Girls night out, honey there ain't no doubt...

...I'm going eat lots of cals until the boys go ho-ome.

The weekend is coming to an end, and I am mostly proud to say that I navigated my first post-weight-loss-commitment "Girls Night" with little trouble. I'm sure you noticed the words "mostly" and "little." The night was not without its challenges.

The girls chose pizza for dinner, and I considered bringing my own food, but then decided to just eat it and stay within my calorie allotment. I looked up Domino's nutrition facts with my SparkPeople app, and decided in advance how much I would eat. (We ordered thin crust, which is really helpful in shaving off the calories. You still get to enjoy the taste of pizza, but without the bulky bread that adds tons of calories per slice.)

I stopped to grab a bottle of Jose Cuervo Light Mixed Berry Margarita (95 calories per 4-ounce serving), and the night got off to a great start. After pizza and one 8-ounce margarita, I was satisfied and felt very good about myself. I even had calories left over for dessert.

And then came The Great Brownie Battle of 2013.

Someone had made a pan of perfectly chewy, chocolatey brownies, and after fighting the temptation for a while, I decided to have a very small one, because they looked reaaaally good. Of course, every sweets-addicted person knows that eating part of one brownie only leads to an insatiable lust for an entire pan of brownies, so that was a terrible decision on my part. I battled valiantly (for 2 seconds-ish), but in the end, I chose to eat another, full-sized brownie, which pushed me a few hundred calories over my allotment for the day.

Yes, it was a poor choice. But I did get a few positives out of Girls Night.

1. Planning in advance what I was going to eat was really helpful to me. (Thanks, SparkPeople!)
2. I didn't let one unhealthy choice derail my entire commitment to lose weight. Normally after I screw up an eating plan even slightly, I chuck it all and gorge on everything I can find. (I am the definition of "all or nothing.") I didn't do that, even though there was Blue Bell red velvet ice cream in the freezer! 
3. After that brownie, I didn't have anything else the rest of the night. Instead, we burned calories laughing hysterically at a marathon of Impractical Jokers on truTV. Yeah, we know how to party.
4. Despite the hiccup, I still finished the day well under the number of calories my body needs to maintain its weight.
5. I lost another pound the morning after the evil brownie, which I'm pretty sure means that I need to eat those every day. ;)

Pizza, margaritas, brownies, and lessons learned. I think I can call Girls Night #1 a success.

If you've got any tips for healthfully navigating get-togethers like Girls Night, I'd love to hear them!