Going Out to Eat on a Diet

Yesterday was my daughter's birthday and we planned to go to our favorite Thai restaurant for dinner. I toyed with the idea of chucking my diet plan for the special occasion, but Saturday I'm also going out to dinner with friends I haven't seen for about 10 years. So if I make exceptions for every special occasion there's a good chance my diet will stall or worse.

I made a plan, because I've learned without a plan I do what comes naturally. I overeat. My favorite dish...or should I say one of my favorite dishes is green curry. I looked up the restaurant's site, but it is a small place and they did not have calorie content listed. Not to be deterred, I checked various recipe's for green curry. From my best calculations, the dish I planned to order would have about 1,200 calories counting the rice. I determined to eat half the meal and bring the other half home.

We walked in, were seated and the other adults each ordered appetizers. In my mind I knew that would not work for me. Instead I looked forward to my meal. When it arrived, I visually cut it in half and added one cup of rice to that half of the plate and mixed it with my chopsticks. And I've learned over time that eating with chopsticks slows me down, which is a good thing. Eating slower lets your brain catch up with the fact that your stomach is satisfied.

When I reached the half way point, I wanted to keep eating. I mean it was soooo delicious. But I thought of you all out there...and I thought about what I really wanted. I want to be thinner and reduce my overeating health risks for heart attack, stroke.... You know. I added rice to the other half of my plate and mixed it and then asked for a ToGo box. That's right. I did it!

And when I weighed in this morning I was rewarded. Not that it always happens but I reached a new low!

Today's Weight: 132.0