[Vbevens]

Anyone have any ideas for eating Lean and Green out? Any favorite places or chains?

I am getting tired of my dry old fish and steamed vegetables.

[heathuhhh]

good question, I love eating out but can't really find any really good stuff.

[ImpalaHoarder]

I agree. Oftentimes the only healthy options they have are salads, which I not only dislike, but are often barely better than the entrees, as loaded as they are with condiments and chunks of higher calorie food. My only option seems to be to either toss the diet for the night or eat very little of my meal, neither of which are pleasant prospects.

[purplepansy912]

I agree eating out is very hard. I usually end up at mcdonalds getting a grilled chicken salad

[magnolia blossom]

I think Perkins has a grilled chicken/fish with steamed veggies, but I don't know if you even have a Perkins. I think Friday's probably does, too. Most places have some sort of grilled fish/chicken entree, and a lot of them are doing the steamed veggies. You could ask them to grill/steam it without butter. Now whether they actually do what you ask is a whole 'nother thing....

I feel exactly the same way. I'm kind of ready for a cooking break...

[Fabulous50Texas]

Red Robin has a plate with grilled chicken breasts and salad.
I think that it is a attempt to give the dieters a fighting chance among the hamburgers and fries.
Fab

[oshvay]

I work in a small office with two male colleagues, and daily lunch out is part of our regular routine, so I decided when starting on MF that lunch is when I would have my daily L&G. There are over 200 restaurants within a one-mile radius of our office, but we are creatures of habit and randomly rotate between 6-8 favorites. I was concerned at first, wondering if I would be able to find anything at our regular spots, and if my dieting would have a negative impact on my non-dieting companions.

I was pleasantly surprised that I could continue to eat out with "the boys" and there are really only a couple of our regular restaurants that I have avoided. Most everyplace has a salad available, usually with an option for chicken, sometimes grilled salmon. Fortunately for me, my companions don't care much for fast food so my options are somewhat better than they could be otherwise. Here are some of my current regulars:

Chipotle: Salad with Chicken and a little bit of cheese, sometimes just a touch of sour cream — this is a good one for me, even with the extras because the salad is plentiful (i.e., filling) and the chicken has more flavor than your basic slab of grilled chicken breast on lettuce.

Chili's: Guiltless Salmon with steamed broccoli and substituting sauteed mushrooms for the potato side (they will saute in water if requested).

Flying Fish: (the local fried seafood establishment where the guys like all-you-can-eat catfish Wednesdays) Salad with Grilled Salmon (non-spicy for me, but it's an option).

Greek restaurant: Greek salad with chicken or salmon — I really like this one because it includes very small quantities of goodies that I shouldn't eat, but once every 3-4 weeks I feel like I deserve to enjoy a sprinkle of feta and a few greek olives.

Houlihans: Seared Ahi Tuna Salad — My personal favorite, this one has a tangy light dressing and a few of those forbidden ingredients like cashews and bananas, but the salad itself is so much better and easier to eat than most because it's very finely shredded (I hate the challenge of getting a lettuce leaf onto a fork), and then of course there's the tuna.

I am not a fan of the basic restaurant salad, but the WF dressings make these more tolerable (I always keep a couple packets in my purse). I've always liked chicken, but am a recent convert to salmon because it's more moist and it can be easily eaten in small flakes, so I can get 20-30 bites instead of just 10. I am also not completely averse to eating something that's slightly off-diet, so if the best I can find on a menu includes something I really shouldn't be eating, I try to compensate by reducing my portion size.

I have been very pleasantly surprised by what I can eat, not only at lunch, but for dinner as well. My husband took me to Ruth's Chris for an anniversary and a few ounces of filet didn't have a negative impact on my progress. Neither did half of a buffalo burger (no bun) at the Cheesecake Factory on my birthday.

For me, long-term success is dependent on not feeling deprived. My doctor told me before starting that whatever diet I chose, I should plan to go off-diet one day a week. That was wonderful advice. Knowing that I have her blessing should I choose to order an unsanctioned item, has really helped to keep me on track. If I absolutely must have something, I will (in limited qty), but more often than not, knowing that I could is enough to satisfy the desire.

[Floprieto]

Hey Oshvay!

I guess we are neighbors I live in Fort worth!

so what kind of success have you had so far? Thanks for all the restaurants idea... Now i feel like i have way more options if i go out and find myself stuck somewhere

[Vbevens]

Great ideas! I have a house on the Oregon coast and go there most weekends, so Salmon is plentiful and delicious! Does anyone know if smoked salmon is OP?

Flo-are you from France? I love France, my husband and I were going every year, but now the Euro is so high we just can't do it.

[magnolia blossom]

Vbevens...I bought some canned smoked salmon. It didn't seem very different nutritionally from the regular canned salmon, which I know is okay.

Thank you, Oshvay. I've been avoiding going out to eat, but I know that it's just not practical. I do like salads, but there are some nights I just don't want one. I'm trying not to go off plan. My daughter's birthday is in February and her party is going to be the weekend of the 10th. I so want a teeny weeny piece of cake, but I don't want to screw up, either. I usually have a luncheon for family and friends, but I don't know this year...

[oshvay]

Flo… Yes, I suppose we are nearly neighbors. I'm in Plano and work in Addison. I've lost 44 lbs (since 10/4), so I'm feeling pretty good about my success thus far.

Kim… I can relate to your concern about hosting a party while working hard to stay with the plan. Three weeks after starting MF we hosted an "Iraq deployment send-off" party for our oldest son. We had about 20 guests, plus I made a cake. A month later we had Thanksgiving, and then of course there was Christmas—with five house guests.

Yes, I ate a piece of cake at our son's party, and I'm pretty sure I had a martini or two as well. Net Effect: nothing gained, but nothing lost either—progress stalled, but not thwarted. At Thanksgiving, I had a bit of each of my favorites, but I kept my portions pretty small and didn't go for seconds. Net Effect: gained 1 pound—not so bad. Christmas was the biggest challenge, with the catered company party at our house, guests for a full week, three birthdays (yes, more cakes), and our traditional holiday meal of German sausages and spaetzle. Again, yes, I ate, but in small portions. Net Effect: gained 2 pounds as of 12/29, but lost 4 before returning to work on 1/2, so I still netted a two-pound loss.

In addition to the above-described events, there have been a couple others since my 10/4 MF start, and I do believe that without any of my digressions, I'd surely have lost my first 50 or more by now. But I'm okay with where I am. I never go off plan due to a whim or craving. I have not gone off for more than one meal in a day, and when I do plan to take a night off, I don't beat myself up about it. I don't regret making and eating Thanksgiving appetizers with my granddaughters. I don't regret the holidays. And I certainly don't regret sharing a slice of Marine Corps cake with our son.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that it's a good idea to cheat. I just know that for me, flexibility is sometimes essential. I know that any detour I might take will be brief.

[purplepansy912]

what a beautiful cake!!
The medifast program has it's pros and cons. For one it is easy and a no brainer, but the selection of food is less, make you prone to get bored easy. The weight is coming off quickly which is keeping me on the program.... I just miss food period!!

[oshvay]

Thank you. I hadn't done one in four years and I was pretty nervous about whether I could pull it off. Of course, now my kids think I'm back in the cake-making business and I couldn't talk my way out of three more for holiday birthdays. I don't care much for fondant or buttercream, so decorating shouldn't pose a problem for my diet, but chocolate icing is something altogether different. My youngest daughter requested a "camo four-leaf clover" cake, and I thought it should include both jungle and desert camouflage patterns. Unfortunately for me, the best way to get good browns is to add cocoa powder, which turns the average, boring, too-sweet-for-me-anyway decorator's icing into something absolutely blissful over which my will power has zero control. As soon as I was finished with the decorating I had to ask my husband to clean it up and remove all traces. Now, I don't think I would have gone this far to get at the unused chocolate-ladened delicacy, but he even took out the trash bag when he was done. Probably a good thing. Better safe than sorry.

[Lucky1456]

Way to break it down. Thanks for doing the hard work

[booo57]

sometimes i can eating out, but i like more cooking at home...
make a chicken, salad, pasta or Delicious Fish