Sunday, April 22, 2007

dining out

OH-MY-GOSH!!! We ate out twice in one day. That hasn't happened in our lives in absolutely years!!!

My dad came into town to visit today. He got here late morning and wanted to take us to breakfast. I had already had my Kashi, milk and banana...and my splurge of that cursedly good banana bread. We went to The Original Pancake House. YUM-MY! It really is a family favorite. D always gets these huge meaty omelettes there, and me and the kids usually have some yummy pancakes with nuts or fruit or something. I LOVE pancakes...absolutely adore them. And they have a specialty of a huge apple oven pancake, too. One of the servers brought us one since we were a big party. It sat right in front of me and I didn't eat a single bite. Not even as I fed Jack E his piece. Be amazed...be very amazed.

Then I tried to make a good food choice without totally being a party pooper. I ordered the fresh strawberry belgian waffle. I totally estimated what the points might be on that one. I honestly have no idea, but a fresh fruit topped waffle seemed a better choice than the pecan pancakes (my total fave!).

I was planning a nice Sunday dinner. Actually stuck a ham in the crock pot and was planning a potato side, veggies and salad (mom, now you know what I'm feeding you for dinner Monday night! lol) Then my dad offers to take us to dinner, too. D was waffling a little, I think, but when my dad said "steak" at Texas Roadhouse, he was convinced. D is all about the low carb diet. It's worked great for him in the past...lost and kept off 50 pounds. He's gained a little back and is hitting it hard again. So when the prospect of a huge slab of red meat comes in...he's there!

At this point I decided to just be a party pooper. I didn't rain on anyone else's parade. In fact, I helped Aleena get her shrimp (a grilled shrimp appetizer) by ordering the veg combo. I got a salad, steamed veggies and plain baked potato and also a loaded sweet potato that I gave to Aleena so she could have a little more balance.

The server brought Emma (and the other kids) birthday ice cream. Trey had some apple pie a la mode thing and Aleena ordered strawberry cheesecake, too. Not even a lick of the spoon. My last 2 weigh in's haven't been good and I just sooooo want to get back down off my Easter chocolate high. It was my goal to get to 160 by May 1st. I really want to get there. So I buckle down a few more weeks. I really am not far from my WW lifetime goal, too. I just want to get there and be done with it.

Anyway, eating out twice today has been such a huge reminder of not only how unbalanced my meals could become, but also of the stunning amount of excess I could consume if I did that very often. Would I really want to order the veg plate when I was out to dinner every time? Probably not, so I'd get some huge dinner and totally overdo it. How many times a month can that happen before I start to gain weight?

I like to cook...I like to plan meals...I like knowing what is going into my food...and me and my kids. I really think that many days I would rather do it at home than try to juggle the restaurant world. Is that weird?

So here's my day in food. I shouldn't have had that banana bread. It would have given me more wiggle room later. And I did take a THIRTY minute walk this morning. Yay, me! So I had a couple of AP's to use today, too. Not a complete loss of a day, I guess!

Morning
1/2 cup Kashi GO LEAN! Crunch Honey Almond Flax-2
1/4 cup fat-free skim milk-0.5
1 slice banana bread, with nuts-5
1 large banana-2


Midday
belgian waffle-8
1 3/4 cups strawberries-1
1 small apple-1

Snack
2 fat free ry krisp-0
1% cottage cheese (1/3 cup)-1

Evening
salad with a little egg, cheese and reduced fat ranch-3
steamed veggies-0
medium baked potato-2.5

5 comments:

Carolyn said...

Great job...WOW eating out 2 times in one day AND making great choices both times! Pat yourself on the back!!!!
Keep up the great work!
I am also struggling to see the 150s. I feel like I have been stuck at 161 forever!!!

Amber said...

Great job with eating out twice and doing so well with your choices!!

L said...

That is some discipline! I would NOT have been able to do what you did. Going out to eat and choosing something healthy is NOT easy.

Where do you get those 0pt rice krispy treats?

Thanks for the link to kashi. . .can't wait to get my free sample!

noelle said...

They aren't rice crispy treats....they are those super crunchy crackers like a wasa. I love them for when I want a little crunch for 0 points.

Anonymous said...

Noelle...great job of handling the restaurant scene. My children are gone so Hubby and I eat out a lot and I've had to learn to negotiate the menu madness that can take over if I give it a chance. Thank goodness we frequent a hand full of restaurants most of the time so I'm familiar with the points for most things and have an understanding with servers who have gotten to know us as regulars...it makes it easier!