Anyone work in midtown NYC?

You must be like on the same street as me because the Chipotle and Pret is right here.. but the Cosi closed. Problem is I am a bigger guy, a lot of the portions at Pret and Cosi is not nearly enough to fill me up causing me to nosh all afternoon, kind of cancelling the healthy lunch out.

I try to stick to food at the cafe at work because I can take the stairs there and back, but the thing is the food there kind of stinks... If I have time for lunch I'll walk from 42nd to the 30's or 50's because I can eat more since I burn a bit of it off walking... unfortunately I don't usually have that time so end up at the carts outside, which while are good (the Thai one is amazing), it's just not good for you. Plus it's hard saying no to going out with coworkers when relationships with them are kind of important. Their idea of a meal out is fried pork chops or lamb and rice from a cart... not quite healthy

Congrats on losing the weight!

I can eat 2,100 on days i don't work out ("perks" of being overweight?) so for now have some more flexibility. I head down to 38th and 5th and Olympic Pita which has amazing Falafel and I can have half of it over two days, each being about 500 calories. Just get it on Laffa bread and ask them cut it in half and to wrap each half separately.

If you are into salad, most of those 800 calories at cosi I am assuming is coming from the dressing, there's a Just Salad on 40th and 3rd where you can choose the dressing which will lower the calorie count to around 400, based on the online menu... also what is pretty good is some subways offer their sandwiches as a salad, which because the bread is most of the calories, lowers the calories by a lot. The spicy italian as a salad is pretty good and not terrible calorie wise.

For sandwiches, the BEST sandwich you can get that's not terrible for you is the Turkey Reuben from Juniors in Grand Central. If you are careful with the russian dressing, it's about 450-500 calories and AMAZING... but expensive- around $15 with a drink

And the Thai cart is by the Grace Plaza on 42 and 6th, north east corner. Just get there early, around 11:50 because they make it fresh, the wait can be kind of insane if you get there when there's a line. Totally worth the line and extra calories, though... it's yummy :-)

That's good to know about num pang- terrible for my diet but good to know lol. The banh mi sandwiches at hing won by Rockefeller center are pretty good too... probably not worth the schlep for you, though.

If you are over by 3rd, there's a place on 39th and 3rd- Famous Chicken Place- total hole in the wall but has fantastic chicken and greek food, so you can get a greek salad with dressing on the side and be able to watch calories. Their gyro's are the best, but not so great for calorie count.

It's good to know about Xi'an... not sure how often I can get there and the bars because I live up in Westchester so it would be a hike to get from there to GCT and back home after work, but probably be worth a hike during lunch hour one day or on a Friday in Summer when we can leave work early :-).

ohh good to know! Thanks!

I work a little more uptown but I know what you mean. For work days I usually go to a deli with a variety of items. More often than not, I make one of those huge salads, but a lot of them have juices and smoothie bars where you can add protein, fruits, and veggies. If going out, I find that sushi is a filling, lower calorie option. I also love noodle bowls. However, if you're watching sodium, it's obviously not the best.

Where do you get the noodle bowls? Personally I can get a decent salad in the work cafeteria for cheaper than the deli's so I am okay with that, but if you have any recommendations of decent deli's since a lot are extremely overpriced and not very good, especially in midtown, please post them....

I feel like farther uptown is even harder than on 42nd- there are a ton of carts in the 50's, but those are all horrible for you and impossible to figure out calories. The only exception I know of is Tri Tip Grill in Rockefeller Center Plaza where they have really good salmon and grilled chicken. If you have a few extra calories, go with a few coworkers and split the whole tri-tip with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies... really yummy.