I want it to be special when I eat out, so I don't eat out too often. You may have seen the advice on cutting calories in restaurants, but really, do you want to pay high prices for eating salads and hot fried vegetables? If not, how can you solve the problem of too many calories when eating out?
Here are seven tips to get calories from a restaurant while ordering your favorites.
1. Say NO to large size. The order size is already too large. Stop super sizing, and you will save money. Better yet, order one dinner and ask for an extra plate. Most restaurants will do this for one or two dollars, and it’s worth it. Then share the meal with your friend and divide the cost right into the middle. Another way is to order from a menu called “appetizer.” Two people can order three entrees, one dessert, and split everything, and it’s still a ton of food!
2. Skip the bread and rolls. Many family restaurants still offer a basket of bread and your food. Unless it is freshly baked bread or very specialized bread, just bake it. You do not need to supplement the regular bread when you pay for a good meal. Just ask for it removed if you can't resist it, but if you don't speak up, you're older. You can resist if you want to. You can simply choose not to place the roll on your plate. Try it, and once you see that you are not leaving the restaurant, you feel powerful.
If you can't skip the rolls, at least skip the butter. All right. It's clear. Whole grain bread is delicious on its own.
3. Stop Ordering Drinks. Soft drinks are a big money beverage for restaurants. They sell you a bottle of syrup and carbonated water for pennies and pretend to do you a favor by charging you only $ 1.29 for a large 64-ounce soda. Start saving those dollars. Especially if you order "walking," skip the drink. If you eat it there, ask for water, or at least switch to beverages. Never drink "fat pop."
4. Reduce Speed Eat Fast! What is the chase? Take your time, enjoy a minute, enjoy the taste. A big part of connecting with your symptoms of hunger and learning foods that will really satisfy you is learning to recognize the hidden symptoms of hunger. You will never know when you will be satisfied if you have knocked everything down in five minutes. Take a bite and notice how often you chew before you start wanting to swallow? Once, twice? Make an effort to chew your food, and your body will be much happier. The biggest part of digestion starts in your mouth, not to mention that you will get great pleasure if you allow the food to last longer.
5. Reduce Oil and Exfoliating Skin. I know, you really like the skin - yet you love it, it tastes good, it should, it's pure oil. Do you want to lose weight, or do you want to eat fat? You choose. I’ve never eaten chicken skin, and I’ve never eaten the visible fat hanging in a bowl, good taste or not. Should you decide what you want, the second pleasure of a yummy taste, or a lifetime of carrying another 40 lbs? I know this contradicts the low-carb crowd’s belief that fats are good, bad carbs, but I have maintained a weight loss of 80 pounds for 18 years without diet, and I don’t eat fat or visible skin. That's enough.
6. Ask for a Doggie bag at the beginning of the meal. When the food is served, quickly pack up what you will take home tomorrow. Most restaurants in the US are very functional. There is no law to eat it all. Do this often, and soon, you will find that you get extra lunch on that meal.
7. Get a copy of Michael F. Jacobson and Jayne Hurley's Restaurant Confidential, and start looking at how many calories you are actually eating. If you eat out regularly and carry extra weight, then maybe that problem is there. This little book can help you figure out why you seem to be losing so much weight, and yet you can't lose weight. Hardee recently introduced a new burger that weighs less than 1200 calories alone! Now that's scary.
Where What, and How Much? If you really want to get a handle on your weight problem, look first at where you eat, second on what you eat, and third on how much you eat. Try these steps by choosing one tip at a time, and see how you can easily eliminate some calories from restaurant food.
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