Ah, the past 3 months have been magical but a little frustrating on the weight loss field. I started dating one of my friends and now he's my boyfriend (it's been 11 years). It's magical to me that someone likes me at this weight and all.
We do tend to eat out a lot, so I've put 10 pounds back on. Drat! He is very supportive, and he wants to lose some more weight too (he's already lost about 70 and been at a plateau for a bit, go him!)
I can try to do some more cookin' in and see if he'll cook too. What other hints do you have for going on dates and still losing weight? Thanks
It is possible to eat out (although I certainly think it's a good idea to do more home cooking).
Plan, plan, plan. Go online and look at the nutrition information provided (most restaurants have something on their websites to look at). Decide on what you're going to order before you even get there.
Avoid high calorie, high sodium options. Don't be afraid to ask for certain things --for example the other day I asked if I could substitute something for the fried potatoes that came with the omelette and I was offered cottage cheese or sliced tomatoes. Restaurants will use less oil, less salt, make substitutions, put sauces on the side, etc if you ask. Sometimes you might have to pay a little extra but it's worth it to get something healtheir.
My husband and I often split meals. Let's face it, many places have huge portions. There is more than enough to share. Sometimes, we've even taken home leftovers after sharing a meal--can you believe that? And, we are not leaving the place hungry! If we don't find something we agree on, then I ask the wait staff to bring me a to go box with the meal. I split it in half before I even start eating then I've got a second meal for the next day.
Cooking dates can be really fun! Make yourself a delicious, healthy picnic and bike or hike to a picnic spot. Exercise AND delicious healthy food AND romantic picnic! Brilliant!
Ditto here. I can attest that the last 18 years have been magical but I`m 40lbs heavier. I do think it has something to do with contentment.
We also tend to eat out more than we probably should. It`s difficult to stay on track when you can`t control the cooking because you have no idea what is going into it.....like that little ole culprit SALT....and of course cooking with butter or lard - yuck!
I love the idea of food dates. You can really make them fun as long as you are able to cook together.
Maybe international experiments. Asian (use chopsticks - guaranteed to make you eat less LOL!, Green tea, wear a kimono...hint hint....if you get my drift.....pull off some foreign words off the Internet to correspond to the country of choice), Italian, French, German (stay away from Brats), Swiss (stay away from cheese fondue).
Anyway, you get the idea and before this starts sounding like a Cosmo article, I`ll stop now.
I've been known to sneak carrots and blueberries into the movie theaters on dates, which helps me fight off popcorn cravings (est. ten gajillion calories in movie theater popcorn). Make it just an afternoon movie, instead of dinner and a movie.
The other thing I *try* to practice (not always that good at resisting tempting menu items) is to just have a freaking salad, dressing on the side and not much of it, limit/eliminate all the stuff on the salad you know is bad for you. It's delicious, filling, and you don't leave feeling like you betrayed your goals. Just having the willpower to order it is all it takes--but I get that it's not always there. Plus there's the self-consciousness of being seen to be dieting, when you're early in a relationship, and that's rough, too--none of us want to be one of those stereotypical lettuce-chewing women on a diet... A year into my relationship and that's still a little hard for me.
Thanks for the tips! I'm cooking for him for the first time tonight (he's helping too). Eep! It will be great. He wanted something low carb, so I am making creamy apple bacon chicken (adjusted to be a bit less calorie-wise) and italian squash casserole. Dessert will be 100% fruit smoothies.
Dating Derailed Me a Bit
