At the restaurant, how do you all deal with significant others who indulge in the yummy stuff while you are trying to diet? My bf is skinny and I tell you, I'm certain he eats no less than 4,000 cals a day. It's hard to stay on track when he is keeps Moose Tracks in the freezer! I'm only on Day 3 of my diet and frustrated!

Steak and fries is kind of boring, if you want to think of it that way!! Your diet food is new and exciting!

I mean....that's ONE way to look at it, LOL....

Hey I gotta cook for 2 teenage girls who eat anything and everything, and my hub who can fit into the same damn jeans from high school probably. I'm the only fat one and the only one trying to be careful!

That's life! Hey everybody's got an issue, ya know? I know a woman who has to check her blood sugar and give herself shots constantly -- so just trying to eat healthier food, that's not so bad.

Why not order a small steak and salad , with dressing on the side? Healthy and not boring.

I'm with bargoo... you can have similar food but in smaller portions. Steak, you don't have to eat the whole thing! You can cut it in thirds and take the uneaten two-thirds home. Skip the fries, though. Have salad with lowfat or fat free dressing, 1 piece of bread or none.

Maybe ask him to pass on having the moose tracks in the freezer for awhile? Like, he could stop and get a cone for himself at an ice cream store instead of having it in the freezer. Surely he can manage that to HELP you...

I agree, it's very hard when others are eating foods you want and that you have decided not to indulge in for now. But that's how it is--you have to hang in there!

Jay

Add a small plain baked potato and coffee for dessert and that's my typical going out to dinner meal.

It's always a treat to have someone else cooking and doing the dishes!

Or maybe pick different restaurants?

There are tons of options out there that have both standard fare and more health-conscious entrees, none of which have to be boring! Today I was looking at the menu for a popular chain (Elephant Bar), and they had a grilled fish with a tropical fruit salsa, served with veggies. That doesn't sound boring to me...I might order it even if I wasn't trying to keep my calories low.

Smaller portions can be wonderful too - or look for different ways of preparing typically healthy foods. You might find a chicken breast with a sauce you'd never thought of, or a fish like the one above...and then, you might get a new idea for how to cook it at home later.

There is no reason that eating at a restaurant has to be "boring". See chicken breast on the menu, and a sauce on something else that looks tasty? Ask if they'll put it on the chicken. See veggies served up with another entree that sound better than what is going with the "healthy" option? Ask if you can replace one veggie with another. Most restaurants in the mid-range of prices will be happy to oblige.

You've got some wonderful suggestions here.

I personally try not to eat out often, because I have a very hard time ordering something "healthy", even if I plan before hand. I get there, look at the menu, and the "plan" is out the window. Ha!
I do recall ordering a delicious meal from Applebee's that was from the Weight Watcher's menu that they offer.

Ok, first of all, thinking of your meal as "diet food" is the first problem. Order something fresh, lean, and wonderful, and think of how *HORRIBLE* he is going to feel after eating that greasy, heavy food.

When me and DH go out I've had the same issues. You know what though - he eats a big steak platter etc. and I normally have protein, baked potato, and salad, and when we leave the restaurant he is rubbing his belly moaning and groaning with indegestion for a day or two afterwhile. Meanwhile I walk out w/a bounce in my stop feeling good about my choices. I've come to the conclussion "bad" food in excess make you feel "bad" inside and out, while "good" foods in the right preportion make you feel "good" on the inside and out. I don't miss those feelings of being so stuffed I could burst. I think it's a nice trade off.

I used to say that I don't know if I could eat like this for the rest of my life. Like you I thought of it as eating yucky diet food. I went on a "diet" and lost all the weight and was able to reach my goal weight. I maintained for a little while, but since I went back to eating the way I used to it wasn't long before I was bigger than when I started out.

This time around I have adjusted my thinking. I have not been quite so strict on myself in making a "diet." I have adjusted my menu to included healthier choices. I knew that I would need to find a way to eat food that was not just healthy, but that did not make me feel deprived. I have achieved that by doing a combination of what was suggested in the other posts. First off I found foods that are good for me and that I enjoy eating. I build my menu off of those things. Then if we are having something else (like fries) and I really want some I will just have a couple (just two). Given your situation I would have ordered a steak and then just asked your boyfriend to give you two fries. I find that just having a couple of bites of what I "want" makes me feel less deprived. Like the others have already said I usually end up feeling so good about myself for making good choices. It's worth the pay off.

My husband and I went out to eat with his grandparents yesterday at the Ponderosa (their favorite restaurant). My husband and I are both dieting.
He chose the tilapia fillet and I chose the 10 oz grilled prime rib (yes, prime rib).

We both got baked potato (sour cream, no butter). From the salad bar, I got salad loaded with low fat goodies and topped it with light ranch dressing (I wasn't sure how "light" it was, so I didn't use much, luckily it was very runny, which is a good sign, and also makes it go further). I took a small piece of broiled fish. The fish wasn't very good so I only had one bite. The potato was medium sized, thankfully not monster-sized. I ate about 2/3 of it.

The prime rib had almost no external fat, but I cut away what was there, and only ate a little over 1/3 of the meat. I tasted hubby's tilapia (it was very good). He ate most of my extra prime rib and had a bit of ice cream from the buffet for dessert (He weighs about 30 lbs more than I do, but can eat more than twice as much and still lose weight. I attribute this not only to his being male, but the fact that he never dieted once in his life before meeting me. His metabolism isn't shot).

When we left the restaurant, I thought I was "still hungry," (and felt a twinge of self-pity at not having had dessert) but when my husband's grandmother brought out snacks at her home, I realized that I wasn't. After we had been talking a while, I did grab a small handful of nuts, but avoided the chex mix.

Even though it felt like a splurge day, I was still witin my calorie range (I think hubby went a bit over, but not by much, I bet he will lose well this week - our official weigh-in is Monday night at our TOPS group)

Dieting doesn't have to be boring, and for me, if it is, I won't stick with it for long.

I think you got lots of good suggestions.

In my opinion, you do have to eat food that you enjoy or you aren't going to stick to the plan. "boring diet food" just isn't going to cut it!

IMHO the key is to not consider it "boring diet food"... else you may very well believe it and feel frustrated. Unless you go to a restaurant with really no other options than steak/fries or some bland salad, there are plenty of "good" things you can order and still have something tasty/juicy. In fact, once you get the gist of it, it's the steak/fries that will seem bland and boring. After all, what do we put on fries? Ketchup? Mayo? The steak's sauce? Not very original nor exciting...

This said, I don't live in your country, so unfortunately I can't give you good advice about restaurants with tasty healthy choices. But I hope that you will soon find a balance that won't leave you frustrated about all of this.

All these are good advice for me!

As for sweet stuff around the house, I actually got to the point where my stepdad is hiding his sweet stuff in a certain area that Ill never think of cause he knows the whole thing will be gone in a night!! haha. I didnt even have to ask him, he just did it for both our sakes