Saturday, June 30, 2012

Exercising self-control

My sister is home from London for a week vacation and as part of that there are a few places that she's been dying to go.

One of them is Wright's Chicken Farm. For those that live in MA, RI, or CT, you're probably familiar with this place. It's a family style restaurant that features rotisserie chicken and several other standard sides. People love it or hate, and unfortunately I love it.

Unfortunately, because it's pretty much all unhealthy, and because it's all you can eat.

And we're going tonight.

Menu:
Rolls
Salad
French fries
Pasta
Chicken

It's funny how before embarking on a weight loss journey you don't really stop to think about the hidden dangers here, and I'm pretty sure that on past trips I've probably eaten upwards of 5+ rolls thinking they were a "healthier" choice...but man oh man can bread be calorie heavy. And don't even get me started on how I can inhale the fries, because I don't even LIKE french fries but their fries taste like HEAVEN.

But, as with everything, you can minimize the damage with careful planning and self-control, so here's my plan...

-Drink lots of water
-Eat SLOWLY
-Eat lots of salad, and ask for it with the dressing on the side (ha my friends will hate me for this move since it's family style, but I don't care, I need to be able to control this)
-Limit my rolls to two (hey, it's an improvement)
-Avoid the pasta...I don't love it anyway, so no point in wasting calories on it
-Take the skin off the chicken...though I'm not going to lie, I'll steal a bite or two :-)

How do you prepare for eating out at buffets/all-you-can-eat/unhealthy restaurants?


7 comments:

  1. Here are a couple of tips:

    - Limit yourself to two rolls but make sure you pick the biggest rolls that are available!

    - Lick it, chew it, smell it, do what you need to do.....just don't swallow the chicken skin!


    ;)

    Seriously though, fill up on veggies, salad, avoid high calorie alcohol, drink water, cut off bits of fat, go for the smaller portions and if you're in any doubt about certain foods, just ask the waiter what the healthiest options are. They might be able to suggest certain foods to avoid like the plague.

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  2. Maybe eat a bit before you go. I sometimes try to "save up " calories for a restaurant meal but I'm always so hungry that it backfires and I stuff my face. Good luck.

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  3. Glad to be following your new blog :)

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  4. Dressing on the side????? How dare you! :p

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    1. Hahaha. I'm thinking perhaps we can actually just ask for two different bowls of salad, one with it on the side and one with it on.

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  5. Right now I just have to avoid, avoid, avoid. I seriously cannot be trusted around good rolls. I love them so much! My strategy would be to fill up on protein (no skin) and veggies as much as possible and then have a couple of bites of things you love and don't want to miss out on. Congrats on the new blog!

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  6. "It's funny how before embarking on a weight loss journey you don't really stop to think about the hidden dangers here..." So true! It's like you don't even think about where it goes or what it does before you start trying to eat healthy.

    Crazy to think how far you've come, eh?

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