Sometimes living in the real world can be a real challenge when it comes to trying to lose weight, transform your body, and be healthy.
For example, it's becoming near impossible to stick with your healthy nutrition plan while eating out at a restaurant, attending a holiday party, or even just stopping by a friend's house.
I'm sure I don't have to tell you how difficult it can be at times, so instead of us focusing on the challenges I'd like to present you with 9 "waist-line saving" tips you can use to minimize the damage and escape a dinner out without taking a step backwards on your body transformation goals.
Here are my Top 9 Tips for Eating Out:
1. Eat Before You Go Out
Eat a high fiber, protein rich "mini-meal" before going out in order to shrink your appetite and not go to dinner overly hungry. This will also allow you to eat less of the high calorie options most restaurants offer.
2. Workout that Day
Exercise the days you eat out to keep your metabolism charged for at least 31-38 hours by doing metabolic resistance based training. Glucose (sugar) uptake has been shown to be increased for at least 18 hours after an intense workout which means you'll better utilize the sugar in those martinis or cosmos…
3. Drink Water
Drink plenty of water throughout the day in order to curb your appetite and to take away a false sense of hunger come dinner time. Plus, if you're dehydrated your body may also signal you that you're tired and that you should eat - beat these problematic signals to the punch by consuming .5oz per pound of body weight throughout the day.
4. No Apps
I highly recommend staying away from passed appetizers at parties. These little guys may look small, but they can easily add up to 100 calories (or more) each. Opt for the veggies and humus dip or shrimp cocktail instead.
5. Front Load Your Meal
If you're eating out at a restaurant try to order a salad without any creamy dressing to start. If possible don't order your main meal until after you finish your veggie plate or salad. This will allow time for the fiber rich salad to fill up your stomach and signal your brain that you're really not that hungry and don't need to eat much more.
6. Watch Out for Liquid Calories
They provide very little (if any) nutrition, they're assimilated way too fast into your body, and after about an hour of consuming them they leave you hungrier than when you started. My advice is to watch out for juices, alcoholic beverages, energy drinks, and any other sugary liquid you may consume while out.
8. Make Substitutions
Control what you can by making the best possible choice on the menu and substituting sides. For example, when I'm out at a restaurant I like to order a grilled chicken dish. However, a lot of the times the restaurant will have 2 sides with one being a starch like white potatoes or maybe a white rice (in addition to 1 vegetable). In these instances I just ask for 2 vegetable sides and no starches. If possible I prefer the veggies raw or lightly steamed… sometimes they can cook them that way and it never hurts to ask.
9. Portion Control
When eating at someone's home where you can't control the choices, you can at least control your portion size. I recommend this to my clients as a last resort so if they know they're going to eat foods that aren't on their fat loss list they can at least minimize the damage by not consuming a ton of empty calories.
10. Guilt-Free Eating
You may like this tip the best, but use it sparingly… When it all goes down hill and you find yourself up against insurmountable odds just chalk it up as a guilt-free cheat meal and just enjoy every bite with friends and family. After a night of eating out though you may want to get in a good workout the next day to boost your metabolism and work off a few calories ; )
The bottom line is that when eating out all you can do is try to control what you can control while still enjoying yourself and having a good time.
And remember that we celebrate a HoliDAY not a HoliMONTH!
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