Introduction
The hardest thing when dieting is eating out. Going out for meals with family and friends can become a very stressful time in the world when dieting. Restaurants do not care about your macros, they don’t care about how many calories you need to eat a day. So eating out and sticking to your calories can be a real challenge! Luckily there are a few things you can do to lower the calories, stick to your macros, yet still have a nice meal and a lovely time. In this blog post we are going to cover a few of our go-to tips, so let us begin!
Sides and Extras
I’ll stick my hand straight up, sides and extras are my downfalls, when I go out I want to order all the sides, fries, rice, garlic bread, wings, the lot! I will also add extras, like bacon to my burger or cheese to my fries. However, sides and extras contain calories and each one you add will add calories to your meal! You can also swap out calories but we will touch on that later. By not adding sides to your meal and just getting the basic’s, you will find that you can save yourself a lot of calories in the long run.
Most of this is self-control and will take some time to “train” yourself up to not go crazy on the sides and extras. Saying no is a powerful tool. For example, when ordering a burger, you may be tempted to add Bacon, or Extra cheese, or another burger patty. Well if you just get the standard you will be saving all those calories. The same goes for sides, burgers come with chips, but you might be tempted to get cheese fries or garlic bread. Well, holding off on the extra and sides will let you save loads of calories.
Like we have already said this is all about self-control and will take time to train yourself up to say no to the extras on the menu, but doing so will lower the calories in your meal.
Planning
Planning is a big one, I would say 90% of restaurants have their menu up online now. So looking at their menu beforehand is so simple and can save you loads of calories. Check the menu ahead of time, look at the calorie information and you can plan your meals ahead of time.
You can work out what food you are going to order, what drinks, what sides and extra, you can then move calories around throughout the week to fit that meal. The more time you have to plan the easier it will be. We understand that sometimes it can be a last-minute thing, phone call for a meal that evening. In those cases, you have to deal with that as best as you can. Hope it is a restaurant that you have been before and know the menu, or prepare as best as possible in the time that you have available.
Swaps/changes
Our last tip is the one you will find yourself using the most. Swapping out items or making changes! When eating out most places will give you the option to swap out items and bits of your meal to help you out. For example, Fries for rice would be a sensible swap and a massive calorie saver. Swapping out items can reduce the calories in that meal by a lot!
A few examples of swaps or change might be to remove the cheese or remove the bun from a burger, you could even look into removing or changing the sauces with the meal, or even choosing a different cheese, or removing cheese altogether. Remember that swaps and changes don’t just apply to food, you can also apply them to drinks, A calorie-free Soda, Sugar-free Sodas. Also, you can get Calories free beers and larger now. These can be a massive save when looking to lower the calorie content of a meal out.
Conclusion
As you can see there are a few things you can do to help reduce your calories when eating out. Using these tips together you can save yourself loads of calories. Combine that with the ability to move calories around (see our blog here to find out how) and you should be able to eat any meal, in any restaurant.
All in all, don’t get stressed about eating out, one meal isn’t going to ruin your progress, at the end of the day, don’t worry about eating out and enjoy your meal out, and if you do eat too much, just get back on track in the morning. Remember to find out your Macros, Download our free app here!
Written by Kieran Blacker
Kieran is the CEO and Founder of Sets & Reps. He decided to make an application that helped people get a gym workout when not at the gym. He designed, Coded and built the application himself.
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