It's hard on the weekends....

dschille

having an hard time on the weekends! Our week days are pretty good, however my husband and I seem to be having a harder time on the weekends! We are out shopping for the day and the temptations for going out are so hard! We have tried going to Subway and Jimmy Johns (sub joint) but when we come home and put in the food we ate and realize our "thought this is a healthy choice"'turns out to be a 900 calorie deal! Any suggestions or anyone else find this to be hard? We are social people that like to go out especially to BBQ favorites (Texas Roadhouse, ****ies, Famous Dave)! And we have tried to limit ourselves to these aces once a week! Is this too much? Should we be limiting ourselves more? What has everyone found to be a "normal" as far as how often to "splurge" and have a not so good meal???

trailblazer888

I find that carrying a lunch bag with my meals and snacks already prepared is a huge help when I'm out and about. This way you know how many calories your putting in your body and can be assured that your eating good quality food. Also if you have a car you can put a cooler in there with fruits and vegetables in case you want a snack. One cheat meal a week is reasonable just make sure you hit the gym hard the next day or eat 100 calories less Monday- Friday this way you can have a cheat meal without gaining weight. RESEARCH , RESEARCH, RESEARCH ! Most restaurants have the nutrition information on their website so try and decide where you want to go before hand . Research the calorie information , this way your informed of all the healthy options the restaurant has to offer. Hope that helps.

ConkreteChic

Oh girl! I am right there with you. Since my husband and my kid are not on any sort of "lifestyle" (not diet - haha) plan, I have been finding myself having to say no to things like Burgermaster, and Five Guys over the past couple of weeks (and if you read my food diary you will see that there are plenty of things I'm NOT saying "no" to also...)

The weekends are the worst time for me too. During the work week I can keep myself busy and on task and I just eat the food I bring with me because that's what I've got. But at home, there are infinitely more choices when I go into the kitchen, and we are also spending a lot of time out shopping, at basketball games, and at parties, get-togethers, etc.

I've found that something that has helped me in the past is deciding on a treat to have when you go out that's easy to plan for and not hugely calorific. We like Jamba Juice (you can really replace a meal with it and although high in sugar, at least it's not a bunch of saturated fats and usually around 300-400 cals instead of 1000) or the new frozen yogurt joints - their original flavored yogurts are really good with berries on them, and places like Red Mango (and probably others, depending on where you live) have easily accessible nutrition stats.

Also, if I know I'm going for a sit-down meal I've been trying to look at menus beforehand and always pick a salad I like, then bring my own yogurt-based dressing. If I decide what I want ahead of time I don't even look at the rest of the menu and I just order. Sometimes I think I bring some sort of torture down on myself by just thinking I'm being deprived of all those other things

As far as being normal for splurging...I'm thinking one meal a week makes sense. This past weekend I had pizza twice (daughter's birthday and a naughty husband) and also cake and then sushi. Um...probably too much. It's frustrating to think I probably negated all the fitness cals I lost working out during the prior week.

Are you still losing? That's probably going to be your main indicator of how often you can splurge Good luck, and let me know if you find any good tips for keeping yourself honest on the weekends

simple82

It's hard for me too, but I'm getting better at saying no to pizza and just ordering a healthi(er) chicken or salad when everyone else is having pizza and fries :laugh: It does get easier with time!

bhalter

My fiancee and I do not eat out often - maybe 1-2 a month and it's always with friends we haven't seen in forever or part of someone's birthday celebration. I make sure a restaurant is picked before we leave and I troll MFP/restaurant website/Google to find out calorie counts of the menu items. A lot of popular restaurants (Chili's, Applebee's, etc) have their menus marked for healthier dishes and you can almost always find the calorie count on their website. Having in mind a meal that fits within my calories is always a plus, and I usually select a "backup meal" just in case my franchise doesn't offer the first option I chose.

cydonian

Eating out is your problem... stick to restaurants that clearly list what calories are in your food. Too many things will fool you when you're not preparing the food yourself. (Example, Applebee's has the under 500 calorie mini menu).