Does eating out get any easier?

Maximus

Gold Member
At present I seem to feel "out of control" if I eat something cooked by anyone else! I think when everything is counted and synned, it is easier to have full control.

This weekend I felt out of my comfort zone - imagining all sorts of horrors (such as someone adding cream to sabotage my weight loss lol).

Possibly because it is the first time I have eaten out since beginning 9 weeks ago or so.

Am I normal(ish) to think this way? and will it improve?
 
I think deep down I know I've become a control freak! - wanted to go into the kitchens and "offer advice" recently:eek:

I'm not wanting to become a social leper and avoid these things. Probably take a while to find what works lol

Steve
 
I think most meals I eat out have syns in them, my usual are curries, lunch with girlfriends (which always includes pudding). But I think what is hard to deal with is the feeling you are out of control.

I try & make healthy choices & as most meals out are planned I save some syns.
 
Hi,

Eating out is my biggest worry because i do it alot. I don't go out drinking so this is my vice :)

On my first week of SW, my friend wanted to go out for tea and being the dutiful buddy, i couldnt say no. I thought it would be really hard but i chose lentil soup to start followed by a grilled Gammon Steak. The hardest part was having the baked potato rather than chips even after the waitress brought chips by mistake (she didnt look too impressed when i insisted on my baked potato!). Once i had eaten it, i didnt feel too bad and i still had a good first week loss. I refused to feel guilty because when the guilt creeps in, it tends to encourage me to binge on rubbish.

Its still early days but already i realise that if i make sensible enough choices, i don't have to give up my meals out.

Lifes too short :)
 
I try to be the one to make suggestions so that I can err on the side of caution and go to Harvester, Nando's, Toby and other SW friendly places. (Harvester being my absolute fave!)
Similar Nemesis, ordering a baked potato for the first time on SW and was petrified i'd get chips given to me! Shame restaurants can't do SW chips for us! :)
 
I often meet my husband for lunch on my one day off. he works opposite a Harvester and I always have a simply chicken with jacket potato and peas and stuff from the salad bar. i have the sour cream on the side and have a bit with it. never tried nandos, couldnt imagine it being slimming world friendly but might try it now. what do people pick?

i dont do takeaway very often (we prefer our own curry we make) and e often make our own chinese. we even make our own fish and chips with mushy peas. i actually like that we done it ourselves and saved the cash.
 
Probably the more you do it the more you will realise that you're not doing any harm. I eat out / takeaway at least once a week but sensible choices keep you within your syns and all is well come weigh in!
 
I've had a friend over to stay for Christmas and we have eaten out more than I normally would and NO it hasn't gotten easier for me!!! I hate not knowing exactly how many syns are in things!

First meal out was at the Curry Mile and I had Vegetable Jalfrezi and boiled rice. No popadoms, no naan, no chutnies!

Second meal out we went to Oklahoma café I had jacket potato with feta, mint, apple and beetroot with a side salad. No butter, no dressing!! I was freaking out thinking "Is there more than 42g of feta here?!"

Third meal out was in Fuse café. I ordered beans on toast (boring! could have made it at home!) no butter, but when it arrived it had loads of butter on! Furious! also a side order of taboule. Which was nice, but odd with beans on toast!

Then today I went to a pub in Bakewell and had jacket potato with beans and salad, no butter, no dressing!

I also had a tiny slice of a cake on New Year's Eve that my friend brought over that was some secret family recipe and she was so excited for me to taste it. Everyone at the party was practically orgasming with every mouthful so I knew I couldn't miss out but I had to wait until everyone had eaten the rest of it until there was a tiny bit left as I couldn't trust myself not to eat more.

AM I crazy? These certainly seem like the ramblings of a crazy person. But I just feel like I don't want some hidden ingredients that I can't even taste to ruin all my hard work.

How do other people enjoy meals out without going insane like me? Do you have to just guesstimate and hope for the best? Is the food directory the answer for me or is that not too useful either?
 
I'm either really stressy and end up not eating alot and so eat when I get home too or dont care and everything goes outa the window!! Not good combo lol.

I went out one night for a sober incontrol boogy while in uni and half way through the night I convinced myself the barman was deliberately serving me full-fat coke when I asked for diet! I panicked so much I stopped drinking and went home earlier than normal!!!

Thankfully I'm not so silly anymore but I think you need to find a comfortable medium and realise that life still happens, birthdays and parties will still go on and you will still loose weight even if its not that week and its the week after. Damage limitation is a phase which springs to mind x
 
I think you're right. Its easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. I always think "But what about weigh in on Tuesday!?" but when you think about one week in what is hopefully a lifetime of being slimmer it doesn't really matter...

Having said that I went for another Japanese meal in Cambridge yesterday and it was AMAZING! I had miso soup, some salmon rolls and one of those Bento Boxes that comes with rice, chargrilled salmon steak (one of the best tasting salmons I've ever eaten for sure!), salad and loads of unusual pickled veggies, all with plenty of soy sauce sloshed over it! A nice green tea to wash it down.

I definitely think Japanese is the way forward for SW as you can eat most of the stuff on the menu without going off plan too much.
 
Never tried japanese food but i dont really like fish and it doesnt like me so presumed i wouldnt be able to eat much so never actively gone out and tried it. But i have heard miso soup is amazing, one day!x
 
Yum yum. Sounds deeeelicious ! Which restaurant did you go to and whereabouts was it ?

Gail x
 
Eating out is not always easy but I find if I can view a restaurants menu online before I go then this really helps.
We dont tend to each out much but our favourites are Indian & Chinese.
Quite lucky really as they do have the low syn alternatives.

I also love the fact now places do provide more healthy options for us slimmers.
I love the low calorie pizza which Pizza Express now do too. How can you go out to a pizza restaurant and settle for a salad lol!

Some places do annoy me though. A few weeks ago we went out for a pub meal, it was a set 2 or 3 course, but both the starter & desserts were not sw friendly. It would of been nice to at least have the option for a fruit salad instead of only cheesecake, trifle or puddings with custard. xxxx
 
I think you can eat out and still be ok

Although I once went to harvestor and asked for chicken and rice and they bought chips and they told me to keep them and they would just bring me rice. I wasnt happy and almost lost the plot lol

I have found that some restaurants are very understanding of a dieters needs and others wont bend the rules at all. We sometimes go to a pub that does 2 for a tenner dinner and it does the most delicious steak and gammon both with chips I asked for mine with rice or a jacket spud as other meals in the offer have them with it so I figured it wouldnt be a big deal but they wouldnt let me swap. So I have gammon and ask them to leave the chips off and I have a side salad that I pay extra for :sigh:

x
 
julesmorris said:
By the way thanks Maximus for posting this question as I thought I was the only one who felt like this!!! xxxx

I have control issues with the food too.. I think I'm so scared of it not working that I can't not follow it to the letter, so relinquishing control to a stranger is a challenge.. But as a social creature eating out is something I'll have to learn to be senisble about and confident enough in my own judgement to be comfortable..

The baked potatoes in Oklahoma are delicious though so worth the stress I think.. As is the curry mile, not sure I could trust myself to resist a poppadom though :/
 
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