So I usually weigh in on Saturday but WW was obviously closed today so I went to a Thursday meeting. It was a 5 day weigh in for me since I had weighed in last Saturday but I was happy to lose 1.4 pounds. Lately, I've really tried to not use many weekly points at all so when we left the meeting I still had all 49 points left (my new week was to start this Saturday).

So we went out to Le Peep for breakfast which I love but only go to 2 or 3 times a year. I basically ate what I wanted to and tried to count it as best I could (Le Peep only has some nutritional info posted and it wasn't very helpful). The upshot was a 25 point lunch. Because of this I used 13 WP that day.

This morning I was still up a pound and a half from it. Now, in a way, it was fine. I ended up using 15 weekly points for that week which is well within my limit. But I knew Christmas was coming up so I would use a few points there. I also am only .6 pounds from reaching 15 pounds lost.

I enjoyed the meal but looking back it really wasn't worth it. I weigh in next Thursday (since WW is closed next Saturday also) and I was up 1 1/2 pounds before today and today I will eat about 5 weekly points (probably won't eat any more for the rest of the week).

Lately I haven't been eating out much and have been very careful when I did. I am rapidly reaching the point where I just don't think that most eating out (i.e. where I just eat what I want) is really worth how it slows down weight loss.

Yeah, I can definitely understand that. Sometimes eating out sounds realllly good, but I have noticed that on the days I do eat out, even if I don't use my weekly points and stay within my daily, it still makes for slower weight loss. I think that the main reason is sodium, and also that things in restaurants are actually a lot more fattening than we would like to believe. When you eat out, you don't really know what the chef is putting in your food, I like eating at home because I have control of every aspect of my food intake, and I know that there isn't anything in there I didn't know about.

I am the same exact way! When I eat out I seem to always see a small gain on the scale even if I stay within my points for the day. I knew I was going to be in trouble for Christmas and sure enough the next day my scale was UP 5LBS! EEK! I got right back on track and thankfully I'm back to my pre-Christmas weight.

Going out to eat can be tricky because the way we prepare a certain dish at home is NOT the way it is made in a restaurant. At home we have the tools we need to weigh and measure but at a restaurant the best we can do is eyeball our portions.

I wish more restaraunts would offer 1/2 sized portions. I see that a lot of them now are having light menu options which is awesome but sometimes you want the real thing just in a smaller size.

As far as I am concerned they could charge me the same price just give me less.

you can't gain 1 1/2 pounds from one meal. It's water retention from eating more than you are used to and from the extra sodium in a restaurant meal.

I know but it is still annoying....

I have been sharing my plates w/ my husband now. It's a win win. I have not gained, and it's cheaper...

I saw a great tip on one of the morning shows this week. When eating out, ask the wait person to only serve you half portions and put the other half in a take out container. You can enjoy your half portion and have the other half for lunch the next day, or share with someone else. If doing this makes the meal too puny. ask for extra portions of steamed vegetables. The idea is if you don't see it on your plate, you won't eat it.

I have a friend who owned a restaurant, and she told me that there is an unbelievable amount of sodium in meals served in restaurants. Salt is one of the main ingredients in many dishes that makes the food so delicious.

As an example, a well known seafood chain offers the Admirals' Feast with Caesar Salad, Creamy Lobster Topped Mashed Potato, Cheddar Bay Biscuit, and a Lemonade, which has a whopping 7,106 mg of sodium in a single meal! That is more than 3 times the recommended daily amount for healthy adults. It's no wonder that we would see weight gain after such a meal. It would most likely be due to water retention from so much sodium.

Once I became aware of this, eating lunches out is now the exception rather than the rule for me. I brown bag every day. It is a lot less convenient than eating out, but I am in total control of what I eat, and as a bonus, I save money!

I was not able to link, but my source TheDailyGreen dot com.

I agree it's annoying, but I do love to eat out now and then...I mean I LOVE to cook, but I sometimes want a break, and eating out is more about the ritual than the food sometimes, so I don't think I could do without it forever. So I will just have to live with the fact that despite making the best choices available, I still may have to suffer the consequences...and honestly, I am ok with that...because it's not perfection...it's progress!

Well, I did weigh in today and lost .6 pounds which got me to exactly 15 pounds lost. I was happy to have the loss and to get to 15 pounds...but I can't help but feel that without that meal out I would have lost more.

I do think a lot of it is sodium. I've been counting calories on livestrong in addition to counting WW points and the listings there show sodium content. That has sure been an eye opener to me.

I almost always feel like it is not worth it as soon as I eat something that I shouldn't

It is absolutely the addition of salt. SO, drink lots of water when you do go out.

Also, I take a container with me and do the dividing myself. I find that most wait staff are already overworked and underappreciated, so I try to help them out, as well as control how much I eat and how much I take home.