Diet

Yikes! Eating Out = Pigging Out!

My husband and I love to eat out on date night. I particularly love it because I get a break from slaving over a hot stove (Okay, so I don't really slave over the stove, but I do cook dinner every night :-)). Aside from getting a break from cooking, I also love eating out because I reserve it for my "cheat" days.

If you visited the My Regimens page, then you know that I eat clean Sunday through Thursday, then allow myself to cheat on Friday and Saturday. In the past, when I weighed a lean 125 pounds, I maintained that weight by starving myself six days out the week, then gave myself one day to cheat. Yet, because I felt deprived most of the week, not only did I cheat on my day off, but I gorged myself on all the goodies I had avoided the previous six days. Thus, I now give myself two days to cheat so I don't feel that I have to eat everything in one day. Although I'm satisfied with my current diet plan, I'm definitely not as small as I'd like to be. I didn't think that my two cheat days could cause that much damage considering that I eat well most of the time, but now that restaurants are required to publish nutritional information, I'm not so sure…

One of my favorite restaurants is known for its delectable fare and extremely generous portions. I therefore only go there on my cheat days so I can truly enjoy myself, and these are the items that I order most often:

Buffalo Wings (Six pieces = 627 calories)

Irish Nachos (Don't know and don't wanna know the calorie count!)

Parmesan Garlic Rings (901 calories)

Chocolate Chip Calzone (My husband and I share this, and it comes to a whopping 1,767 calories!)

Strange as it may seem given the decadent fare presented in the photos above, I was a little surprised to see how many calories I was consuming on my days off. Apparently, I'm not the only one shocked by how fattening some of the meals are at restaurants. In fact, the Fresno Bee recently published an article titled, "Calorie Counts Surprise Restaurant Customers," in which other diners share their dismay regarding the outrageous calorie counts at some restaurants.

True, if I limited myself to one cheat day, I'd probably lose these pesky 5-10 pounds I've been trying to shed for like, forever, but is it really worth it? I love being healthy, but eating something decadent every once in a while brings me great joy. I think I'd rather hit the gym a little harder than give up my cheat days, because at least this way I can still stay in shape, but die with a satiated belly, and a smile on my face :-).