There’s More To Just Eating Out

When we first started our journey on June 21st it was right after celebrating Father’s Day with family. We met at a restaurant and spent hours enjoying dinner and conversation. It would be months before we would meet again. Our birthday (Matt and I share the same birthday) and anniversary are on August 11th. We hadn’t gone out to eat since we started our new lifestyle and we got the call. “Where would you like to go eat to celebrate?”. At this point we hadn’t thought much about eating out.

See, before we started Moxifit we weren’t really eating out sort of people. First, Matt is a great cook and I’d chose his food over any restaurant (This is not just a proud wife talking. Anyone who has tried Matt’s food would agree wholeheartedly). But second, eating out wasn’t always chosen by what we were in the mood for. It was often driven by comfort and support. Comfort – referring to the restaurant having tables rather than booths. Most booths we couldn’t fit into and squeezing into one just doesn’t seem like the thing to do when you are about to indulge in a meal. Support – referring to the chairs offered if tables were available. We would cringe at the sight of thin legged chairs practically hovering over them as we hesitantly sat not knowing if they would give before our meal was done. Most of the time we just didn’t enjoy the “other stuff” larger people often have to face.

On the plan we have limited food options to eat. Paying $20 for a plate with chicken and veggies, just doesn’t seem worth it when we can make the same at home for less than $5. But when it comes to celebrating with family and friends – “Do we say no thank you?” or “Do we plan?” Depends who you may ask. Depends on your self control when you’re outside your normal routine. Depends on the company. There are many factors that go into this decision when you are on a weight loss journey. But one thing for sure – You cannot go into a restaurant without looking at the menu first!

Matt and I have gone out to eat a handful of times since we started the plan and we have limited ourselves primarily to two places. One offers meat and veggies, the other fish and veggies and we have our set meals we order at each. It just makes things easier and we get to enjoy our time out. Oh and by the way we recently visited a restaurant and sat in a booth comfortably for the first time in years.

We realized that celebrating anything often goes along with food. When you take food out of the equation what’s left? What other activities can bring a family or group of people together? For our birthday we got a group together and spent a couple hours at Top Golf. Yes, there was food. We ordered platters for our guests and Matt and I ate salads. We even brought along our own homemade Moxifit ranch dressing. We do what we have to do, but we planned.

So its mid-October and we are already thinking about Thanksgiving. With the holidays fast approaching we are usually the hosts for our family holiday meals. Some questions that we have been contemplating – “Do we add healthy options to the menu?”, “Do we alter recipes to make them healthier?”, or “Do we just indulge, it’s only one day, right?”. More to come as we get closer to Thanksgiving.