Eating out /vacationing

I generally lean toward grilled chicken and steamed veggies when we go out to eat if at all possible.
Salads can be a good choice too but you REALLY need to watch the cheese, salad dressing, bacon bits, etc.

Good luck!

Don't think of yourself as being uptight, but think of yourself as being good at weight loss and health. For eating out, the best bet is actually to eat mostly at chain restaurants, because they publish their nutritional information online and you can make smart informed choices before you go. If you go to a local restaurant, you have no idea if that salad you think is healthy has 500 calories in it or 2000 (yes, there are 2000 calorie salads at restaurants). AppleBees and Ruby Tuesday's have pretty good choices if you are being health conscious. Chili's and other chain restaurants have some good choices as well. The most important thing you can do is make the decision of what you are having before you go to the restaurant, so you are making smart choices and you know how many calories you are getting.

If you are eating at a local restaurant, your best bet is to get a simple fish, chicken or beef dish, or a salad without dressing or fried items. Simple dishes without lots of cheese or sauces are often lower calorie than salads.

As for vacationing, just try to follow those same principals whenever possible, and make sure to leave time in your schedule to visit the hotel fitness center. And you're on vacation with your sweetheart. I'm sure you two can find ways to make sure you're getting enough "exercise" :P.

Most restaurants will make you a plain grilled chicken breast or piece of fish and some steamed veggies if you just ask. I was just recently a restaurant on Sunday and everything on the menu is pretty heavy. But I just checked it out in advance and saw that they had lots of different ways that they made their salmon, so figured they had it plain cooked/seasoned it to order per plate. So I order plain grilled salmon with a side of veggies. I got an amazing piece of perfectly cooked salmon, a perfect sized serving of fresh veggies, half a roma tomato sliced with an approx 2 tbsp portioned size of hand made salsa fresca, and everyone else at the table was jealous of how awesome my food looked in comparison to all the off the menu items they'd ordered.

But I can't help you about the Disneyland trip. Disneyland is the one place I go that I don't care about what I eat from the moment I wake up to the moment I can barely walk back to my hotel cuz I'm so full I can't stand anymore. lol (no, seriously, the last time I went my hubby was enjoying the fact that I was full on cheating for the first time since March that he basically just bought me food darn near every hour on the hour. I loved every overly delicious minute of it and, when averaged out, I ate the equivalent of 15.3 of my normal days of eating in those four days. And I can't wait until we go back again so I can do it again. heheh)

I eat out very frequently. As NightOwl said, the chain restaurants are usually great. It is easy to watch calories but hard to watch sodium. Both are possible.

My father is on a restricted calorie and restricted sodium diet and we went to Outback the other day. We were able to get 12 oz steaks and two sides with a complete meal of 540 calories and 330 mg Sodium. We could have gone lower in calories but decided to get the big steaks. Places like Outback have options on their website for ordering the steak/salad/veggies, etc... without the butter or the seasoning, or the dressing, or the cheese. To contrast my Dad's previously normal meal at Outback.: 1/2 Blooming Onion, 9 oz Outback Special with that Pecan salad and a loaded Sweet Potato (because sweet potatoes are healthy), one serving of bread with butter....Grand Total: 2550 calories and 4500 mg of Sodium.

I eat at Panera Bread for lunch very frequently. You can get almost any salad and get them to leave out one bad ingredient like the wonton strips or the gorgonzola cheese or the tortilla strips and get a filling meal for about 400 calories (before the apple).

MY wife and I went to Capital Grille which is a higher end chain Steak House. With beers, appetizer, sides, and a healthy steak, and berries for dessert, I was at about 1100 calories for dinner. Seems like a lot but I made the healthiest choices on the menu and got the lowest calorie beer. The menu choices are VERY deceptive and we had to go to the website to find out what was low calorie and what wasn't. For instance, a steak with a wine sauce was 1400 calories but a 9 oz Filet Mignon no sauce was about 350 calories or so.

I personally boycott restaurants that don't post their calories on the web. Houston's for instance, refused to post their calories and is actually going to court to avoid it. This used to be my all-time favorite lunch restaurant but I won't go back.

Good luck with the dinners and do your research ahead of time. Oh, and don't get too hungry before you go that you sabotage your good decisions.

We I go out I just drink a lot of water before my meal. I stay away from the bread. I split my meal in half and eat the rest for lunch. No dessert. That way my husband and kids can enjoy the restaurant they like sometimes.

Vacation, I am sorry I throw down. I do continue to exercise. Family, Food and Fun are not a comprise. I am not going to work about an extra 2 or 3 lbs.

I find I can eat healthy ANYwhere. Just use your best judgement or look for nutritional info online. Or hit the grocery stores and get some protein shakes and/or bars, fruits, veggies, etc..

That being said I don't really worry when on vacation, I'm there to enjoy so I'll usually allow myself to indulge in whatever, especially walking around theme parks, I know for me I burn a ton of calories!

Have fun!

My boyfriend does the same thing! Packing snacks for trips is a REALLY good idea... especially at the parks - it's hard to find good food in there. I've started carrying snacks at all times so that by the time we're done running around for the day and want to go out to eat we don't end up picking the closest place, which may not have healthy options avail. He calls them my purse almonds, lol - nuts are a good choice because they don't need to be refrigerated, don't crush, and last awhile!