Changing your eating habits can feel tricky, especially when it comes to socializing or dining out—but it doesn’t have to mean giving up the things you love! In changing your eating habits, your eating style, how you engage in celebrations, work events, holiday parties, and regular ol’ nights out with friends will likely require your modification. Though dining with friends can be challenging when trying to lose weight, there is no need to let the pursuit of non-surgical weight loss erase your social life. To keep this from happening, here are five tips for social gatherings and dining out when changing your eating habits.
Tip 1: Let Go of the “Clean Plate Club”
So often do I hear clients explain a perceived obligation to finish their plate with their desire not to “waste” food or “waste” money. Their argument: “I spent money on this food, so I should eat it all.” Or “I don’t want to waste the food, so I shall eat it.”
Restaurants are notorious for serving impressive portions of food that entice their customers to overeat in the moment and return with their friends and family in the future. The restaurant will serve too much food- much more than you need- and a perceived mandate not to waste may drive some to eat more than they need, even if they are trying to lose weight.
With regards to wasting food, my suggestion is to flip it on the restaurant. THEY are the ones wasting food by serving you such a comically large quantity of nachos, French fries, or pasta. THEY are the staff making such a poor guess as to how much food you need at this meal. The restaurant is causing waste by assuming you want more, more, more, but you have the power to show them they are wrong. A suggestion is to eat the amount you need and send the rest of the portion back along with the unspoken message of “You made a bad guess about how much food we need.” The restaurant is causing waste by overserving you.
With regards to wasting money, my suggestion is to stop thinking about spending money as if you have spent $30 dollars on 30 bites. Think of it like this: I spent money on the experience of addressing my hunger with steak. Whether this happens with 2 bites of steak or 20 bites of steak, you got what you paid for: the experience of addressing your hunger with steak. It costs the same either way- the second you order the food, the money is already gone and it’s never coming back. If there were a restaurant where you got your money back if you finished your plate, I would understand wanting not to waste money, but that doesn’t exist. The money is gone no matter how much steak you eat, and eating less than an entire steak is not the same as wasting money.
If this feels like a challenge, remind yourself that every meal is a chance to practice!
Tip 2: Choose Leftovers That Work for Tomorrow
If you’re looking to lose weight by reducing your caloric intake, then the odds are you are going to have leftovers at the end of your meal. “Leftovers” is what my generation called “meal prepping” – see what I am getting at? My suggestion is to think of your restaurant leftovers as meal prep. The thing is, we know not all foods make for good leftovers. French fries, pizza, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese- these foods never taste as good as they do when they’re first served. Instead, order a chicken breast: it’s generally healthy, and you can repurpose the leftovers for a grilled chicken salad or a chicken wrap for lunch the next day. Steak can be brought back to life in an omelet the following morning. A baked potato is just as good reheated as it was when it was first served, too! Order a restaurant meal with the plan of using your leftovers as the following day’s meal prep.
Remember that restaurant dinner is usually tasty, so what could be better than eating a tasty dish twice in one week!
Tip 3: Skip What You Can
Have you ever noticed a tendency for you to fill up on bread or chips or low-quality appetizers before your entrée even arrives (and eating that entree anyway because “this is the real reason I came” or “those chips don’t count as a meal”)? My suggestion is to skip the parts of the meal you don’t really need. Use mindfulness to ask yourself “What’s the reason I am choosing to eat this bread?” or “these chips” or “these fried pickles”. If you’re starving- don’t torture yourself- eat a piece of bread to get out of “starving” mode but then ask yourself “Now that I am no longer starving, what is the reason I continue to eat this bread?”. Are you at a restaurant where the entrée will be large enough? If so, skip the appetizer. Are you about to order an appetizer you can make at home? Skip it. Are you eating bread or chips because you are just excited to be out of the house? If so, ask yourself “What’s the reason I am choosing this bite of food?”. If your answer doesn’t include hunger or your values, considering skipping that food.
It might feel challenging to override the automatic eating behaviors you’ve developed over time, but you can do it!
Tip 4: Share to Save Money and Cut Portions
Restaurants. Serve. Huge. Portions. Or, at least many of them do. One way to ensure you eat the amount that is best for you is to have that large portion of food consumed by the “right” number of people- often 2 or 3. If you are going out to dinner with one other person, my suggestion is split one meal- one burger or one salad or one plate of enchiladas. Eat family style, as if the plate brought to you by your server is not the plate you should eat off of, but the plate from which you should serve yourself. You will need to ask for additional plates to make this happen, but don’t worry- restaurants have lots of plates! Share, share, share.
If this sounds difficult, try getting motivated by thinking of how you might enjoy the extra money you save by ordering less food! But remember to tip your server more since you ordered less per person!
Tip 5: Slow Down with Mindful Eating
Of course, the one you all expected me to say. Mindful eating is the practice of shifting your attention to your body throughout a meal and taking 30 FULL seconds to ask yourself “How is this food affecting my body?”, “What do I think of the flavor of my meal?”, “How much more food do I need to feel satiated?”, and “What is the honest reason I am choosing my next bite of food?”. If you ask yourself those questions every 3 bites of food, and you answer honestly, you will likely end your meal having eaten the exact amount of food you need to nourish your body and move on with your day.
For more personalized strategies, our team is here to help—reach out to us! You can contact the Bariatric Counseling Center of San Antonio at 210-634-2200 to speak with a member of our admissions staff, and consider joining our IOP to transform your eating style!
