Eating Out Food For Thought

For those of us that have been chipping away at this weight loss battle thing for a while, will know that we do actually know the basics of how we can eat out and still enjoy ourselves, while making good choices, food wise.  When we first start out on Weight Watchers, eating out is the first big test of if we are going to last at this. 

That first restaurant experience after joining, is the make or break of our weight loss journeys.  

Will we be able to do this?  how do we know what is a healthy option?  will we be able to resist? 

Some of us will fall completely off the wagon leading to an abrupt ending to our journeys, some of us will fall off and go back to find out what the actual damage of our night out has been and then some of us will excel ourselves and do some background research on the restaurant, look up their menu prior to arriving and know what we are going to have and stick with it. 

However, sometimes the best intentions don't translate into actions. 

In class this week, we were talking about eating out and how more than the food being the problem, it's our behaviour.  We know what we could do, but our problem being food, we use it to fill the void of our emotions and then we use it because of our emotions.  

We treat our good behaviour with food, we punish our bad behaviour with food.   We celebrate and commiserate with food.  I have never thought to myself, well, it's my birthday this week so I will celebrate by doing a family swim? 

However, there is something else that happens when we eat out.  We get caught up in the emotion of over indulgence.  

We walk into the restaurant and it sweeps through us from the very first bread roll that's placed in front of us and it develops a live of it's own just like a rolling stone gathers moss. 

Your wondering what I'm talking about. 

Read the menu below and see if this has ever happened to you, you had the tools to make smart choices, you had the intentions to make the right choices and you didn't go to the restaurant starving but yet this is how the evening meal went.  

You’re Menu

Starters

A hearty bowl of" what the heck" with crusty warm rustic "I plan on enjoying this",

Washed down with a glass of "letting your hair down"

Salad

Crunchy mixed leaves, smothered in oil and buried deep under a mass of parmesan cheese, topped with "it's just a few salad leaves"

Mains

A plate of indulgence with a decadent creamy sauce of naughty with a side of fried "who cares"

Mashed potato, smooth with thick cream and lashings of pure gold stomach expander

Dessert

A large bowl of "in for a penny, in for a pound" encased in a thick layer of tomorrows guilt

Served with a bottle of our house "I’m out of control" wine

Please feel free to loosen your clothes before you eat your mains

The next day, you wake up to the fear, the hangover fear and the food fear and one of the best ways to combat these is with the FEAR FRY.  

The greasy breakfast that sets you up till you can think straight and really get caught up into the guilt of the previous nights affair. 

Did you ever hear the saying, "your eyes were bigger than your belly" and thought, have you seen me? 

Behaviour is a huge part of our problem, it's not just food, it's our mind that we need to convince.  

I say this as if I adhere to all of the Weight Watchers strategies thoroughly and I would love to say that I do, but, from experience, this is what I feel happens to me sometimes, the emotion of indulgence just knocks me off my feet. 

So next time that your going out for dinner with your great intentions, keep an eye on what happens when you get to the restaurant. 

Enjoy the Niptuck way, so you don't have to!