I am going to be heading out tonight to meet some friends for dinner. I love to go out to eat, and I love being with my friends even more. I am what you would call a social eater. I don't eat when I am depressed, or sad, or bored.... nope, I tend to eat too much when I am being social. I feel left out if I don't get to be a part of what everyone else is doing. Here is a little trick I do when going out to eat to ensure I stay within my calorie balance for the day. You can have your cake and eat it too!
Going out to eat can cost you more than a days worth of calories if you are not careful and one menu item could easily be over 1500 calories. That is why I always look up the menu first, before I head out. Most major restaurant chains will have their menu's online, and will also have a place were you can look up the nutrient value of said menu items. I will peruse through the menu and see what looks good and how many calories I will be consuming. Then I decide what is worth it and what is not.
I can approach this one of a couple different ways. Find something that looks good on the menu that falls within the calorie allowance I have - find something that looks amazing, and figure out what portion of that meal I can eat to keep balanced, and box up the rest for another meal - see if there is something that looks great that half the calories will be fine, and share with someone.
If you do this before you go, then you won't look like you are being picky and stuffy with your food, you will already know what you want, and you can just spend the rest of the time being out and enjoying the company.
