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To start on a positive note, I think I have got the hang of the nutrition side of things when I am safely at home with my family. I work on the basis that if none of the foods that I know I have problems eating in moderation come into the house, then I won’t be tempted to eat them. High on this list would be icecream, chocolate and crisps, I would give anything to be one of these people who can eat two chocolates from the box and then put it away until the following evening but I think reaching that stage of willpower is a long way off.
What I am still finding difficult is the challenge of maintaining my social life without it adding on the pounds the next day. Like a lot of people the focus of meeting up with friends for a good catch up focuses around a lovely meal and a bottle of wine. I guess in an average week I eat out around four times, including at least one week day lunch time and brunch at the weekend. However, this figure is obviously even higher when I go away for the weekend.
One of the problems is that I think it is nearly impossible to eat out and know exactly how many calories you are consuming. Even something that would be healthy at home tends to be cooked in an unhealthy way in a restaurant with butter and cream sneaking there way on to the plate. If I stick to a chain like Pizza Express I know that I can have something like a salad niscoise, without the dressing, and remain on track – but the temptations are there. Pizza Express have recently brought out a new range of half pizza and half salad which they say has around 500 cals so that is also an option.
I still think that even when making these sort of choices the best you can hope for when you eat out regularly is to not put on weight. My personal trainer has called it my sacrifice – socialize cycle and I think she is right. I work really hard and lose a few pounds and then I have a couple of days with friends and I am back where I started.
I have therefore decided that I need to start rationing the amount of meals out I commit to in any week. The target I have set myself is one meal out with my partner and one other social meal. It is hard when you already have things in the diary so I have invited some friends around to mine and with others suggested meeting for a coffee and a film instead. I know it is not the best time of year to make these changes but I really don’t want to wait until 2010 before I start making an effort on this one.
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