Eating Out

My husband loves to eat out. I hate it. Actually, I love it but it is really hard for me to stay on my program so I try very hard to avoid it. My daughter is at a friend's lake house for the weekend and we have been out to eat twice today! For lunch we had an Indian buffet in Raleigh while running errands. Buffets are strongly recommended against in the UNC plan. I had very little to say in the matter. Fabulous food, mainly vegetables and probably lots of butter. It was delicious. I hadn't had Indian food since Beijing (end of July). I think that it was about 600-700calories for the whole meal. I avoided the rice and naan, but I ate well .

For dinner we met friends at 411 W, a good Italian restaurant in Chapel Hill and I had a plan. I looked at the menu on-line before going and knew what I was going to order and the calorie count before I walked in the door. I ate slowly and enjoyed my meal very much. It was a small plate dinner but perfect for my plan- 4 oz steak and roasted asparagus. No potatoes, no gravy. For an appetizer I had 8 prosciutto wrapped grilled shrimp on a bed of sauteed spinach. Lovely meal. I also had one small roll and about a third of a glass of wine- stolen from my husband's 250 ml carafe. 500-600calories total I am guessing.

My calories were over for the day, but that's ok. I have plenty of calories to cover my eating out in the bank. I know that I can control my calories for the next week and refill my bank of buffer calories. It is nice to be able to go out like normal people every once in a while, knowing that my husband really enjoys it. As long as I don't go over for the week I think it is ok. I way consciously trying to eat and think like a size 10 person.

Here are my tips for eating out if you can't avoid it:
1) Check out the menu before hand and plan what you will eat in advance.
2) If the portion is too big take part of it home. I have asked for a box when they brought my food, cut it in half and took half off my plate before eating. I find that easier psychologically and mathematically than leaving half. If I can't get the box in advance I cut part of it aside and eat the rest.
3) No bread, or very little- one piece at the most. No rice.
4) If there is no low cal salad dressing, bring a bottle of spray on dressing or order just Balsamic vinegar or eat the salad without dressing, the juice from the main course is sometimes enough.
5) Eat at a buffet priced by the pound, like Whole Foods, good food and I don't over eat because of the pricing opposite of the all you can eat buffets.
6) Fast food- Happy meal, Whopper Jr no Mayo, Small Chili, 2 hard shell tacos are my new menu choices, and I generally steal a few fries from my daughter.
7) Pizza- only 2 slices
8) Eat slowly and enjoy every bite. Drink lots of water with your meal.
9) Try not to eat out too much, it is often the beginning of the slippery slope.