An Update To My Eating

I was having dinner with my mom tonight and she was sort of gushing about my weight loss. As I got to talking with her, I was telling her about how when my husband comes in town, I usually gain 3-5 pounds but that this past visit, I didn’t gain any. I stayed the same. I realized I had left out an important part about how I’ve been able to lose weight, so I decided I wanted to blog about it.

One of the things I love to do the most is go out to eat with friends, family, or my husband. I just love, love, LOVE going out to eat! It’s become a huge part of our social society. I used to have this mentality that I could eat whatever I wanted when I went out to eat because it was a “once a week” treat for myself, but let’s face it. When you’re going out to eat 4 and 5 times a week, that’s a lot to eat whatever you want. So.. I’d drink an unlimited amount of soda, eat cheese covered french fries, get chicken fingers, eat rolls with honey butter brought to the table, etc. This is the way I ate most of the week. Can you believe it? It’s so easy to do and not realize.

When Colby comes in town, he has a bunch of people he likes to visit with and the most common way to visit is to go out to eat. You know, “Let’s get lunch!” or “You want to have dinner?”

I made a conscious choice in January that when Colby came in town, I was not going to gain any weight because I had worked so hard to lose so much between the time he was coming and the last time he had come in town. I said before in my blog article about Cinch Diet (click here to read that article) that it’s a battle of the mind, not the mouth. The mouth is a result of what the mind has decided to do. So I decided that I needed to drop my sense of entitlement when I went out to eat and eat healthy.

Tomorrow, I’ll do a separate blog about the battle of the mind when it comes to eating, but for tonight, I’m just going to talk about eating out and what you can do to help not go overboard. With that said, I want to outline what I’ve done when I go out to eat. They are simple things that you can do wherever you choose to eat.

• First and foremost, cut out fast food altogether. I cut out fast food last October and it’s been the best thing for me. If you have to get fast food, get a broiled chicken sandwich and cut out the bun. Ask for a knife and fork and eat it that way. Ask for ketchup instead of mayo on it. DO NOT get french fries. Not even a small.
• Second, under ONE circumstance can you order fried food. The only time you can order something fried is if you’re ordering a salmon katsu sushi roll… because it’s only fried a little and it’s a guilty pleasure.
• I love Coke. I hate diet Coke. So when I go out, I always get a coke. My problem was drinking 3 or 4 glasses during the course of the meal. Now, I order a water and a coke. I sip on the water until the meal comes and then I drink my coke during the meal. With this method, I’m less likely to take in the same amount of calories that I would have if I just ordered a coke, but I still get the satisfaction of drinking something I enjoy. Note: I do NOT keep soda in the house because I’ll drink it all up. My little brother always complains when he comes over that all I ever have to drink is water so many times he ends up bringing his own soda. Water really is the best drink for you, but the health benefits of water is a whole other blog article.
• I love sandwiches. Sandwiches are by far my favorite food on earth. Usually I’ll say sushi is my favorite, but no, it’s really a yummy sandwich. Firehouse Subs make the best subs on the planet, but sandwiches carry a TON of calories, mainly in the bread, but also in the condiments you choose to garnish your delish sammy with. So, I allow myself to have one sandwich a week where I only throw half of the bread away (the other days, I chuck all of the bread). Most of the time, I get a sandwich that has melted cheese and it’s hard to peel the cheese off of the bread. Plus, I like to enjoy the bread to a degree, so I’ll throw the bigger bun away (usually the top bun). A good alternative is a lettuce wrap. Jimmy Johns make something called an “unwich” which is delicious and low calorie. I also stopped asking for extra mayo and onions. I stopped asking for mayo and now ask that they just use mustard. If you don’t like mustard, Au Jus is an excellent dipping sauce if your favorite sammy joint has it. The other thing is the type of meat you put on your sandwich. Red meats are going to have more calories. That’s not to say I can’t enjoy a good Italian sandwich (my fav-no surprise there) or roast beef sandwich from time to time, but most of the time, I’ll order a turkey or chicken sandwich, like a turkey club.
• If I order tea, instead of sweet tea, I’ll do half sweet tea, half unsweet tea.
• Chili’s. Let’s talk about Chili’s. Chili’s is probably the WORST place to eat when it comes to eating healthy. Yes, they have a “light” section of their meal but all of the meals on it suck. So, here’s my advice. When I go to Chili’s, I order a water and a strawberry lemonade. Then I’ll order their club sandwich (ham and turkey) and ask for no mayo. Now… It comes with a side of fries, but I’ll get to that in the next bullet point. As soon as the sandwich comes, I dump the bread. I eat it “knife and fork” style. Then I put some ketchup as the side and use that as my condiment. That’s not to say that ketchup doesn’t have calories, but it has less calories than mayo and more nutritional benefit (such as lycopene!) than mayo does. So don’t go heavy on the ketchup.
• Now… Let’s talk french fries. French fries are God’s gift to this earth, in my humble opinion BUT they are horrendously bad for you. Depending on the oil, anything deep friend is going to be terrible for you. It will cause plaque build up inside your arteries that can cause serious problems later down the line. Have you ever heard the expression, “That’ll clog your arteries?” It’s the plaque build up that clogs it. Now, that’s not to say you should NEVER eat fried food. My favorite fried food is either chicken nuggets or tempura battered shrimp. Delish! However, there is a way to do it. First off, I NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER order a fried food dish, but some dishes come with fries as the side, which is ok. Although tempura battered shrimp and chicken nuggets taste great, I NEVER order them anymore. I love french fries. I will literally pick out the best looking 3 french fries and slowly savor 3 french fries and then throw the rest away. If you have to, dump salt on them so you’re not tempted to eat them even after you’ve pushed them away. This way, you still get to enjoy the taste of french fries, but in a small moderation. Now, I do order sushi on a regular basis that has fried salmon in it, but it a very small amount, so until I have issues with that, I will continue to eat that.
• That leads me into my next thing. If your dish comes with something you know is horrendous for you and you don’t want to eat it, simply ask them not to bring it to the table, but if you’re too afraid to ask, dump something on it that completely ruins it so you can’t eat it. Did they bring bread to the table? Douse it in ketchup. Did they bring french fries? Douse them in salt. Did they bring dessert? Ketchup! Apple spice breakfast muffin? SALT KETCHUP! Cinnamon crunch bagel with cream cheese? KETCHUP!
• My last word of advice is to really enjoy what you’re ordering. There’s nothing more miserable than going out to eat and putting restrictions on yourself to order food you just don’t like. Let’s face it. Not everyone will be happy to go out to eat and order steamed salmon with a vegetable medley on the side. As a matter of fact, I CRINGE when I hear the words “vegetable medley” uttered at our table. YUCK! It’s all about quantity and moderation. Just making a few simple changes, while annoying and sucky, can really make a difference in losing weight. I’d rather be looked at badly for having a huge pile of bread uneaten and covered with a mountain of ketchup and salt on a side plate on the table than looked at badly for the rolls on my back protruding through my shirt or my double chin.

I hope this helps even one person. I know how hard it is. I’ve spent the last 5 years of my life being horrendously overweight. Until next time, that’s eating out, according to Jen.