Eating at home and paying careful attention to all those pesky details when you're also trying to lose weight before you've become really expert can make you want to throw up your hands and say, "Enough, already"!
But hopefully by now you've had some success with that bathroom monster - your scale - so you've continued on steadfastly trying, right?
The January enthusiasm for resolutions has long since
waned and you're tired of cold, early nights and someone
says helpfully, "Hey, let's go out!" Uh -oh! Will it all end here????
I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to but you do have to understand The Twilight Zone you're about to enter and use your
brain a bit to navigate. It'll be worth it.
One of the best things about dining out is that someone else is slaving away in the kitchen, AND bonus, cleaning up the mess! So enjoy that part to the max. Look forward to it, celebrate it a bit and do something fun with your extra time - another walk around the block with your honey or your pet?...or something. I know you have imaginations. Plan that it will burn calories.
Next the environment is usually pretty fun because a) it's not your home and b) it's nice and clean and prettily decorated and c) usually comfortable. I'm sure your home is all that too but everyone likes a change of venue. So get into that before you get into the menu.
Next the temptation's going to be to "save" your calories before you go out! Big mistake. Don't do it. You'll be way too hungry if you starve yourself before and it's temptation city out there so don't. Eat like you normally do and if you want to do some scale balancing then up your exercise before and after. I would definitely drink a water on the way though. That way when your tempted to order everything you shouldn't on the menu you'll have two reasons to pause and use that restroom - one to have a mental talk with yourself about what you're going to eat and well, you know.
The goal of the restaurant is to make you spend a lot of money and tempt you to INDULGE. Now where did that get you before? Exactly. So your goal is to beat them at their own game. They have good food, it's a given or you wouldn't be wasting your hard earned money there. But really look at what they're trying to stuff into you.
The Cocktails! - oh my. You can sabotage your whole week without even getting to the table. Yes those frozen, slushy, hidden alcohol beverages (I've not usually found much in mine- how about you?) have 500 or 1000 calories in that tiny but pretty glass. Just say NO! So my first question is, do you want to eat healthy food or will it just make your evening if you have a glass of wine or a shot of gin? If you've got a long way to go I'd pass and order something you don't usually have at home like a diet soda - because we all know you've pretty much gotten rid of those right? Or how about water with lemon? Decaf coffee? Your bill will be less and your spouse will love you more. Oh wait, that probably only works with my spouse, sorry.
Appetizers - unless there's a healthy veggie plate with low cal dip (yes, less than 2 tbsps. please) skip this page and go straight to the salad.
Salads - Phew - made it past the first two tests. You can indulge in a salad, right? But wait - they want to make it cost more so they're going to add everything they can find back there in that kitchen including croutons, fat laden dressings, various cheeses and tortilla strips. So don't relax your vigilance but do read the description. Nothing works on that page? Here's where you enlist the aid of your helpful waiter. Tell him/ her that you're on a special meal plan and because of it you can only have greens like romaine or spinach, some fat free vinaigrette on the side please, and maybe some fresh broccoli on the top or a hint of hard boiled egg or some carrots or ...etc. You get it. Look at what they've got to make the other things with 750 calories and see what they might do for you. I did it all the time and people were usually very nice and extremely helpful. I even had a chef come to my table one night to help me pick something I could eat.
Soups - this can be a nice choice too but stick to a cup, not a bowl and look for water based rather than cream based soups...and no French Onion with the bread and cheese is not a good choice, sorry.
The deadly bread basket! Yikes, you've skipped the drinks, made it past ordering a salad and probably you've at least selected an entree and here they come, unless they were really listening when you asked for help with the salad and said, "You probably don't want the bread?" You'll need to ask for some help from your dinner companions too. Either they need to keep it on their side of the table out of reach so you would be so rude and make such a spectacle of yourself that you won't be tempted or leave it in the kitchen and voila, everyone's healthier!
Entrees - OK so this is the hard one because they all come sliding across a mountain of pasta or slithering alongside potato hills or drizzled helpfully over gobs of rice. So your job is to look at what they've got for sides, look at what meats are offered and start paring it down. A small steak without sauce or toppings or dripping in butter - cool! A side of green veggies - could you pretty please steam them for me and leave off the butter?? Excellent and really good tasting too. A small chicken breast... and really some of these chickens are overendowed these days. Cut that baby in half before you bite it and get a takeout box. It will taste great with your spinach tomorrow. For you fish eaters you're on your own - don't like it, won't eat it and I'm still alive - go figure.
The point is read what's available in the kitchen, choose wisely, ask for help, and ask questions. Don't grab the chips and salsa or the popcorn or the potato skins or whatever else you usually have. Leave that bloomin' onion on the vine! If your plate looks barren you've won the restaurant game!! I mean in the fanciest of restaurants you typically have to search for your entree with a microscope so just practice that now. It won't cost half as much. Don't order the potato, order two veggies instead. These are the tips and tricks.
Finished and didn't that taste great? OK, they're gonna talk about dessert and after all your excellent restraint we both know where you'd like this to head. So go to the head again! Literally - if they won't leave the dessert tray/menus in the kitchen or your dining companions want to go there, go freshen your lipstick and wash your hands. I know that you are one smart cookie and there's a protein snack or ice cream pop or something in your freezer or pantry that will just hit the spot when you get home. Think how much money you'll save. You can go hit a sale and pick up a cute pair of earrings or a fun pair of socks or maybe a new CD. You'll enjoy all of those things longer than that chocolate death casserole, I promise.
The bottom line is mentally prepare yourself and decide how you're going to eat out before you go. Watch the fat content, watch the sauces, watch the starches and walk right on by them. Ask for help and to go boxes and put it in the box before your fork hits the plate. Know your body! By now, if you've been working at this you know that full is not when you feel like you can't breathe or eat another bite. Use all the tricks. Eat slowly and savor it. Drink sips of water between bites and chew everything thoroughly. Relax and enjoy the conversation and the environment. Ask you dinner companion for some help if they're able to use some limits for their own fare. You'll feel a thousand times better after and enjoy it more than if you booze it up, slam it down, pour it on and generally pig out. While you can certainly recover from that, is that what your aim is - to recover from dinner out?
Even in fast food restaurants these days there are choices. Use your head, know your limits and stay on track with the principles - the scale will reward you and your health hangs in the balance.
Let me know how it goes!
HV-13
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