When trying to maintain a calorie deficit, eating out can be tricky. It’s difficult to know how many calories are in each dish offered on the menu. Even foods which seem to be lower in calories might be cooked with loads of oil or butter.
Here’s a couple of points to bear in mind and hopefully simplify your choices for you:
1) Choose your Restaurant Wisely
The best starting point is to choose a restaurant with care. If you choose a fast food chain like McDonalds or KFC, don’t be surprised if you can only eat a salad.
Thankfully, today more than ever there are health conscious restaurants cropping up. Try to find one near the town you’re thinking of eating in and go for it.
2) Research the Menu
Most restaurants have their menus online now and that means you can do your research BEFORE you get there. You can then plan your meal and roughly calculate the calories in all of the options to help you choose more wisely.
3) Drink Lots of Water
Drinking plenty of water before your meal helps us avoid overeating. We might only feel like 1 or 2 courses instead of the whole show if we’re well hydrated.
4) Skip the Starter or Dessert
3+ course meals are rarely needed by any of us. Most restaurants supply enough food in our main course to fill us substantially and provide us with enough calories as well. Before you decide to go all in, make a decision as to which you prefer – starter or desert, rather than both. You’ll keep your overall calorie count down and your pocket won’t get hit just as hard as an added bonus.
5) Ask How it Was Prepared
You could ask for your dressing to be brought on the side. Ask them not to use salt while preparing your meal. Request grilling and steaming to be the method of cooking used instead of frying.
6) Ask For it Your Way
Don’t be afraid to request that your food is cooked in a way that you choose. For example, grilling or steaming instead of fried. Restaurants work for your custom and so they should be happy to accommodate your needs. If they don’t, another restaurant will and they will lose a valuable customer.
7) Avoid Dishes with High Calorie Buzz Words
Try to avoid foods which are known to be extremely calorie dense and instead select foods which are less calorie dense –
For example:
Starter- Soup or salad are usually the better choices.
Main- Avoid dishes that contain cheese, cream, or pasta.
Side- Choose veggies instead of chips or onion rings
Dessert- Fruit salad is always a solid option with plenty of vitamins and fibre.
8) Ask for extra vegetables and eat them first
One can rarely eat “too many vegetables” for 2 reasons – 1) You’ll get sick of them before you eat 4-500 calorie worth. 2) They are full of fibre so you’ll be filled up very quickly with them.
This all means that your overall calorie count stays lower, you get lots of micro nutrients such as you vitamins and minerals and you will have less space and desire for other high calorie foods such as chips or dessert.
9) Avoid the Dip
If you can help it, avoid dips and sauces altogether. They tend to be very high in artificial sugars and are calorie dense.
If you really can’t do with out it, ask for your sauce or dip on the side rather than over your food. That way you can restrict now much you take and keep unnecessary calories down.
10) Substitutes
Scan the menu and then ask your server to substitute items you know have unnecessary calories, with something else on the menu that you know isn’t as calorie dense, fatty or sugary. Generally servers want to please you and provide great service so if they can accommodate you they will. You could request to have grilled meat or steamed veggies instead of fried or oven roasted.
11) Watch your drinking calories
Soft drinks and alcohol tends to be loaded with calories we forget about. Stick to water if you can which has zero calories and will actually help your metabolic function and aid digestion.
12) The Bigger Picture
Consider your total calories across the week. If you have a daily recommended allowance of 1500 calories, that’s 10,500 for the week. If you get to Saturday evening when you’re going to eat out and your weekly allowance is sitting at 9300, you’re still probably going to maintain a calorie deficit for the week. (Unless you go absolutely nuts. Or you choose to eat in McDonald’s.)
13) Relax and Enjoy Yourself
Being a Real Life Athlete means you aren’t a complete weirdo or robot. You make your fitness and nutrition goals applicable to your actual lifestyle and have a sustainable view in mind. Most of us eat out as a treat so it’s probably not a bad idea to enjoy it and make the most of it rather than worrying about counting calories.