How to Lose Weight While Eating Out

How to Lose Weight While Eating Out

In today’s busy world, most people find themselves eating at least one of their daily meals in a restaurant on a fairly frequent basis. Although many people immediately assume that the meals served in restaurants are always higher in fat and calories as compared to home-cooked meals, this is not always the case. In fact, it’s actually possible to eat healthy and low-calorie meals in restaurants, as long as you are careful as to what you order. Asking plenty of questions can be one of the best ways of making sure eating out doesn’t ruin your weight loss efforts. Here are a few questions to ask when ordering meals in restaurants. If you’re not able to discover the answers on your own, don’t be shy – ask the restaurant personnel for the answers.

What Ingredients Were Used to Prepare the Dish?

Depending on the restaurant and its menu, you might find it either quite easy or totally impossible to answer this question on your own. Today some restaurants are making more of an effort to provide diners with the nutritional information they need in order to make good meal choice decisions. In some cases, you may want to know the ingredients in a dish to make sure you’re not eating a high calorie dish. However, in other cases you might need more specific information, especially if you know you are allergic to certain foods or ingredients. When in doubt, don’t hesitate to ask your waiter about the ingredients used to prepare the dish. If he or she isn’t sure, ask them to check with the chef.

Is the Dish High in Fat or Sodium?

When reading restaurant menus, you’ll probably discover that fat and sodium are two of the most commonly explained factors about a restaurant’s dishes. In some cases, you’ll find that the menu has a coding system, allowing you to easily find the dishes that are low in fat or low in sodium. Other restaurants may even offer special low fat or low sodium sections on their menus to make the selection process even easier. However, if you have any doubts about a particular dish, be sure to ask questions.

Is the Dish High in Calories?

Calorie count is another important factor to consider when ordering a meal at a restaurant. Fortunately, calorie content is becoming increasingly easy to discern by reading some restaurant menus. Some restaurants have special low calorie sections, listing the calorie count and other nutritional information specifically for easy reference. In other cases, you might have to ask the restaurant staff for their special food calorie chart. If you’re not able to find out the actual calorie count of a food, at least ask questions about the foods used in the dish as well as the way it was prepared. By doing so, you’ll be able to make some basic calculations in regards to the dish’s overall calorie content.