Hello everyone!

My name is Gabrielle, am 24 years old from New York, but currently live in Rhode Island. I too like most of us at our age gained lots of weight in college. Pizza, alcohol, stress...you name it. Since I graduated high school, I have gained 70 pounds!!!! I am so sick of being this way and just want to be healthy and not diet for the rest of my life!!! I am on week 2 and I actually really like the "diet." I am not that hungry that often and I have tried a bizzillion diets out there, since I am 13 years old! I have lost 5 pounds thus far and hope to lose a steady 2 pounds a week (if possible).

Question 1) the social part of this is hard at 24, I don't want to not go out to dinner or to a bar, but I also want to lose weight. My friends want to go to a bar crawl in NYC on Saturday. Am I allowed anything? Can I have a couple of glasses of wine? light beer? I do not need to drink a lot at all, but I also want to lose weight. Weigh in is Monday...

2) any one have creative veggie tips or salad? I HATE salad, but am eating b/c I know it's healthy and filling....any of you replace salad with anything?

Thanks all! Hope to talk soon! XOXO

Hi there!!
I think you will get a lot of mixed answers on this because everyone is different! It all depends on you. I just recently got married and don't have kids yet so me and my Husband always said we will do one night out for us, dinner and a movie or bowling or something fun! I am just up front about it with the JCC and she went over information on how much to eat and how much to drink.
I know there is guidelines on how much to drink and I believe it said if you are going to drink, limit it to around 2 drinks per week. I try to stick to this but occasionally i go over. I just try to make an effort to do an extra exercise that week.

Hopefully this helps a little. Everyone is different, I just try to be open with my JCC and have her help me make good decisions!

I am on my 2nd week with JC and my husband and I will be going out to dinner this saturday to celebrate our 10th annivsary. I discussed this with my JCC and she said that being on JC doesn't mean that I have to stop living, but learning how to make smart choices. The restaurant we will be going to has the menu online and I have already decided on what I will get and will follow my JCC suggestion to ask for a to go container when my dinner is delivered and immediately put half in the container. I will also order a small desert and will do the same. I have also included some increased physical activity this week to balance out the increase in calories.

As my JCC explained special occasions should be celebrated and enjoyed. I agree. Remember it is not the food and drink that is important but the people and the occasion. I know I have to remind myself of this little fact.

Hey Gabrielle,

I totally know what you're going through! I almost never drank until I went to university. Then I met my boyfriend and started drinking beer ... and here I am! 35 pounds heavier.

I've been thinking a lot about how you can stick to a diet and still be social. But I've decided that its impossible to try to change bad habits when you stick to the same routine. I just can't make progress by continuing to maintain bad patterns.

Personally, its very hard for me to have just one beer ... It quickly spirals into 8 and the next thing I know I'm downing a pizza. lol ... So for me ... I just can't roll like that anymore!

If you can do it, have ONE beer or ONE drink, and then drink soda water for the rest of the night. Just an idea.

For me, I've been declining a lot of invites. I just started with Jenny, so I really want to get off with a strong start. I just feel that partying and dieting are not compatible ... you know?

Good luck!
Mieka

Well I have mixed feelings about some of the posts I see on the forums about this exact topic. I am also 24 yrs old from Illinois and gained most of my weight during college as well. I started JC with a goal of losing 120 lbs. In reality it will probably be more like 135 lbs.
I joined the second week of December and have lost 56.4 lbs so far. I go out twice a week almost EVERY WEEK for dinner. If you ever see posts on here that say you can't go out on JC and lose weight. I disagree. I've honestly proven that theory WRONG!
You just have to be smart and decide what is more important to you personally. Is it easier to stay in every night and follow JC menu word for word? HECK YA!
But if you want to go out..you can. 1 5oz glass of wine is 2 fat. So eliminate 2 fats for the day. 12 oz of light beer is 2 fat..so again eliminate 2 fats that day.
Does it take planning? oh it sure does! I actually keep a notebook with me almost all the time. I open up to 2 fresh pages every single day. On the left side I tape in that days JC menu and the day before I write out everything I plan to eat for that next day. Then during that actual day I either check off what I ate that I had planned and write in whatever was changed or not planned. Then on the right page I write down all my exercise for the day. For me, when I see it all written down in front of me it keeps me accountable. So then on WI day if I have a not so good week I can go back to thats weeks pages and see what happened.
But what I like most about the notebook is it allows me a place to plan things like going out. If I know where I'm going for dinner I check out the menu online and decided BEFORE I go what I'm going to have...from salad dressing to my drink of choice. Then the trick is to STICK TO IT
Don't be afraid to go out and have fun. Just don't over do it. Remember what got you on JC in the first place. But if you completely cut it out of your life then you will come to resent JC and you don't want that either. Just be smart
Good Luck!!!

Beth