At the Movies

As I walked in, the sickeningly enticing smell of movie popcorn swirled around my body, up my nose and pulled away beckoning me with its tantalizing fingers and motioning for me to come right this way.  I glided across the floor, the tips of my toes seeming to drag behind me as only they touched the floor.  It pulled me up to the cash register where a pimply faced teenager cheerfully offered to help me.  I found myself ordering a medium popcorn.  Pimple-faced teenager with a name tag that said, "Chad" offered to let me upgrade my order to a large for a mere .25 cents.  How could I pass it up?  My new best friend, Chad, then offered to put butter on the popcorn.  Unable to speak, I simply nodded my head, while a small amount of drool slid out the corner of my gaping mouth.  "Can I get you anything else?" asked Chad.  I pointed to peanut M&M's and a Coke (which we upgraded to a large for another .25 cents, because you know, it's refillable).  "That'll be $24.50, " my Chad said with a sparkling smile and twinkle in his eyes.  I laid down the money, and carried my goods to the movie theater where I chowed down.

Ok, I'm exaggerating, but seriously, going to the movies is serious business. There are certain places we Fat Chicks need to be on alert and ready to fight.  Buffets are Enemy #1, followed closely by the movies.

A small movie buttered popcorn is about 370 calories - that's 6 CUPS of popcorn.  A medium movie buttered popcorn jumps up to 800 calories - that's 10 CUPS of popcorn. A large movie buttered popcorn has 1640 calories for 20 CUPS of popcorn.

We don't think about how much is in that bag, do we?  We sit with our eyes transfixed on the screen, shoveling handful after handful of that rich, buttery popcorn into our mouths without really thinking about how much we are eating.

To put this into perspective, on My Fitness Pal, my daily goal of calories is 1800 calories a day.  IF I were to eat a large bag of buttered popcorn, god forbid I then eat dinner!

We all know that candy is a killer.  But, we don't walk into a movie theater and get slammed in the face with a chocolate smell, do we?  No, it's the popcorn.  Since we are talking about candy, though, I would recommend you buy your candy at the store before going to the movies.  The last time I went, I got Skinny Cow candy bars.  They are little, but delicious and only 110 calories each.  Not bad.

That soda is a killer too, by the way.  Stick with diet drinks or GASP! water.  How I hate spending $5 for a damn water, but it's cold and has no calories and good for you too.

As I've said from the beginning, take steps to make changes in your eating habits so that your reality becomes a different "norm."  I'm certainly not going to tell you to buy UN-buttered popcorn (gag!) but think before you purchase.  Get a small bag of popcorn - that's 6 whole cups!  A couple of Skinny Cow candy bars and you've blown TOPS 400 - 600 calories.  Now, that's not chump change, but if you manage the rest of your day, you can consider it a treat and just move forward.

Oh, and Chad?  Don't let that kid talk you into upgrading your order.  He's just repeating back to you what has been repeated back to him to make sales.  He really doesn't care if you get a small, medium or large, but has to ask.  This is one of those moments when you tell yourself "NO" and look him in the eye and say, "No thanks, a small's fine."  He'll push it ... "are you sure?"  Just nod your head yes.  Believe me after the movie, you'll feel good about not eating a full day's worth of calories in two hours.

Challenge of the Day:
Be prepared when putting yourself in a situation where it's easy to slip up and over-eat.  Guard your mind in advance.  Pick out your snacks before you enter the realm of temptation.  And know what your goal is before you let the smell of that popcorn lift you off your feet and drag you to Chad.