HELP! Need strategy for tomorrow (2 restaurants!)

Ladybird1103

Freaking out a bit. Tomorrow I have TWO meals out at restaurants. The first is a birthday lunch, and then dinner with family visiting from out of town.

One of the restuarants has nutritional info posted, and everything is terrible....minimum 700 calories for a salad! The second restaurant is one of my absolute favorites, but nothing there is healthy.

Do I...

A) Just order as plain a salad as possible, dressing on the side, at both meals (which will be so not fun and make me feel like a weirdo)
Order something that sounds good, try not to get the absolute worst thing on the menu, but still go way over my calories
C) Order anything I want and just have fun - crazy amount of calories

There will definitely be drinking at dinner, and its Saturday night (the one night a week I've been letting myself indulge in some booze). I'm just so nervous...I've never been able to manage eating out and losing weight.

_Waffle_

1. Eat half the salad
2. Have a drink and relax

You don't get fat in one day or get skinny in a day. It's the sum of all your actions.

peachyfuzzle

Go absolutely HAM in the gym in the morning.

Annr

Order something that has some protein, veggies, and not alot of bread, pasta, or rice. If I order what I know is kind of high calories, when I get my meal I immediately order a container and before I start eating I put half of it away. If its like a pasta, with a creamy sauce. I can always eat the rest at home with lots of steamed or sauteed veggies in it. Don't eat the bread or drink alot of soda. YOU got this!

ambitiousdelight

Annr wrote: »

Order something that has some protein, veggies, and not alot of bread, pasta, or rice. If I order what I know is kind of high calories, when I get my meal I immediately order a container and before I start eating I put half of it away. If its like a pasta, with a creamy sauce. I can always eat the rest at home with lots of steamed or sauteed veggies in it. Don't eat the bread or drink alot of soda. YOU got this!

I was going to say something along these same lines!! Eat half of each of the two meals, and if you want to drink, only have one drink and for the rest of the time have water. Soda water with lime and lemon has also been really good lately as a soda substitution for me, you might find it tasty! Also, it'll help to earn more calories if you go on a walk tomorrow morning, in between the meals, or exercise in the morning. Then Sunday, if you went WAAAYYY over your calories on Saturday, just eat better that day

HG93022

What a rare thing. It is very hard to stay within cal goal when going out twice in one day. I would: remember that it is ONE day. It won't make or break your year!

Maybe: Work out in the morning. Eat when hungry. Stop before full. You are already being very conscientious about it all, so I imagine that will lend to tomorrow's choices as well.

CupcakesMom2

you can ask them to change the menu items in most places (I always do). Like a salad with just vegetables (no nuts, no cheese, no meat, no bacon) and use lemon for the dressing. You can order fish made simply without sauce and steamed vegetables. Most restaurants will do this upon request. There are other menu adjustments that can be done to lower calories too of course, thats just my goto.

Annr

Last week at a restaurant there was an arugula salad that sounded good. Well everything in the salad sounded good but the arugula. So I asked the waitress to use fresh spinach instead and she said no problem. So I had fresh spinach, crumbled feta cheese, slivered almonds, dried cranberries, with a citrus light dressing and I ate half of it and the rest for dinner with other stuff. It was heaven!

LazyCatPame

Don't stress too much about it. Go for the healthiest options and remember that ONE day won't make you fat.
Always keep in mind that you cannot allow your diet to interfere with your social life, in any case, make up for it next day or just go back on track right away.

Ladybird1103

Thanks everyone!
I will hit the gym in the AM.
Also have plans to go to the mall after lunch, so lots of walking.
Wish I could bring my food scale to lunch & dinner though
I'll know I've really got this down when I don't experience anxiety over a simple meal out.

callsitlikeiseeit

its one day. dont worry about it.

get in an extra workout and be prepared for water weight gain for a few days but it will fall off.

adtwin33

Hey dont worry about the calories just have fun

Meganthedogmom

You don't have to eat a full serving that they give you of anything…

Ladybird1103

Update: lunch was amazing. I ordered the lowest calorie salad on the menu 600 calories for a shrimp cilantro lime salad..got my protein and veggies in, skipped the bread basket, and best of all the salad was DELICIOUS. I ate 3/4 of it, stopping when I got full. I never, ever would have ordered it before I started trying to lose weight. I would have ordered mac n cheese, or a burger and fries. So victory!

But then....

Dinner. I was starving by the time we ate. Drank a few glasses of wine...and I got the poutine! Duck fat fries, gravy, cheese curds and duck meat!! It's what this restaurant is known for, and its my favorite thing there. At least I didn't eat the entire thing. And I didn't get dessert. But still, I could have done better.

I am up one pound this morning, hoping some of that is from the sodium intake yesterday. Either way I'm back on track today. Walked the dogs, went to the gym. This IS doable. It just won't happen overnight....

Francl27

You did very well! You'll lose that pound in no time... I'm sure it is water weight!

But I hear you about the salad... I order things I would never have ordered before and I realize that 99% of the time it's honestly tastier than the greasy stuff I used to order.

chandanista

Great work! One pound? Psh that'll be gone in a BM or two, drink water and don't sweat it.