HOW TO EAT OUT AND NOT BLOW IT!
Eating out and staying on track is doable, but it takes a strategy!
It’s Friday night! The weekend is finally here. Maybe it’s felt like a very LONG week of work, or perhaps you’ve had lots of family stuff going on—life’s usual fair share of stress? We all look forward to our weekends. It’s a potential opportunity for a break: a break from the stress, the monotony of the week, a chance to catch your breath. If you’re like most people, the idea of going out on a Friday or Saturday night with some friends, significant other or family for a good quality meal is exactly what you might need! Is this sounding familiar? So you plan a night out. Maybe you decide to go out last minute or maybe you’ve had it in the books all week. Regardless, you have yourself a Friday night plan and it’s happening! But here’s the wrinkle, you’ve been working hard for the past several weeks on really watching what you eat. Recently you have shifted your focus to putting your health at center stage in your list of priorities for yourself and a big part of that has been examining and refining what you eat. You’re working with a health coach and she has helped you come up with strategies and behaviors that have helped you make really good choices that haven’t seemed too hard and are definitely doable. And the scale is finally starting to respond too! Your clothes are starting to fit better. Your skin has a glow to it. And people have started to ask you, “What are you doing differently?” You are encouraged by all these small changes and you are liking the way it feels to be behaving in a way that makes you feel better. So now what? Do you not go out to dinner? Of course you do-you absolutely do! BUT you need a plan—A road map so that you can come away from the evening still feeling as good as you did before you went-maybe even better!
Let’s assume the plan is to go out to a really nice Italian restaurant. You’ve always loved this place but haven’t been lately because you’ve really been watching your carbs. But your boyfriend loves this restaurant and this is where he wants to go. You don’t want to be a buzz kill so you say yes but now you’re stressed. You don’t want to blow all your good efforts to hell. Help!
One thing I often suggest to my clients is to decide ahead of time what you are going to eat. Go online, take a look at the menu and assess your choices. Decide if you are going with an option that is consistent with your efforts or is part of your 10%. If it’s the latter than you really must make sure that your day leading up to that dinner is clean-clean and leaner than usual. It’s just like being on a budget! If you have only a certain amount of money to spend each month, you either stay on budget or you go into debt. Eating is the same: if you want to lose weight you have to stay under budget. If you want to maintain your weight-stay on budget and if you go over your budget well guess what??? You are most likely going to gain weight. It really is that simple. So the best way to stay on track is to plan for your “budget”. I know for some this may seem tedious and annoying but if you come away feeling like you navigated successfully and still enjoyed, then who wouldn’t put up with a little annoyance like that???!
The other thing to consider is choices. What is more important: a few cocktails or dessert? I know-I’m taking away all the fun! Can you have cocktails, a dinner of complex carbs and dessert and come away unscathed? Probably not if the goal is to lose weight. Unless you plan to workout in a way that can really gobble up all those extra calories-(some people like long distance runners or serious weight training people might be in this group) you really have to make choices. So pick!! If you want cocktails-have a lighter dinner. If you want a pasta dinner order it but maybe eat half-they always give you too much anyway.
Another important tip for your road map to successfully navigating date night is to drink plenty of water. The moment you sit down to the table start sipping on your water! If you do decide on a cocktail, alternate sips of water with cocktail sips. It slows everything down and it allows you to savor it more! The same is true for your food-eat slowly! Chew your food! Take the time to rest your knife and fork down on the table between bites. If you force yourself to really slow down you are definitely going to eat less!
Lastly, enjoy your dinner but be mindful of your fullness. If you’re starting to feel a little full you are done! Don’t wait until you feel really full to call it quits-at that point you’ve already gone too far. Eat, enjoy, be satisfied and stop. The most important thing to remember is that you are out to dinner, you are taking a break from the usual-so enjoy yourself. Enjoy your conversation, the ambiance and your company. The food should be secondary. Shift the focus and you are much more likely to stay “on budget” and to enjoy a great night out.