How to lose weight while eating out

January 12, 2009 | By Valen | In Weight loss plan

After knowing my metabolic type and my daily calories requirement to lose weight, what I need to do next is to create my daily meal plan following the meal planning guide given in The Diet Solution Program.

I’ve tried before following the meal plans from Isabel’s program for a couple of days and felt comfortable, so now it’s time to come up with a full weekly meal plan. This will help me do my grocery shopping and plan my cooking chores in advance.

Of course I don’t cook every day. I still eat out a couple of times each week, particularly during weekends. I know, eating home cooked meals EVERY single day can be pretty boring, huh? So sometimes it’s nice and fun to eat out at a restaurant for a change.

Question is: How to lose weight while eating out? How can you enjoy restaurant foods while at the same time making sure it will not sabotage your weight loss plan? Below are some ‘rules’ to safeguard your weight loss plan…

1. Visit vegetarian restaurants

In order to be on the safe side, visit restaurants which offer only vegetarian meals. This is not to say that non-vegetarian meals are bad. With non-vegetarian restaurants, you have to take extra care to make sure that you are not eating high-calorie or high-fat foods.

As an example, ordinary chicken meat served in most restaurants is usually laden with huge amounts of fat. Lean chicken meat, on the other hand, is good for you, but not all restaurants offer lean chicken meat as part of their menus. With vegetarian restaurants, you will be more likely to end up on the safe side.

2. Let the salad dressing go

Salads are good for quick weight loss, provided no dressings are added. Salads are nothing but raw vegetables in chopped form. Raw vegetables, as you might be aware, help you burn fat by boosting your metabolic rate. However, the salad dressing that is provided in most restaurants is rich in calorie. So whenever you ask for salads, make sure to instruct them to remove the salad dressing from the top.

3. Stay away from buffets

A lot of the foods you see at buffet tables are rich in calorie content. These foods are cooked in bulk with a large amount of oil, thereby not suitable for those who are looking forward to shedding some pounds. If you really want to eat from buffets, make sure you steer clear of fatty foods and choose the salads and other healthier alternatives instead.

4. Control your portions

Check the amount of food you are going to eat before you take that bite. If you think that the food provided to you exceeds your allowed portion control limit, eat according to your portion limit, and then pack the leftovers home as your lunch for the next day. Most restaurants will have boxes for their patrons to pack leftovers.

There is nothing wrong with eating at a restaurant once in while, as long as you know what to eat and how much to eat so that it will not spoil your weight loss plan. So go ahead and appease your taste buds!