Or reasons why I cannot easily eat out.

[(Just posted to my blog at http://sleevers.word...y/restau-rants/) Tell you what, it's gotten so bad, I started a new category called Restau-rants ]

So yesterday, my husband brings me back a little hot & sour Soup, and minced chicken in lettuce wraps from a restaurant. Great! I eat 4 oz of soup and then 2 hours later, I devour about 3 oz of the chicken with veggies. I’m a little suspicious about the calories in the soup but I’m feeling good about the minced chicken! Super Protein, tastes good, what’s not to like?

In the evening he decides he will make a light version of “Zucchini Alfredo”. I’m very nervous about the half and half, the butter, the parmesan cheese and everything else he’s putting in there. But I tell myself, lunch was healthy minced chicken. What could go wrong? Just to be cautious, I enter my food into myfitness pal.

Surprise!

The minced chicken from Pei Wei? Had TWICE as many carbs as protein.

I kid you not. Minced chicken without sauce, had more carbs than protein, no doubt from the sugar they add to make it taste good. The small 4 oz of soup which was a third of the total serving? Had 127 calories in it. Had I eaten the whole soup in my pre-sleeve days, that’s 381 calories of soup I would have had as an appetizer!

In contrast, my husband’s Zuch Alfredo barely has 4 gms of carbs and very little fat because I ate a small, yummy portion over zucchini noodles and it was made from fresh ingredients with no sugar added.

When you’re only eating 700 calories and trying to keep carbs to under 40 gms, it doesn’t take much to sabotage your day. I need to enter my food BEFORE I eat it.

Really makes me wonder about all those times we THINK we’re eating healthily but the outside world is working against us, to feed us combinations of fat, sugar, and salt that light up our taste buds and ruin our bodies.

Enter every bite people, and if you eat out, get the restaurant's nutrition to enter in. Left to myself, I would have entered that as 3 oz of chicken and called it a day.

Great tips...great advice. I do need to start researching items from both "fast foods" and "restaurant" categories, however, that are VSG friendly as I travel a lot and am forced to eat on the road. Of course, that business of being forced to eat out (much more than overeating) is what got me to the place I am now. This is definitely the time for me to develop new strategies for being prepared for the impact my own lifestyle (work-style) has on my health. Thanks for your timely and on-target posting!

Hmm...I don't montior my intake (bad bad butterfly). I think I'm done with being obsessed with every bite I consume. I do make sure I make what I perceive as 'health conscience' choices (no cheese on my salad, light dressing etc). I dont seem to have a fear that my 5 bites are dangerous. I am cautious to not make all my bites each day be sugary or fatty...

To me, there really isn't 'good' food, everything has some sort of hidden something. Unless you just eat steamed veggies and grilled meats all day, everything has something we shouldn't have. Heck fruit has more sugars than we think.

I'm sure I'm looking at this in a bad light...Perhaps I need to be more disciplined. And please understand, this is my perspective on this..don't stone me...I'm just being honest about how I feel when I eat each day.

And Gamegirl, thank you for bringing some light to things we THINK are healthy but may be worse than what we thought! I LOVE me some lettuce wraps..darn you hidden calories/fat!! (shakes fist in air).

Hmm...I don't montior my intake (bad bad butterfly). I think I'm done with being obsessed with every bite I consume. I do make sure I make what I perceive as 'health conscience' choices (no cheese on my salad, light dressing etc). I dont seem to have a fear that my 5 bites are dangerous. I am cautious to not make all my bites each day be sugary or fatty...

To me, there really isn't 'good' food, everything has some sort of hidden something. Unless you just eat steamed veggies and grilled meats all day, everything has something we shouldn't have. Heck fruit has more sugars than we think.

I'm sure I'm looking at this in a bad light...Perhaps I need to be more disciplined. And please understand, this is my perspective on this..don't stone me...I'm just being honest about how I feel when I eat each day.

And Gamegirl, thank you for bringing some light to things we THINK are healthy but may be worse than what we thought! I LOVE me some lettuce wraps..darn you hidden calories/fat!! (shakes fist in air).

I wouldn't say it's a bad light, it's what works for you. My husband refuses to enter anything. He eats Proteins and at the end of the day tells me what he has eaten and I'm supposed to tell him if he was a good boy or not

Drives me insane but what can you do? I love him, and he's useless at diarying his food. He could not do what i do. But he is losing weight just fine, partly because I keep him in line and partly because as a result, he's learning what he can and can't do.

It's important for me, not only because I am geeky about numbers, but also because honestly, I am not sure WHY I weigh what I do. I wasn't a binger, I wasn't a huge volume eater, and so the only things I can think of are jacked-up metabolism, and confusion about the calories I was consuming, aka, hidden bombs like this one.

Unless I track my food, I seem to grossly under-estimate my daily consumption. But that's not true for everyone so I totally get your approach too!

OH gamegirl, we are so in the same boat. I look back and wonder "why the hell was i so big". Yes i admit the last few years I totally deserved it. I ate fried foods and alot of processed. Prior to, not so much. People who hung out with would often ask me "umm not to be rude, but how are you overweight, you eat little portions and nothing fatty". I'm sure now it makes sense, I may have FELT I was choosing wisely..but damn you hidden fat/calories!!

Thank God, that's in the past!!

I remember when my family wanted to go out to dinner to Applebee's one night. I figured I could have one of the salads that I always used to eat pre op. I always thought I was choosing wisely, because it's shrimp/spinach and a light vinaigrette. Well, it's over 450 calories!!! Crazy!

I remember when my family wanted to go out to dinner to Applebee's one night. I figured I could have one of the salads that I always used to eat pre op. I always thought I was choosing wisely, because it's shrimp/spinach and a light vinaigrette. Well, it's over 450 calories!!! Crazy!

You know what's funny? Pre-sleeve, 450 would have been okay-ish for one meal but now it's more than half of what we eat all day!

Applebee's salads are the MOST dangerous! have you ever looked up the nutrional facts on them? You're better off getting the steak/steamed veggies!! it's ridiculous i say!

Applebee's salads are the MOST dangerous! have you ever looked up the nutrional facts on them? You're better off getting the steak/steamed veggies!! it's ridiculous i say!

I never knew they were that bad until AFTER I had surgery!

I use My Fitness Pal to keep track of everything I eat. I look things up ahead of time and then decide if they're worth the calories, carbs and fat, and make sure I'm getting enough protein. I always check out Restaurants nutritional info before I decide on a restaurant. The first year out is the "golden year". I don't want to sabotage my results and make it harder to lose down the road. I've spent most of my life "dieting", so I choose to track everything until I reach my goal. I guess I'll decide if I want to continue tracking everything once I reach my goal. For now, it keeps me focused, and I'm comfortable with that. Does it take a lot of work? some... but for me it's worth it.

I use My Fitness Pal to keep track of everything I eat. I look things up ahead of time and then decide if they're worth the calories' date=' carbs and fat, and make sure I'm getting enough Protein. I always check out Restaurants nutritional info before I decide on a restaurant. The first year out is the "golden year". I don't want to sabotage my results and make it harder to lose down the road. I've spent most of my life "dieting", so I choose to track everything until I reach my goal. I guess I'll decide if I want to continue tracking everything once I reach my goal. For now, it keeps me focused, and I'm comfortable with that. Does it take a lot of work? some... but for me it's worth it.[/quote']

I agree. I'd be lot without MFP. It's my best friend these days