When I go out to eat, I want it to be special, so I don't eat out often. You may have seen advice on how to cut calories at the restaurant, but do you really want to pay a high price at the restaurant for a dressless salad and steamed veggies? If not, how can you solve the dilemma of too many calories when eating out? Here are seven tips to cut calories from restaurant meals while ordering your favorites. first.
1) Say NO to super sizing. The size you ordered is too large. Stop the super size and you will save money. Better yet, order dinner and ask for an extra plate. Many restaurants will do this for a dollar or two, and it's well worth it. Then split the meal with your friend and you split the cost straight down the middle. Another option is to order from the menu called "aperitif". Two people can order three starters, one dessert and share it all and it's still plenty of food!
2) Skip the bread and rolls. Many family restaurants still serve a basket of bread with your meal. Unless it's fresh bread or really special bread, skip it. You don't need to stock up on regular bread when you're paying a fortune for a meal. Only ask for take away if you can't resist, but frankly, you're an adult, you can resist, if you want to. You can simply choose not to roll on your plate. Try it, just once, and see if you don't walk out of that restaurant feeling strangely strong. If you can't skip the banh cuon, at least skip the butter. That's right. Eat it normally. Whole grain bread is delicious.
3) Stop ordering drinks. Soft drinks are a big cash cow for restaurants. For pennies, they sell you a bottle of syrup and soda water and act like they're doing you a big favor by only charging you $1.29 for a 64-ounce can of jumbo soda. . Start saving those dollars. Especially if you order "take-away", skip the drinks section. If you eat it there, ask for water or at least switch to a diet drink. Never drink "fat soft drinks".
4) Slow down, you're eating too fast! What is precipitation? Take your time, enjoy the moment, enjoy the taste. To get in touch with your hunger cues and learn to eat what will truly satisfy you, you must learn to recognize the subtle signs of hunger. You won't know when you're close to gratification if you've devoured it all within five minutes. Take a bite and then notice how many times you chew before you start to want to swallow. Once twice? Try to chew your food and your body will be much happier. A huge part of digestion begins in your mouth, not to mention you'll enjoy it much more if the food lingers.
5) Remove visible fat and skin. I know, you really like the skin - of course you do, it tastes good, yes, it's pure fat. Do you want to lose weight or do you want to eat fat? You choose. I never eat chicken skin and I never eat visible fat on a steak, good or bad. Deciding what more you want, a second of great tasting pleasure or a lifetime of carrying about 40 pounds more? I know this goes against the low carb crowd belief that fat is good, carbs are bad, but I've maintained my 80 pound weight loss for 18 years without dieting and I don't eat any fat or good which skin. Enough said.
6) Ask for a Doggie Bag at the start of the meal. When the food is served, get some right away to take home for the next day. Most restaurants in the United States are overcrowded. There is no rule, you have to eat everything. Do this regularly and you'll soon find that you'll get extra lunch out of this meal.
7) Get a copy of Restaurant Confidential by Michael F. Jacobson and Jayne Hurley, and start checking how many calories you're actually eating. If you eat a lot and are overweight, that is probably the problem. This pamphlet can help you understand why it doesn't seem like you're eating much and can't lose weight. Hardees recently launched a new burger that contains just under 1200 calories! Now that's scary. If you really want to control your weight, first look at where you eat, second what you eat, and thirdly how much you eat. Where, what and how much? Try these steps, picking tips one at a time, and see how easily you can cut calories from restaurant food.
You must be logged in to post a comment.