Going to the gym and eating out

SparkPoints: (3,102)
Fitness Minutes: (5,730)
Posts: 637
12/13/12 6:26 P

If finances permit, I think I would find a restaurant that offers a good house salad with evoo and maybe a side of steamed veggies or a cup of broth-based soup. I am cautious about the meat served at restaurants unless the ingredients are posted online. Even then, I limit consumption; I like to know the quality of meats (grass-fed, wild-caught, etc).

current weight: 99.0

110 107.25 104.5 101.75

99

Posts: 417
12/12/12 3:32 P

We say at my house eating out is a sometimes treat. If you look on the websites of those places and track the nutritional information you may have a little bit of a wake up call. If you eat out 2-3 times a week it really isn't special and of course you eat and spend so much more. If your health is really important look for ways to make it work. You have gotten pleanty of excellent suggestions here.

You are making great strides by going to the gym. Keep up the hard work, and stick with it. The reward is so worth it!

May Minutes: 481

0 33.75 67.5 101.25

135

Posts: 4,715
12/12/12 3:10 P

HONEYLISSABEE - you are creating a problem where there is none. You are talking about adding exercise to your life. That is great - do it! But don't eat out afterwards. Go home and cook something and eat it.

You have already said that you are *trying to limit how often you eat out.* You already eat out at least once/week in the best of circumstances! So why are you even talking about adding another eating out day? And "making a habit out of it."

Do you realize that your workout will have to be 2-4 hours long to burn off the calories in a very moderate meal at any of those restaurants? What is the point of this?

You say you plan to work out 3x/week, and it sounds from your post like you might even mean you want to eat out with your friend after every one of these workouts? That can't be right, but even if it's just one/week, it's enough to undo all 3 workouts calorie-wise.

Based on your sparkpage, you want to lose weight. A scenario like the one you describe could very easily lead to weight gain.

Posts: 11,479
12/12/12 1:35 P

Could you bring your dinner? Keep it in the fridge at work until you head out to exercise? Then store it in a cooler while you are at the gym?

If you must eat out then the chicken and gnocchi soup is not a bad option at the Olive Garden.

Pounds lost: 18.5

0 8.75 17.5 26.25

35

Posts: 651
12/12/12 1:28 P

We both have personal family situations that make eating at either of our houses nearly impossible.

Unfortunately, our local Subway is filthy, never has any bread, and we generally try to avoid it. We go to Ruby Tuesday on occasion, but the salad bar is rarely worth eating. The mushrooms are slimy, the greens are wilted, etc,

May Minutes: 318

0 33.25 66.5 99.75

133

SparkPoints: (3,102)
Fitness Minutes: (5,730)
Posts: 637
12/12/12 6:22 A

I like the option of Ruby Tuesday's one-trip-salad-bar for health; financially, I save more when I prepare at home and invite company to join me.

current weight: 99.0

110 107.25 104.5 101.75

99

SparkPoints: (20,749)
Fitness Minutes: (19,101)
Posts: 2,716
12/12/12 2:58 A

I like the idea if of hosting at each others house on alternate weeks! Otherwise you could go to subway and get a 6 inch each without doing too much damage.

current weight: 146.0

191 179.75 168.5 157.25

146

SparkPoints: (33,730)
Fitness Minutes: (21,783)
Posts: 2,414
12/12/12 1:40 A

is it possible to alternate eating at each others homes?

Or, maybe you could take turns packing a healthy meal and you can have a "car picnic" after your workout?

My other suggestion would be to go your separate ways after your workout and just grab something at home.

current weight: 133.2

260 228.3 196.6 164.9

133.2

Posts: 651
12/12/12 12:42 A

Now that I have a full-time job, my best friend and I are considering joining our local Planet Fitness together to get into a workout routine. Our plans are to work out at least Monday, Thursday, and Saturday afternoons/evenings due to our work and my church schedules.

We have a class on Tuesdays, and we always eat out after this. I also have church on alternating Wednesdays and Fridays where I may or may not eat out. However, I'm trying to limit how much I eat out in general. I'm not willing to give up eating out with friends after church, but I do need to cut back elsewhere.

However, our logical instinct is to work out, get cleaned up, and get dinner out. I just to make a habit out of it, or if I do, I want some better options. I don't want to rely on Applebees, Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday, etc every day.I worry that they'll negatively impact my weight loss efforts if I eat out too often (I've been cutting back a lot.)

Any suggestions? Eating dinner before hitting the gym isn't much of an option since I work until 6:30, and we'd be going right after. I'll probably have a snack before working out, but there's no time for a full meal.

May Minutes: 318

0 33.25 66.5 99.75

133