So you have the invite to go have some dinner with friends but you are right in the middle of your moderate carb day cycle plan. You have just busted your tail for 3 weeks trying to shed fat from those muscles and the last thing you want to do is blow it. So do you become a social hermit or is there an actual way to get a decent meal out at your average restaurant?

First off you need to ignore any friends’ or families’ opinion on your actions. You are there to see them and vice versa. At the same time don’t get preachy; this is your body, not theirs. Don’t make any issue out of food, that isn’t why you are there; you’re there for the company. If the conversation is good then you don’t need the food. A lot of people find out real quick how much they rely on food and liquor as conversation topics once they stop taking it in. So it may be time to read a book to have something to say.

The Menu

Why not get the chicken there? Why not just get a grilled chicken salad? Why not get a fish plate with steamed veggies? Let me show you a breakdown of a grilled salad at a local restaurant. This is for a (about 6 ounces of chicken) Grilled Chicken Salad, Boneless, skinless No dressing, No Bread, No egg, No cheese just simple veggies.

Calories-350 Protein-18grams Carbs-9 grams Fat-27grams

SAY WHAT? 27 grams of fat? How can that be it isn’t breaded? It isn’t fried?

Ah, yes, my friend but it is grilled and seasoned. It takes 1 tbsp of oil to get 120 calories/13 grams of fat. A tbsp is not a lot. You go into any line grill in a kitchen and they are just squeezing those bottles left and right. Ask any cook how many times a day he refills his olive oil bottle. Even worse if it’s a place that marinated their chicken then it gets to soak it up and THEN it gets added when cooked. Why do you think those low carb meals at Fridays are so tasty!? They just load them up with fat instead, which does way more for flavor then carbs ever do.

So people think by getting the grilled chicken salad that they are doing good, and really they just got hit hard by 27 grams of fat. Not to mention 6 ounces of chicken is a small portion compared to most standards of dining out. It’s usually at least 7 to 8 ounces of chicken. Lets not even talk about if the meal is breaded because the number doubles and sometimes triples in fat. Ground beef, man good luck. Fish? Same thing. So keep this in mind in the future or have a really rude awakening from past experiences.

The Game Plan

So, after this you may be thinking there must be nothing on the menu I can get and feel safe about other than a salad with nothing on it. Well, you would be pretty right for the most part but that doesn’t mean you can’t work hand in hand with the restaurant. You know all those basic eat out guidelines; I am not going to repeat that. The best method is to pack up some of your own goods and take them with you. Order a salad but bring your own chicken. Get a plain potato on the side but bring your own toppings. Example:

-Order a large garden salad with veggies only and a baked potato plain.
-Whip out your baggy of chicken (making note that it is the BEST CHICKEN EVER to your friends so they don’t think you are crazy)
-Load up your potato with you lite sour cream, light butter and turkey bacon bits baggy and bam you are chowing down guilt free.

This can be done with some tuna, salmon, anything, even cold turkey; it’s endless what you can put on a salad. You can get the steamed veggies instead of potato as well with even less calories.

Packing the Goods

It doesn’t have to be so complicated really. If you are coming from home simply fill up a zip locked bag with your goods. Carrying a sauce? Use a mini-storage container; they make them in a small size for a reason.

If you know you are going to be at work prior and want your food warm when they salad comes heat it up before you get to the restaurant or stop off at a gas station and pop it in the microwave.

The point is if you really care you can find a way AND not look like a dork if that worries you.

Ladies-You have purses, use them!

Men-Start carrying a messenger bag with you, no not the “man bag.” Try one of these:
http://www.pokkadots.com/images/products/detail/DG-MRS_dt.jpg

Soon when you get that hot body it will be infectious, and your body will give no reason for anyone to argue.

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