ended up not eating at all and having a nice bit of hangover to show for it. Sorry tummy. I should have listened to you.

And yes, I will get you some Tylenol or Advil asap.