A big area of concern when people are watching their weight is going out to eat. Don’t you worry your pretty little face- it doesn’t need to be stressful! Here are some tips I find incredibly useful to save some calories when dining out.
1. Ask for a takeout container with your meal. It might sound odd, but if a restaurant gives particularly large portions, it might benefit you to pack half of it up to prevent you from force-feeding yourself the entire meal.
2. Lots of menus have great appetizers. If two of them sound good to you, order those as your meal! The smaller plates will help you control your portions while still being filling, and often you can find some great options.
3. Maybe an obvious one, but swap any sautéed side veggies for steamed (or a salad) to save the excess calories from the oil used.
4. On that note, dressing on the side is key so you can control how much you actually use. But people often forget that you can do that with things like pasta or burgers too- ask for the sauce on the side and you’ll typically use much less.
5. Make sure you read the entire menu- sometimes different meals will have awesome side dishes that aren’t listed elsewhere, and you can ask for that swap.
6. Food listed as fried, breaded, or smothered are going to come with extra calories. Opt for grilled, baked, broiled, etc, if you want to save some cals.
7. And most importantly, ask questions! People too often feel embarrassed to ask for substitutions or ask how a dish is prepared. Don’t worry, I promise it will not be the strangest thing your waiter has heard.
If you go out to eat infrequently, my personal philosophy is that you should enjoy your meal without worry. But I totally understand that many people want to save calories when eating out, so I hope these help!
