Lose weight & eat out. Here’s how

Eating out is a love/hate relationship because eating out is fun, but the calories are ridiculous! Below are the things I do on the day when eating out, which cuts out a lot of calories. If you eat out a lot and follow these tips, you’ll probably lose weight too.

Eat out for lunch. If you eat out at lunch time you can modify what you eat the rest of the day. If you eat out at dinner time, you can’t really cut out or cut back on the next meal, until the following day. People also tend to add a dessert when they go out to dinner. It’s not as common to have dessert after lunch. Another good thing about eating lunch out is that you can burn off some of those pounds with an afternoon or an early evening walk or workout.

Say no to rice. Think of rice as an unnecessary side dish. I always tell the waiter “no rice.” I don’t want it on my plate and I don’t want the extra 300 calories.

Avoid items with wheat. Shun the bread & croutons, which have butter, fat, salt and extra calories. Avoid dishes with pasta since those also tend to have more calories and fat. Stay away from fried foods, which are coated with flour to get that crispy exterior.

Eat your calories, don’t drink them. Save your high calorie drinks for the weekends. If you don’t like water, ask for flavored, unsweetened tea. Don’t add sugar. If you like sugar in your tea, you shouldn’t order black teas or strong green teas. Go for a lighter tea, like chamomile. If you need it sweet, buy a box of Truvia natural sweetener made with stevia, and bring a packet with you.

When I have plans to eat lunch out. Here are other things that I do. I exercise that morning, hard. I skip my mid-morning snack. I plan an early lunch, like at 11:30 or 12:00pm, which gives me plenty of time to burn off that meal the rest of the day. Eating this early also helps since I won’t be starved by the time I get there. I skip my mid-afternoon snack or I eat something small, like a piece of fruit. I also eat an early dinner.

Don’t worry about being hungry by omitting the rice, soda, pasta and/or bread, there’s a lot more calories in those meals than you think. Instead of a 1600 calorie meal, you may be able to cut the calorie count down to 800, which is still too high, but much better. Since I’m lowering or omitting my typical morning and afternoon snacks, I’m probably coming out even compared to how many calories I normally eat at home. Definitely try these suggestions; you’ll feel full, but not that awful, tummy-aching feeling of being stuffed, and unable to do anything but being a couch potato for the rest of the day.