Planning a meal out can be hard when on a diet and we all love to go out to dinner and have a fun time. It’s a great way to socialise with family and friends whilst connecting on a nostalgic level. I know every time I have dinner with my family at a local 
restaurant, it takes me back to being a kid and eating at our family restaurant which we owned in Ulladulla. But, when you head out for dinner it is easy to throw the diet out the door and eat whatever takes your fancy with no forethought or planning ahead. This spontaneous eating can have a devastating impact on your health and fitness plan( in particular your diet), but today I am going to show you 3 easy ways to plan ahead and minimize the calorie impact of a meal out!
planning the right Restaurant
This one seems easy but can be difficult to implement, if you are not in charge of booking the restaurant. If possible, plan ahead and book an establishment that has a wide variety of meals and dishes that will suit everyone, not just one or two people. Chain restaurants (like Outback Steakhouse, Moon Sushi, Reshays, etc) are great for this because they cater for a wide variety of people but also have healthy options. Just pick a healthy meal that suits you like steak with green vegetables and you are covered.
Investigate your options
If you have not heard of it yet, there are these incredibly amazing digital pages known as web pages. On these web page’s there is lots of information about the establishments like menus, calorie counts of food items and nutritional content … lol…. All jokes aside, check out the webpage of the business you are about to visit and look at their menu ahead of time. If you do this, then you are more like to stick to your healthy decision, rather than being swayed towards an unhealthy option on the night.
Splurge, but don’t go crazy
If you are heading out for a special occasion then generally there will be alcohol and cake. So plan ahead of time whether you will be splurging on one or the other. Alcohol packs a pretty heavy calorie punch and so do desserts, so pick one and stand by your decision. Don’t sink a heap of alcohol then move towards the dessert menu, that’s a rookie move.
If you follow these easy rules, eating out can be fun and may not break your healthy diet. Remember plan ahead of time 😉