lunches to go

I stopped taking my lunch, because my department goes to lunch with the supervisor several times per week. However, I STILL choose less caloric options, regardless of where we go.

Some examples:

1. If it's a burger place, I'll skip the fries and get a small salad or fruit, and either eat just the meat and fixings or eat half of the burger. 2. I love when we go to diners, because I can usually get a meat/protein and two veggies.
3. If they serve large portions, as most places do, I cut it all in half and eat only half.
4. I skip potatoes, bread, and rice when I can, but will sometimes eat those in small portions. I hate filling up on carbs, though, because I'll be hungry again in an hour, so it's wasted calories for me.
5. I drink water or unsweetened tea. I fill up on veggies (usually green veggies) first, then go to the meat. This seems to help with satiety.
6. I try to construct my meals as follows:
a. meat and 2 veggies
b. meat, a veggie, and a fresh fruit
c. half of a sandwich, small salad, and a fresh fruit
d. half of a sandwich and a cup of soup...possibly a fresh fruit, if I have room for the calories.

So, not sure if this helps, but it's how I eat in the real world ;-)

I prep baked chicken and roasted veggies and will eat it all cold, if need be.

I pre-prepare all meals for 2-3 days at a time that way they are all weighed and portioned with clean foods- feel free to food diary creep.... the strategy really makes it easy to stay on track (please note last week was vacation and I did not log much and ate horribly lol)

Either prep a bunch of lean protein on weekends and back it up with yogurt or some other type of extra protein...you know, because PROTEIN...

....or just grab some leftovers.

I only grab frozen crap if it's, you guessed it, high in protein...which most of it definitely isn't.

This week I have been taking quinoa, grilled chicken and avocado smothered in sriracha with a side of sliced tomato!

ETA: I eat it cold.
On weeks I don't food prep I usually just bring leftovers!

Buy giant-*kitten* bag of frozen chicken on Friday. Go home, have a few drinks. Remember to take chicken out of the car and put it in the fridge to thaw. Thaw chicken. Place in crockpot with salsa/sauce of some kind. Have a beer. Forget about it for a couple of hours. Go "Crap, need to stir the chicken." Go to stir the chicken, but get distracted (probably by beer). Hour later, manage to finally stir the chicken. Have another beer. Forget about the chicken again. Bleary eyed at bedtime remember the chicken, clumsily divide it up into leftover containers to bring to work, making a big mess that you don't clean up. Reward self with another beer.

Forget chicken in fridge on way to work the next day.

(Certain of the above steps can be omitted)

I use a mason jar and make salads...
http://www.krystaslifeinfood.com/2012/04/mason-jar-make-ahead-salads.html