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Favorite Tips for Enjoying Your Meal Out

How to enjoy a variety of food without FOMO, Waste or Money...

I don't know about you, but typically when we go out to eat, we like to try ALLLLLLLL the foods...

But as you know while you CAN try ALL the food your body probably DOESN'T NEED ALLLLLL of the dishes, especially depending on the amount of foods that you're trying!

When it comes to being able to enjoy a variety of foods, while also making sure that you're not shoveling your face full of food theres quite a bit of ways that you can navigate this!

Below are some of our and your Fellow Fit Foodie Favorite Tips!

ABCD Tips: Appetizer, Breads, Beers, Chips, Cocktails, Drinks, Desserts...

Lunch hour/Happy Hour: During lunch Hours and Happy Hours there are often smaller portions of appetizers and entrees, along with cheaper prices!
Not only does it allow you to share smaller portions of dishes and try different items, it also allows you to go out to eat EARLIER so that you're not waiting to eat so late in the evening, especially depending on how many calories you'd like to enjoy out.

Depending on how many appetizers you'd like to enjoy you might not even need to order an entree as a meal!

Half Portions:
As we mentioned above Happy Hours and Lunch hours are typically smaller portions, but if it isn't that time of day some restaurants will allow you to order half sized entrees. This isn't a guarantee, but worth an ask!

Side Dishes:
Sometimes at fancy places sides don't come with your meal. This can be helpful in regards to saving calories, trying a variety of different foods, but can also allow you to create your own meal since these types of sides dishes are typically larger and shareable.

For instance your side dish could be your main entree/appetizer if you wanted.

Other restaurants where side dishes are included allow you to substitute for different options and still create your own meal, because you can still get extra portions of protein, etc...

Breads/Chips:
When it comes to the free munchies if you planned them in then enjoy them. To help in being mindful of the amount that you're enjoying ask for a separate plate so that you can disperse out how much you're going to consume and can easily know when you're done with your portion.

If you didn't plan them in then you can just decline them before the waiter drops them off. If your company wants to enjoy them, then try and put the out of arms reach for you.

Drinks and Cocktails:
Drinks can definitely take up quite a bit of calories, especially depending on the drink. Take a look at the cocktail menu ahead of time or just create your own drink.

If you decide to create your own drink, often times you can make it pretty calorie friendly if you want to order a straight glass of wine or just do straight liquor on the rocks.
Liquor with zero calorie sodas are a great for calorie saving options. Vodka tonics, Ranch Water, Martini, Diet Soda and Rum, Prosecco, Etc....

Zero calorie drinks in general are a great way to enjoy a drink without the calories and of course make sure to stay hydrated with some water!

Desserts:
If you decide to enjoy a dessert, enjoy it! Sharing is great in this instance. You can also choose to have an after dinner drink as your dessert instead.

If you decide to decline the dessert, popping a mint in your mouth and also declining the dessert menu before being giving it can help remove temptations.

General Tips:

Sharing:
Sharing is our FAVORITE! You and a loved one can split an entree and a dessert helping you save on calories and allow you to talk about the food that you're experiencing together.

You can either decide to split it at the table or you can ask the waiter to have the chef split it for you. Do know that if you have the chef in the back split it for you, depending on what you're splitting sometimes they will even give you a regular size portion of sides.

For instance, if you're splitting a particular pasta that comes with soup and salad, they may give you AND your friend a regular size soup/salad and a little extra pasta in your split portion. This isn't guaranteed and every restaurant does this differently, but know it is a possibility.

Go with a larger group:
When you go with people who enjoy food and enjoy sharing, you can order a variety or appetizers and/or entrees and then split them between everyone.

When you do this make sure to portion out what you want onto your own plate, This will help give you a better visual of how much you're eating vs picking off of a plate and allow you to focus on what you're enjoying.

Order Small:
For instance, dishes or foods that come in different size, get a smaller serving. You can order a small pizza and share it with a loved one and then enjoy it with a side salad and/or garlic knot, etc..

This is also where half portions can also come into play.

Kids Menu:
Some places you can order off the kids menu, depending, which can give you a smaller portion of something that sounds good.

Leftovers:
Plan for leftovers. Allow yourself to enjoy half there and then half later. To help in this you can ask your waiter to box up half your food, so that you can enjoy what is on your plate and not have to think about leaving stuff on your plate.

You can also give your leftovers to a homeless person or family member who enjoys eating leftovers. This is GREAT for people, like ourselves, who have deeply engrained inside of us not to waste food.

Plan multiple trips back:
If you find that there is so much that you want to experience, realize that you can go back another time to try it out! This gives you something to look forward to in the future.

If you're like, but "I'm on vacation and will probably never get to visit them again...."

The "FOMO' mentality is real...
"Gotta get my money's worth" mentality as well...
But something is going to have to give...

Whether thats possibly slowing progress, the freshness of food and eating it immediately, the removing of "getting your money's worth mentality", "don't waste food mentality", etc....

If you DO decide to order everything off the menu you could make the decision to only have a bite or two of it all and then give the rest away or throw the rest away, which can even help you stay on plan while also allowing you to enjoy the food.

You could also bring it to work and/or a friend of families place where you could all share in the experience together the day after or the day of.

Depending on what you order sometimes you can also save items to enjoy on a different day and/or freeze items for later consumption. We've done this with pastries like cookies and it works out very well cause we get to plan it in later and enjoy eating more of it, in a way that also allows us to feel good.

There is also the fact that you DO decide to eat everything REGARDLESS of how many calories it is.

There is nothing wrong with this, but as with anything it's being aware of your decision and asking/reminding yourself of what is it you want to experience and how can you foster that experience?

We always like the question of, if you end up eating so much to the point of discomfort was it actually worth it?

Part 1: Eating Out Survival Guide

BEFORE the Experience AKA Planning

One of the fun things about life is experiencing delicious food cooked and prepared by different people...
Whether you're going to a restaurant, over to a family friends for a bbq, an event, etc...

More often then not when people go out to eat they usually don't have any forethought as to where or what it is they are going to eat.
Heck, do remember when you first started on this journey, you probably didn't have your meals and/or calories thought out for the day and/or week like you do now.

That was us as well!

But as you've learned planning ahead helps set you up for success and allows you to achieve the goals that you set out for...

When it comes to eating out there are 3 Stages of Eating out...

* Before the Experience: Planning Ahead
* During the Experience: Enjoying the Plan
* After the Experience: Reflecting on How it Went

In each of these stages you'll also experience different emotions and thoughts depending on the reason why you're going out along with your relationship with your food, but We'll dive deeper into those inside the Whats Your Take on Eating out Video.

First lets dive into the tactical side of what will help set your day and meal out up for success!

Before the Experience:

Planning Ahead: Just like you plan the meals that you're going to eat for the day, there is going to be some intention and planning for the food that you're going to eat out to help better set you up for success while also being able to enjoy a meal out.
Make sure to check out some of our other videos so that you can set your meal up for success.

Define your Experience: People go out to eat for different reasons and because of this defining your experience can help you craft the perfect plan to not only help you stay on plan, but also allow you to enjoy your meal out experience.

For instance, if you're looking to just spend time with a friend, is food even the main focus and/or does there even need to be food?

If you're looking at the menu and nothing that catches your eye or is "calorie worthy" do you really need to consume a lot of calories that may not be worth it?

In identifying this it can help you decide if you even want to have any food and/or what you'd want to eat when visiting. Some other fun options could be having a cocktail or beer or maybe even splitting a dessert or just an appetizer.

But MAYBE food is part of the reason you're going out...

Believe us that is one of the reasons we LOVE going out!

If that is the case you might want to reserve more calories to enjoy for your meal out. Maybe you'll event want to spilt a couple of appetizers and/or entrees so you can try a couple of different items, etc...

But regardless, having an idea of why you're going out can help you decide the amount of calories to designate and what you'll consume when you're there.

Where am I going out to eat? Knowing where you're going to eat will allow you to look at the menu ahead of time to be able to decide what and how much you will be consuming.

If you know where you're going to eat you can identify if the place has nutrition facts. Restaurants that have at least 20 locations or more are typically required to have nutrition facts online which are helpful in giving you some baseline calories of their items.

If you're not sure where you're going to eat, don't be afraid to ask or take charge and be the person to choose where you go!

Sometimes even if you don't know the exact restaurant then knowing the type of restaurant can help in giving you an idea of the type of food to expect and typical dishes at those restaurants...

For instance, American Food, Italian Food, Japanese Food, Etc...

What and how much am I going to eat? If you know where you're going you can then take a look at the menu ahead of time. This also helps you to decide how many calories you want that meal to take up of your day.

Plus depending on the reason WHY you're going out will make a difference in what you get.

Some questions to think about when it comes to what and how much you're going to eat...

ABCD: Apps, Bread, Beer, Chips, Cocktails, Desserts:
Depending on the place you go, often times like fancy restaurants and/or Mexican restaurants, they will serve you free bread or chips. As you're deciding on your entree you'll also want to think about if you'll want to enjoy any of these items.

Appetizers, Cocktails and Desserts are another item to think about when it comes to deciding how many calories you want to enjoy in the meal out.

What and How Much?
Now that you have a better idea of the "pre game" aka ABCD's of food, what will you order off the menu if anything?

The nice part these days is that many places allow you to substitute ingredients, drop ingredients and even just order single items off the menu to essentially create your own dish.

We do encourage you to pick something that you actually want to eat and look forward to eating while also taking into account your goals.

If your place doesn't have nutrition facts we have all types of tactics to help you account for foods without the facts in other videos

But in short if your particular place doesn't have nutrition facts you can use a chain restaurants information to approximate what you will have or utilize the single ingredient method to create an approximation. This is also where the Guesstimator comes in handy!

How will I set the rest of my meals up that day? Knowing what you're going to eat when you go out will help you identify how many calories you have left to eat for the day.

When showing up to the restaurants it's important to arrive in a comfortable and confident state. That means arriving with a belly that was "satiated" prior to arrival.
Often times if you show up ravenous, ready to eat your fingers off this can cause for many types of disruptions in the plan and an inability to focus and enjoy the experience at hand.

Depending on the meal you choose out, often times focusing on lean protein, fiber and water prior to going out to eat will help you in meeting your goals along with feeling satiated.
* Example: Egg whites, spinach and fat free/lowfat cheese or Grilled Chicken breast with zucchini and asparagus. These meals can help keep calories lower before or after you go out, provides some "volume" and focus on getting protein and some fiber in.

Making sure that you're not ravenous prior to going our to eat can also make sure that you better stick with your plan and feel more comfortable throughout the day.

Reflecting on past Eating out Experiences: Reflecting on past times when you went out to eat can help you identify what set you up for success and what caused you to fall off so that you can come up with a new plan to test out this time for increased success.

If you're unclear, about what happened in the past, you know we're going to challenge you to take a moment to reflect after this experience as a Fit Foodie!
Some things to think about would be:

* Were there any triggers that caused me to fall off plan?
* What will I do this time to prevent that?
* For instance, if the bread basket sitting in front of you caused you to fall off cause you ate the entire basket, what can you do this time
* Decline the basket? Factor in some pieces of bread? Drink water during that time? The options are endless....
* Do you eat directly from the appetizer plate, causing you to eat more, vs making your own plate with how much you will eat?

Come up with a plan and test it out. See how it goes then reflect on what went well and didn't go well and identify what you will do next time.
You can download the Fit Foodie Fam Survival Guide to Eating out at a Restaurant right below the video at the top of the lesson.