My Strategy to Survive the Restaurant
28 03 2008 
Tonight I’m headed to the “Swamp House” with my parents. I’ve already been informed that we’re eating at their favorite catfish restaurant, so I’m trying to mentally rehearse my plan of action. I don’t know if I’ll partake of fried catfish. I looked it up this past week in a couple places this week and I’ve found it’s about 5 points for 3 oz fillet at www.calorieking.com and the WW book just says 12 points for one fillet. I guess that just depends on the size. Throw in a hush puppy and slaw and were looking at a points overload. Here’s how I’ll try to manage this situation. (This is tough because I’ve heard nothing but fantastic reviews about this restaurant!)
- Research the points of possible available foods (even if they’re estimates like these) before going to the restaurant. Example- fried catfish [12 points for 6 oz], grilled chicken [4-6], slaw [4-5], hush puppies [6 points for 3 oz], baked beans [5], green beans [1], plain potato [3], etc
- If I’m really hungry before getting to the restaurant, eat an apple or something light and small to tame it. I don’t want to walk in starving.
- Reduce my usual morning/afternoon points intake by about 2 so that I can use them at dinner.
- Order water as my beverage.
- Don’t eat the bread! In this case, it’s the hush puppies with cheese dipping sauce. Yikes! It sounds wonderful, and I know it is. BUT I’m in weight loss zone, and they’re not worth it this time around. I’m sure I’ll get to eat them many times in the future.
- Order something grilled- unless I can work my points around a fillet of fried catfish. If it’s a grilled catfish or chicken sandwich, only eat 1/2-3/4 of the bun. No cheese, no mayo, no tarter sauce.
- Skip the fries and order veggies. I find a lot of restaurants like this one offer green beans, turnip/collard greens, cabbage, etc. The problem is that they add a lot of oil, sugar, and meat fat to make them taste oh so good. If I get 2 sides, I try to choose a plain potato or plain sweet potato and one of the aforementioned veggies.
- When I’m satisfied (NOT STUFFED!), put my napkin over my plate to keep me from picking. The bread basket, too, if necessary!
- Obviously no dessert unless it’s one small taste of someone else’s dessert. If I feel at the moment I can’t handle just one bite, I’ll just skip it. (Be aware of those TRIGGER FOODS!)
Okay, I’ve worked it out in my head, and I’ve documented it on this blog. Anyone else have suggestions for how they handle restaurants?
Have a great weekend!
Home scale: 162.5
* Accomplished today
It sounds like you have a great plan all worked out — good for you! If the restaurant has a website, see if their menu is posted online. Or, look them up in the phone book and call to see what entree options are available. If you have access to a fax machine, they might fax you a menu? Going into the restaurant knowing what you will order ahead of time really helps! And, eat that apple before you go — who knows how long you will have to wait for a table or for your food to arrive. You don’t want those hushpuppies to satisfy the pre-dinner munchies. Good luck! I look forward to reading how it went!
That sounds like an awesome plan! I follow a lot of the same guidelines too. One thing that I do is if DBF gets something that I would have ordered before my lifestyle change I ask for one bite. He knows that I can only have one, so he doesn’t let me have anymore. It works, because I still get to taste the totally yummy stuff, and that’s all I really need…a taste
It’s amazing how satisfied I feel with this method.
Good for you! I should do this EVERY time I eat out! Think of how much success I’d have! Can’t wait to hear how it went! (:
Hate to be a “nag” …but you HAVE to update us and let us know how your dinner out went? LOL
Mmmm fried catfish. I do oven fried catfish all the time to tame my cravings because I love it! I hope your dinner out went as planned–you certainly thought it out very well.