Going out for a meal - help

[Trixie102]

Hi
This will be the first time since starting SW that I am going out for a meal and am in a state of panic. Before was on calorie controlled diet and saved up calories for that day- have saved syns in the hope this will help!
What advice can people give- what is the best things to eat etc, also best resturants? Only me and a female friend going so shouldn;t be too bad- but want another weight loss this week!!!
Thanks
Tracy

 

[red1983]

Hey Tracy,

What sort of place are you and your friend going to? Is there any way you cold go on line and check the menu out before you get there?

K x

 

[The Maid]

meal out

I sympathise with you. The first time I went out for a meal after starting SW was at Nando's. I checked their website beforehand and used the SW online syn calculator to work out the best things to have. In my case it didn't help as I couldn't relax with my meal whilst the rest of the family tucked into more fattening things such as chips. Second time we went to Frankie & Benny's and my OH and I both had steak, I had the jacket potato (which was awful and I complained online and got £5 off our next meal!) whilst he had chips. My eldest son, who eats for England, and I shared the Godfather dessert (brownies & icecream and other sweet bits) so I had less than half. I really enjoyed the dessert and still recorded a good weight loss that week. Since then we have been back just for dessert and drinks and I have thoroughly enjoyed it and continue to have a weight loss every week on the Extra Easy plan. My advice is go and enjoy your food, don't stuff yourself, enjoy being out with your friend as one meal shouldn't have much affect on your weight loss unless you have a very high fat meal. SW is about having the freedom to live a normal life and relationship with food. A good idea is that where ever you go make sure you have plenty of vegetables as they will fill you up and that is the principle of Food optimising anyway.

 

[Trixie102]

Thanks for your advice, Will go onto an EE day as not decided where we are going too yet, only have about an hour to eat before going to theatre, so may have to skip dessert- even though that one 'The Maid' mentioned looked super yummy last time I was an Frankie and Bennie's.
May try Pizza Express as here they have a new low fat pizza and missing pizza!
Tracy

 

[HellieCopter]

The Pizza Express pizza is good - it will still be quite a lot of syns though. It's around 500 calories. It has the middle cut out and the salad in the centre. Ask for no dressing if you want to save a few extra syns too. (I was in there yesterday!)

It's easy to panic when you're eating out, but a bit of sensible thinking can save you. There are loads of things you can have and still be within plan. Depends on where you go, but it can be done. Curry is probably the hardest thing to manage but even that is do-able!

And if you want to be reeeeally angelic, think about people with dietary restrictions who ask for particular stuff (I have a friend who's lactose intolerant and can't have butter, milk, cream etc. She always asks the kitchen for something specific and they make it for her). Do that for yourself! Tell them you want a plain chicken breast with a salad or grilled vegetables...whatever!

Also...if you're really just wanting to have a blow out, which we all do from time to time, then flexi-syn your day and carry on as normal the next.

Totally up to you, eat out, have fun but stay on plan. Eat out, have fun but splurge!

Whatever you choose...enjoy it

 

[Button]

My consultant kind of suggested that pizza is the worst offender synwise - all that bread dough and cheese :S Seem to be quite high syn in my red/green book, and I could never just eat one slice! Those pizza express ones with salad in the middle sound fab though, they're probably much better.

I had curry on a green day last Wednesday and it was gorgeous. I saved up my sins through the day, then had a chicken biriani and counted the chicken as a healthy extra. Wasn't sure if I could deduct 6 for the chicken so just counted it as the whole 12.5. Ate a spoonful of my boyfriend's bombay potatoes too - counted it as 3.5 for half a portion. So all for 16 syns! Told myself it was a a 15 syn day and ate one less the next day. Easy! Vegetable biriani is low on green too.

Have you got your red/green book - the one that they give you in your first class? It has lots of listings in the middle for normal takeaway/restaurant food. Chinese looks really do-able on a green day too. They have listings for greek, mexican, all sorts in there.

Have fun and enjoy a lovely evening! I love going on 'dates' with my girl friends.

 

[Trixie102]

Thanks, really wanted pizza but think you are right about the one slice problem! Plus garlic bread too yum yum. We have a chinese buffet place so that may be good as I will be able to pick what I want or you can pick fresh ingredients and get it cooked for you. Will let you know what I had, but will have to save some syns for ice cream in the interval!!!

 

[Sam35]

chinese buffet is good if you have the willpower you can stock up on the rice, noodles etc.... make it extra easy and you can have the meaty things too may need to be synned for the sauces, but I love chinese, i think its one of the most SW friendly restaurant/takeaway meals

 

[Tinkerbell85]

Hi
This will be the first time since starting SW that I am going out for a meal and am in a state of panic. Before was on calorie controlled diet and saved up calories for that day- have saved syns in the hope this will help!
What advice can people give- what is the best things to eat etc, also best resturants? Only me and a female friend going so shouldn;t be too bad- but want another weight loss this week!!!
Thanks
Tracy

Hey Tracy
how u doing? Good luck on the plan its great but depending on what restaurant you go to its best to look at an online menu or through your syn directory to choose the best syn values.
I tend to do this before i go out for a meal and plan ahead to make sure im not using tons of syns.
x

 

[Trixie102]

All my careful planning went to waste. Worked out what could have at Pizza Express or chinese buffet, but when got there both had a 30 minute wait and as limited for time couldn't wait! Ended up going somewhere else!!! Ordered a pasta dish with tomato sauce (limit damage) but they brought the wrong thing! It was yummy but had a pesto dressing, gave up at point and ate some garlic bread too (as well as a couple of glasses of wine I had allowed for).
Great night had and think that will just be my plan in the future, have flexi-synned all week so hope it will balance out. Thanks for all your advice x

 

[kevandju5]

All my careful planning went to waste. Worked out what could have at Pizza Express or chinese buffet, but when got there both had a 30 minute wait and as limited for time couldn't wait! Ended up going somewhere else!!! Ordered a pasta dish with tomato sauce (limit damage) but they brought the wrong thing! It was yummy but had a pesto dressing, gave up at point and ate some garlic bread too (as well as a couple of glasses of wine I had allowed for).
Great night had and think that will just be my plan in the future, have flexi-synned all week so hope it will balance out. Thanks for all your advice x

Ah, the best intentions!! Glad you had a good night out - that's the most important thing, and I'm sure it will all balance out. x