Thanks, Gary! I am glad to see you still on here. How's it going? I hope you are well.

That is great! It's really hard to have that self control when everyone else is eating the bad stuff around you, you did a great job!

Thanks, gemini. I'm hoping it's a habit I can keep up; I've started good habits before only to fall on my face and get off track, yo-yoing. But this is different because in the past when we've went out to eat, I just decide it is a cheat meal and order whatever I want. The REAL test is that we are going to Las Vegas for a day next week and we want to eat at a buffet...afterall, who goes to LV and doesn't eat at a buffet atleast once? I plan on having up to two sparse plates with the healthiest choices I can. It will be a real test. I'm sure they will have some veggies and salad choices. Some baked chicken probably.

Hey TROO ~ yep I am still here. I have been wanting to bring the PITY PARTY back from time to time...just not enough time...what a pity

I have been working a lot out of town...restaraunt food and limited exercise...but I am making better choices than before!

Yesterday for example, my son, nephew and I went up to Anaheim to see some March Madness basketball games. For lunch I chose fish tacos from Rubios over the nachos grande....I think that was a better choice and for dinner I found a place with a chef salad over the hot dogs, pizza and burgers/fries that were going around.

Oh and no beer (inside the arena) which was a big plus for me...OK...so they weren't selling it...dang! I stuck to water!

Keep up the good choices!

Yes, I think you need to bring the party back. I'm sure a lot of people have wanted to pity you, after all this time! Too bad you are working out of town so much...I'm sure Angie misses you. That's great you are making better choices. I think the more you make, the easier it gets. Although today, I had to have chilaquiles because I was hungover. I can live with that, it's an exception rather than a rule. Fish tacos are definitely better than the nachos grande...I haven't had Rubio's fish tacos in a year or so, but man are they good.

No beer? For shame! The last time we went to Carls Jr, we got these big cups for sodas and now we use them for drinks...we fill them up and take them up to the bedroom and can hang out and watch tv up there without having to come downstairs (we are lazy!). Unfortunately, it backfired on us last night and we are mighty hungover today. No drinking tonight, for sure!

Glad to hear from you. Bring the partaaay back!

LOL about the big cup! Been there, done that!

I am excited for you at the restaurant outings. You are really making great choices!! And planning ahead. I really would have never thought of checking things out in advance. I will certainly do that on occasions I can.

On another thread, someone said that she got her to go box with her entree. Portion control is my biggest thing, so I thought that was a great idea.

WOW... good going... that's not easy to do.. A lot of restaraunts, especially the chains have websites with menus, not all give nutritional info, but looking at the menu on line helps you plan, most times I know what I want before we arrive... Keep up the good work.

That's a great idea, and once I asked the server for a box when I got my food but she forgot...I could have asked again, I guess. That will be my backup plan if I am somewhere that I can't make a healthy choice.

Yeah, what I did when we went to Dave & Busters, since they don't put nutritional info on their website, is I went to Chili's menu and got a comparable entree and used that info...I figured it was close enough. What I am sad about is that we like to go to a lot of independently owned restaurants and they don't have the nutritional info...so I guess I have to find info at other restaurants and make a guess based on that. Right now, we are just avoiding going to anywhere that we can't find out the info. I think that is pretty much going to be how we work it...just going to restaurants that we know info on.

I totally know the craving that goes along with restaurant eating! That's so awesome, truly, that you are showing yourself you have the will power to do this! Sometimes I just have to ask myself "does this taste as good as looking good feels?" Keep on it!

Thanks Joel. I'm just afraid that if I eat out too much, that I will slip back into the old ways. So, I am limiting eating out to no more than once a week but preferably once every two weeks. I can see it being a problem if it gets any more frequent than that. So far, so good though!