Healthy Diet and restaurants. Is it possible?

FindingAmy77

veliia wrote: »

What about going to the buffet?

Try to go for one of those buffets that have a side grill that you can pick out all your fresh raw meant and vegies along with any sauces for the grill cook to whip up for you. I love these kind of buffets. Mostly you find them at asian buffets but occasionally they are at other ones if you are lucky. I judge the best I can on 4 oz of meat and load the rest of my plate with vegies and some of their spicy sauce. LIke szechaun and red pepper flakes. I love spice and vegies.

If you can't find a buffet like this: then start with a broth soup paired with a simple lettuce, tomatoe and vegies salad with the dressing on the side. Before each bite of salad, dip the fork in the dressing then stab your veggies- this way you truly get dressing each time you take a bite but not too much. Then on the next trip: avoid fried foods. Load up with the leanest meats available to you, lots of vegies, go for shrimp cocktail if its there or a baked fish, chicken etc, then if you have room for dessert: go for the jellos or fresh fruits. SKip the pop they offer and drink water with lemons or limes. Enjoy each bite you take and when you get home do your best to log what you ate and just move on. YOu may have went over a bit but you can be satisfied in the fact that you made the best out of what you were dealt. That is my philosophy anyways.

WinoGelato

Most of what I do has already been suggested including:

Banking cals during the week for a planned weekend outing (100-200 less every weekday gives 500-1000 extra on Saturday!)

Making sure to work out and eat reasonably the day of the event (even more cals to play with at dinner!)

Looking at restaurant websites ahead of time to build a "sample" meal in MFP so I have an idea of what I will want to get and how many cals it will be. That said, if there's some amazing sounding special that night, I'm going for that, regardless of what I had planned.

Prioritize what I really want at that restaurant. If they have a pastry chef, I may just get an appetizer so I can save room for dessert. Or share an appetizer and get a salad so I can have wine (who am I kidding I always get wine).

Be reasonable that I will likely see an increase on the scale the next day due to increased sodium and water retention but it is temporary.

Don't sweat it too much, sometimes it is about enjoying dining out which for me is not something I'm willing to compromise on!

I eat fast casual lunches once or twice a week, pizza or a casual sit down place with my family most weekends, and nice dinners out with husband or friends once a month usually. Hasn't stopped me from losing or maintaining.

arditarose

First, if it's a restaurant I really love I will bank calories to get whatever I want. "Whatever I want" tends to not be the most outlandish thing on the menu. I try to compromise a little so that I'm coming out around 1000-1200 calories and not 2000-2500 for the meal.

If it's a meal I don't care much about, I'll get something low calorie off the steamed menu or a salad. I'm careful of salads because many times all the toppings can make a salad the same calorie count as a burger. If there are croutons I'll ask them to bring without, dressing on side, etc.

Those are the extremes, I can also choose something in the middle of the road if I have the calories for say...a nice 800 calorie meal. My logging and weighing foods at home allows me to do a decent job of understand what to pick.

For drinks during a more strict cut, I'll have vodka and club soda. Generally I'll just have a glass or two of wine though. Or none--because it depends on what I picked for dinner! There are a lot of ways to fit in a nice dinner and variables to play with.