Here’s a familiar scenario…
You’re heading out for dinner with your partner on date night or with some friends; living life to the full is a value, but so are your health and fitness goals.
How do you do both and succeed?
If you’re like me, you’ve certainly overdone it with dining out in the past. That burger and fries, or fettuccine carbonara can be incredibly tempting when you’re hungry and looking for something on the menu that makes you salivate. Especially when our ‘healthy’ daily staples (chicken and broccoli) aren’t flavoursome enough to compete with the tantalising menu options!
You’ve been healthy all week and on these occasions our mindset tends to be one of “I deserve to splurge”. So from the moment you wake up, the fact you’re planning on letting loose that night, can lead you into a cycle of questionable decisions.
You decide to eat less throughout the day. You skip breakfast, have a chicken salad for lunch, drink lots of water and have a few coffees. You dress up looking forward to a great night out.
Problem is that you arrive at dinner starving! The entrée can’t come fast enough. You order a pre-dinner cocktail while you peruse the menu. You bypass the salads and steaks because you want a flavour hit! You’re hungry and you want something that’s going to really taste great. You can always work it off in the gym tomorrow – or not.
You enjoy your meal but later you have regret. You feel sickly full and the next day you pay for all that grease and carb overload. You vow not to do it again… until next time…
This was always where I came unstuck. I’d have a great week of eating and then I’d let go at the weekends and my progress would stall.
This doesn’t have to be the case.
Here’s some simple changes I have made to ensure I enjoy a great night out without the calorie overload and regret.
Recently I had a night out to Spice Temple in Melbourne with my husband. Our booking was for 6:30 pm, followed by a comedy show at 8pm. I’d been up since 4:30 am ready for training my clients at 5:15am, getting kids school lunches, doing the school drop and pick up and getting the kids ready and then dropping them at mums for the night – it was going to be a long day!
Despite my crazy busy day, things unfolded just as I planned.
The secret to my success is eating my delicious nutritious fat blasting meals, as per usual, approx every 3 hours. By 5pm in the afternoon I’d eaten 5 meals and this meant when I arrived at dinner, I wasn’t famished and didn’t have eyes bigger than my stomach (yes I usually do!) I said no thanks to the cocktain that was offered (a great way to blow a whole lot of calories and impair fat metabolism) I opted for some sparkling water instead.
Because I was satisfied with the good food I’d eaten all day, I didn’t feel the need to reward myself with food. So I ordered the Jiangxi Kingfish with Asian Greens and also enjoyed some of Simon’s steak in black bean sauce and a little of his rice.
Afterwards we walked down to Trampoline gelati on Southbank. I LOVE ice cream and I do have a habit of ending a meal with something sweet, even if it’s a piece of fruit! But again it’s a bit of a calorie trap. Simon ordered an ice cream and I enjoyed a few bites before we headed off to the show and had a couple of hours of laughs before going home.
Home again by 11pm I was hungry and had my 7th meal of the day, a nutritious low fat, low calorie chocolate honeycomb casein custard with ½ cup of blueberries and fresh pineapple and a cup of tea. I headed off to bed content and happy. I wasn’t full and avoided regret by overloading on calories and alcohol and staying on track for my goal.
And because alcohol also impairs our sleep so the bonus of not drinking every time I go out is a fabulous nights sleep and waking up naturally at 7am, recharged and ready for a new day.
You may be thinking that I exercise a lot to warrant so much food! On the contrary, I exercise just 3-4 hours a week, every week! That’s a topic for another newsletter!
I love a special meal every now and then, but too many and I’m going to be going around in circles!
Success always leaves clues!
It’s how I’ve gotten in shape without dieting and deprivation.
Transformation Tip: Don’t go out starving! Make the best healthy choices you can all day so you don’t arrive at dinner famished!
