Tips for staying on track when eating out

Let's face it...eating out is really hard when you are trying to lose weight. There is a reason that calorie content and fat grams aren't printed alongside the fettucine alfredo or bowl of queso...because nobody would eat it! A dinner portion of Fettuccine Alfredo at a popular italian restaurant along with 2 of their breadsticks contain 1520 calories and 52g of saturated fat!!! (That's calories for an entire day and double the amount of sat. fat recommended for the DAY!) 

The workouts that we do at Texas Fit Chicks BootCamp will burn anywhere from 400-600 calories in one hour. Add up how many hours you'd have to workout to burn that off, then ask yourself is it really worth it??? Most of the time that answer should be a loud NO. The 90/10 rule should apply to your eating habits when you are trying to lose weight. 90% of the time be eating clean, good foods. Then you can indulge 10% of the time. This can mean that 6 days a week you are eating well and you take 1 day "off" to indulge. For faster weight loss, make that 1 meal rather than 1 day. When you realize how quickly you can derail your hard workouts - it makes the eating bad not seem so good!

If it's not time for your free meal and you have to go out to eat, here are a few tips on how to eat smart when eating out:

• Start out with a small salad. This will help to fill you up before the main dish comes, and might prevent you from overeating the higher calorie food. Order it without croutons, cheese or cream-based dressing. Oil and Vinegar is best.
• Order Veggies instead of rice
• Stick to chicken or fish as an entree - order it grilled, baked or blackened - Avoid Crusted, stuffed or fried of course 
• Ask for salsa as a side sauce instead of sour cream, butter, cheese or bacon.
• Ask for a to-go box before you start eating and divide your meal in half right away. The portion sizes are out of control in our society - and you won't feel compelled to eat more than you need if it's not in front of you
• Don't drink your calories - stick with water w/ lemon, unsweetened tea, etc.
• Order off the kids menu - many times these sized portions are "normal" and half the calories of the full sized entree

So many restaurants have their nutrition info online - so if you know ahead of time where you are going, educate yourself before you get there. You will be shocked to see the amounts of sodium, fat and calories that are in some healthy sounding entrees. The restaurants want people to come back over and over - and to make the food taste the way they make it, they load it up with butter, sugar and it's easy to get your full days worth of calories in one sitting!

When trying to lose weight, ignorance is not bliss. Once you realize how much work goes into burning calories, then you learn how many calories are in restaurant food, you will most likely decide that it's just not worth it. Our society is so food-driven these days, and if you look at what a portion size was 50 yrs ago, and what it is today, it's no wonder we have the obesity crisis that we do in America. Health experts predict that by the year 2020, 1/2 of American adults will have Diabetes. This is a shocking statistic, but true.

The best way to stay on track is to prepare as many meals at home as you can, but if you need to go out, make a plan before you go...and think this thought: "Is what I'm about to eat going to get me closer to my goal?" Might make you re-think that Alfredo :)

- Melody Chandler, CPT
Owner, Texas Fit Chicks 

Fitness Boot Camp Program for Women Only. Re-Shape your Future
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