Losing Weight While Eating Out

No matter who you are and what kind of diet you are on there is going to come a time when you are going to end up going out to eat. But there doesn't have to be a problem with eating out and sticking to your diet. In fact there are numerous things that you can do to help lose weight while eating out, even if you need to veer away from your diet for the time being. Losing weight while eating out is all about what kinds of decisions you make in regards to the foods that you will be eating with your meal.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when it comes to eating breakfast out.

• Choose for the higher protein foods such as eggs, bacon, sausage and ham. And because of the fact that most of your breakfast foods are going to be greasy what you are going to want to do is to soak up any extra grease on your plate with a paper towel or a napkin.
• If your diet allows you to eat carbohydrates then you are going to want to choose a slice or even two slices of whole grain toast versus the other types of breads.
• If the restaurant does not offer you a choice of toast and only serves biscuits what you can do is eat half of the biscuit and try to get the restaurant to put some egg and cheese on it or you can do it yourself from your plate.
• If you are eating at a buffet you need to try and choose a buffet that offers cereal and fat free milk, more and more buffets are offering this choice so the chances are good that you will find this option. But when choosing your cereal you want to make sure that you choose a healthy cereal and to use the lowest fat milk you can find.
• Every buffet is also going to have numerous choices of fruit available for you to choose from. In addition to your cereal you are going to want to include some fruit, but you want to choose fruits that have the lowest amount of sugar. Your best choices for fruits that are lower in sugar are apples, pears, grapefruits, strawberries, and blueberries.
• Fruit juices are very high in sugars so you want to avoid these at all costs.
• If you drink coffee it is better for you to drink it straight but if you do use cream and sugar you want to only use a tiny bit.
• If you go to a restaurant many times they have cottage cheese on their menus, which is a very good choice when it comes to choosing a good breakfast. You can usually order some type of low sugar fruit to mix in with your cottage cheese to give it some more flavor and to make it a bit more filling.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when it comes to eating out for lunch or dinner.

• You want to avoid the sugar filled drinks, like fruit juice or soda, so instead order unsweetened tea or just stick with water.
• No matter what kind of lean meat you are ordering you are going to want to have it cooked without salt and if the restaurant cooks the meat in butter make sure you request that it is not cooked in butter. But the good news is that not all restaurants cook with butter, many are starting to use healthier methods of cooking, such as using a little bit of olive oil.
• If you are going to order some kind of appetizers either for lunch or dinner you want to stick with your healthier choices. Examples of this would be shrimp cocktail without crackers, stuffed mushrooms, or even broiled or baked chicken wings with a tiny bit of hot sauce.

• If you have to have desert when you are finished, which you should try to avoid, you should stick with a sugar free type of desert such as sugar free ice cream or even sugar free sorbet. Or even a cup of black coffee with a small scoop of ice cream instead of creamer is a healthy choice for desert.
• A great choice to order when eating out is a grilled chicken sandwich and you can make it healthy by ordering it without the mayonnaise. Rather than getting mayo simply use a flavored mustard or even regular mustard.
• Many people end up craving a burger when they are out to lunch, so if you feel like you just have to order a hamburger then what you are going to want to do is eat it with only half of the bread. You also want to make sure that you leave off the mayo and instead load it with lettuce, tomato and mustard.
• See if the restaurant offers vegetable sticks that are either lightly baked or even fried instead of French fries. If they don't you still want to skip the French fries.
• When you ordering steak something to keep in mind is that the more expensive the steak is the les fat it is going to contain. But if you do order a steak that has a lot of excess fat make sure you trim the fat off as best you can.
• If you are eating at a friend's and they are serving something that is high in fat and you just can't seem to resist you can make up for eating that meal by doing some extra cardio that evening or even add an extra mile to your nightly walk.
• You also want to watch your portions when you are eating out. According to recent research many people tend to overeat when they are eating out because you are served larger portions and you think you have to finish it all or you are wasting money. Instead of thinking about the money you need to think about your weight loss. You only want to eat until you are satisfied, never eat until you are full. And remember you can always bring home the extra food for another meal.
• When eating out you want to stick with your healthier meats. The best choices for meats when eating out are chicken, fish, lean red meat, turkey, duck, venison, lean pork chops, and quail.
• You want to try and avoid the pasta plates when you are eating out. The reason for this is that they are full of carbohydrates, offer very little protein (if any), and are loaded with a fattening sauce.
• You really should avoid drinking alcohol with your meals because of how much sugar it contains but if you feel like you have to have some with your meal then you want to make sure that you choose the low carb beers or a mixed drink that uses diet soda or sugar free juice.
• Make sure that you drink plenty of water before and during your meal. The more water you drink the more full you will feel and the less amount of food that you will eat.
• If you decide to order something like grilled chicken fajitas or another type of meal that is very large in portion size make sure you split it with your spouse or friend so that each of you is only getting half a portion.
• If you are attending a cookout of some kind make sure you look for meat or veggie trays to munch on or even beans rather than eating chips and dips.

• If you are going out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant when you order your meal make sure you ask for corn tortillas rather than flour tortillas. The reason for this is that the corn tortillas are going to be less likely to spike your insulin levels, which can cause you to store more fat.
• If ordering a salad, which is actually a good choice, make sure you stay away from the fattier types of dressings. Instead use your own oil and vinegar dressing or choose from the restaurants vinaigrette dressings. If you do choose the fattier dressings make sure you order it on the side so that you can lightly dip your fork into the dressing for each bite, this will help control how much dressing you are using.
• Make sure that you have eaten during the day, in fact it is best to eat at least 2 meals and 2 snacks before you go out to eat. The reason for this is if you haven't eaten all day you are going to be more likely to overeat because you are going to be starving before you even walk into the restaurant.
• Always avoid the fried foods; there are plenty of other choices available. For example a fried veggie plate is not considered healthy, instead asked for a steamed veggie plate.
• Avoid the fattening and creamy sauces that restaurants put on meats, veggies and pastas. All they are going to do for you is add more calories to your diet and make you feel full, not to mention the fact that the richness of these sauces is just another sign that they are fattening.
• A study was actually done on overeating in a restaurant and it has been shown that you are less likely to overeat when dining out if the restaurant is painted light blue.

Here are some tips on healthy snacks while on the road.

• If you are out on the road and need some kind of munchies from the gas stations make sure that you avoid the chips and other high salty foods. Instead choose some plain beef jerky and some bottled water. You can also choose lightly salted almonds or even low fat pretzels.
• Make sure you stay away from fruit juices because they are filled with excess sugar, calories and sodium.
• If you stop at a fast food place stay away from the greasy burgers and instead choose the grilled chicken sandwich with no special sauces.