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Post by bbbearsmom on Mar 29, 2024 22:50:35 GMT
Day 30 Stay in Control When Eating Out
We are social creatures, and we eat away from our homes and have social occasions in our homes. During all the socialization sometimes, it can be hard to stay on plan. Beck covers strategies we can use to make an easier time of it.
One thing that is important is to plan. Nowadays, a lot of restaurants have their menus online with nutrition information so we can plan before we go. Some people plan and don’t even look at the menu at the restaurant, so they don’t get swayed away from their choice. Others order first so they aren’t temped by what others order. If the occasion is a potluck one you can always make sure to bring something healthy to eat.
Another point is to plan how much you are going to eat of the food. I often only eat half of my food and take the rest home. Some people will ask the waiter to put half of the food in a to-go container before bringing it to the table, others will ask for a container at the beginning to take the food off of the plate themselves before they start to eat.
Beck suggests that you rehearse withstanding cravings while at the restaurant. Also, during the meal give yourself credit for what you did well. If afterwards you are having sabotaging thoughts because you didn’t eat what you wanted work on those thoughts including figuring out how you can have some of what you want.
Don’t be shy about speaking up at restaurants and asking for what you want and how you want your food prepared. Order smaller portions, really think about how much you need to eat, just because you are eating out doesn’t mean you need to eat more food. If you are at a buffet, family style restaurant, or a social occasion, with the food laid out look over everything before you decide what you will have. Decide if you want smaller portions with more variety or larger portions of a few foods.
While we are eating away from home, we need to practice what we know. To me that means paying attention to hunger and satisfaction, eating slowly and mindfully. I’m real big on chewing thoroughly.
Beck also asks us to reconsider our attitude about special occasions, parties, celebrations, and so on. Remember there are a lot of these throughout the year and going off plan for each one can add up over time to the point of gaining weight or slowing down your weight loss. Both of those things can cause further problems because it can discourage you and it can be hard getting back on the horse. Also remember the resistance and giving-in muscles, which one do you want to strengthen?
How are you doing in eating out/away from home/at special occasions?
Do you have sabotaging thoughts about doing this?
What do you do to be successful at this?
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Post by bbbearsmom on Mar 29, 2024 22:56:23 GMT
The only time I eat out now is breakfast with my friend. It is always a lot of points/calories, but it could be worse. For example, I could have fried eggs instead of poached eggs, or three pieces of French toast instead of two. I'm working on fitting it into my week. My routine when we did go out was to look over the menu online to decide what I would order. Usually stuck to it when at the restaurant and then would bring half of the entree home. For parties and dinner at someone's house I mentally rehearse the good habits I will follow, pay attention to my hunger and satisfaction, if I become obsessed with something, walk away from the food, and chew thoroughly.
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Post by susan092907 on Mar 30, 2024 10:39:27 GMT
I always study the menu beforehand on line if it's available, and I plan what I'm going to eat. But lots of times there are specials that don't show up on the online menu, so if something sounds really good, I'm flexible. I limit portion sizes and stay aware of my hunger/satiation levels. I never hesitate to bring some home if the servings are too large. At someone's house, I work on eating per hunger/satiation also. And I always try to work around the eating away from home, by adjusting what else I eat during the day or during the week as necessary.
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Post by ermabom on Mar 30, 2024 12:44:54 GMT
I have always studied the menus ahead of time when posted because I am a vegetarian and I want to make sure I can get something decent to eat. It is much easier these days with so many restaurants having their menus online. However, we rarely eat out any more. We just don't feel the need to do it and prefer the food cooked at home. So we only eat out when traveling and these days, I'm not traveling much.
So this is easy.
When I used to travel for work, I often didn't get to pick the restaurants as I was going out with clients and their needs came first. I would often just eat breakfast and dinner or breakfast and lunch so that I wouldn't overeat because I had no idea what was in the food calorie-wise. My SO and I still do this a lot when we travel. Breakfast and dinner usually so that we can spend the entire day doing something without worrying about lunch or waiting in lines for food.
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lizlor
Transcendent Member
Posts: 1,159
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Post by lizlor on Mar 31, 2024 6:29:53 GMT
I usually look at the menu ahead of time and try and select healthyish items…except when I don’t. When I’m on plan and making good choices it goes well. I will treat Easter dinner as a celebration but will try to eat in moderation.
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Post by surfgirl on Mar 31, 2024 21:19:29 GMT
Like most of you, I also try to scan a menu online beforehand to see what I will order. To be honest, we normally eat out only once a week at an Asian veg place that has pretty healthy food so I just need to not eat much rice with my meal and I'm good to go. But we just got back from a two week holiday in Europe and I decided beforehand that I was going to try what I liked, but not to excess. I pretty much stuck to that, trying a waffle once, chocolate samples from a shop once, cheese was eaten several times but I was also walking 15k-30k steps per day and my cardiologist isn't worried about it. I'm still about 5 pounds up from just before the holidays, so I don't think I gained much during the trip with the excessive walking and all, but I still have the holiday gains to get rid of now.
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Post by hpeterson1951 on Apr 2, 2024 16:27:43 GMT
When I was really focused on WW, I would look at the menu before hand, ask for things without butter and separate 1/2 of it to take home right away.
I haven't been that dedicated in a long time. I know what to do, I just need to do it again. I do skip the bread that comes to the table.
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