I’m excited about this post, and I think a lot of you will be too!  Let’s face it, as much as we try to meal prep and plan our meals, sometimes we are in a pinch and need to eat a meal on the road or away from home.  Maybe you have a job that has a lot of dinners and lunches with clients that you wine and dine, or travel a lot, and that requires a lot of eating out.  I thought I’d share some of my favorite tips and tricks for making healthy choices when eating out.

I’ll preface this by saying that when you are really trying to be mindful with your nutrition, lose weight, build muscle, etc., you should avoid eating out as much as you can.  Not all restaurant meals are unhealthy, but when you eat out you cannot really control what and how much you are eating as well as you can when you prepare and cook your own meals.  With that said, we all like to get out of the house and enjoy a meal out with our friends and loved ones.  Live a little!!

Here are the parameters I try to follow when I am out (NOT ON CHEAT MEAL NIGHT!) and looking at what to order:

• Stay away from fried anything— fried chicken is certainly delicious, but it’s not healthy!
• Salads are a good option, but leave off the croutons and cheese if you can. They are nothing but empty calories. Stick with vinaigrette dressings and always order dressings on the side.
• Stick with grilled lean proteins—fish, chicken, etc.
• Avoid creamy sauces, cheese, and butter sauces. These usually add hundreds of calories.
• Avoid pasta and rice dishes. They are chock full of of added butter and SALT and have way more carbs that you probably need.
• Send the chips and bread back.
• Look at menus and nutrition facts ahead of time so you are prepared and will be less tempted to order something off your “plan”.
• You can always ask for your food to be prepared without butter or ask to have things grilled.
• I will almost ALWAYS order a side salad instead of the rice/fries/potato option

 

I also thought I’d share some of our go-to meals we’ll order when we need to eat on the run:

Chipotle—

Order the burrito bowl with chicken, ½ as much brown rice, or no rice at all.  No beans, no cheese, no sour cream.  Pico, hot sauce, a tiny bit of corn, and lots of lettuce!  Guac on the side.

Chick-Fila—

Grilled nuggets with a side salad.  Vinaigrette dressing on the side.  Their market salad is a good option too but doesn’t have a lot of protein.

PeiWei—

Did you know you can get ANY of their bowls steamed with the sauce on the side?!  I love this option, and will get it with the spicy sauce on the side and use just a tiny bit to dip my veggies in.  Watch how much of the rice you eat, though, and order brown or white rice, but not fried rice.

Ghengis Grill—

I can almost eyeball my protein amount and can get a ton of veggies!!!  The healthier sauces are usually spicy, but try to avoid the sweeter ones to save calories.

Jason’s Deli—

The Turkey Wrap is your best option outside of the salad bar.  The soups are pretty much salt licks, and don’t even look at the nutrition facts for the sandwiches.  To save even more calories, order the wrap with no ranch dressing or on the side.

Rock Fish/ Seafood places—

Stick with grilled white fish (no butter) and grilled or steamed veggies with no butter. You can also do boiled shrimp or crab!  YUM!!!

Breakfast / Brunch—

Go with egg-white and veggie omelets or scrambles, and plain oatmeal. You can add Splenda and cinnamon to your oatmeal!  Avoid biscuits, pancakes, pastries, waffles, bacon, sausage. and pretty much all the good stuff. L  Brunch is another one of my favorite cheat meals!!

Mi Cocina/ Mexican Restaurants—

We love the Mico Rico salad from Mi Cocina!  Again, leave off the cheese and bacon but otherwise you’re pretty set.  Chicken fajitas and chicken fajita salads are probably your best choice if you can’t find grilled options on the menu.  Just watch the rice/beans/chips.

Sushi / Asian Restaurants—

Sushi is usually a pretty clean meal, especially if you’re not ordering rolls with sauces or tempura batter.  Sashimi is a great option as well.  Asian restaurants will usually give you the option to get your entrée steamed, so try that as well.

Pizza—

Seriously, just save this for a cheat meal.  Anything else will be disappointing!  If y’all have ideas on how to make restaurant pizza a clean meal, let me know, I’m all ears!!

American / Bar Restaurants—

A grilled chicken salad can be found almost anywhere, but again look at the toppings and dressing choices.  For example, most of Chili’s salads have a RIDICULOUS number of calories, but appear to be “healthy”.  I will sometimes do a grilled fish, or turkey burger as options too.

DRINKS—

Sidenote: Alcohol is almost entirely void of any nutritional value.  You want to lose weight quickly?  Cut out alcohol for two weeks and see what happens.  That said, I love the occasional cocktail, so here are my favorite “skinny” options:

• Skinny Margarita
• Vodka soda (NOT TONIC) with extra lime
• Wine
• A light beer
• Diet Coke with vodka or Malibu and lime
• Avoid frozen drinks, craft cocktails (those are my favorite), sweeter cocktails, and blended drinks

Stick to your guns!  It’s not easy to start or stick to a lifestyle of clean eating.  If it were, everyone would do it.  However, I can promise you that every healthy choice you make will give you more confidence and motivation to keep making more of them.  Your body will thank you and you won’t feel guilty for sabotaging all of your hard work in the gym.  Keep working hard!  Remember, I’m always listening and willing to help, so feel free to email me at Lipglossandlifting@gmail.com.  I just started a Facebook page, too, so give it a like (search for Lipgloss and Lifting)!

Till next time,

-Mere