As you likely know, eating out generally presents you with either too large of a portion size which naturally means you'll take in an excessive amount of food, or what's chosen will be unhealthy thus translating into far too many calories for a single meal.
If weight loss is a top priority, then one of the most important habits you need to develop is to prepare most if not all food you consume at home. The reason why this is one of the most important habits to develop is because not only will you be in complete control over what ingredients are used for the meal, but you have direct control over the portion you serve yourself therefore you can have total control the amount of calories you consume at one sitting.
This is the problem everyone faces when going out to eat. We have no control over the amount of food that is served. Even when a salad is ordered, often times that one simple option which most people assume to be "healthy" can easily surpass the 1,000 calorie mark all due to what's added and the portion size served.
Therefore if you want to challenge yourself a little bit, set a one week goal to not eat out one single time. That means no fast food, no restaurants, and definitely not ordering home pizza delivery. Does that sound like it would be an easy thing to accomplish or something you know will be rather difficult?
If you are thinking that sounds a bit tough, likely that means you are eating out far too frequently so this can possibly be an eye-opening moment that would be a great thing to experience. Think of it this way, with this one week goal challenge not only will eating at home give you an advantage that can possibly lead to weight loss, but you will be saving a lot of money in the long run if you continue to stick with this healthy habit.
For example, eating at a sit-down restaurant complete with hosts and waiters, you will generally pay between $10-$18 for a meal with a simple fountain beverage. Naturally the price will be much more if appetizers, alcohol, and desserts are added to the tab, but for simplicity sake, let's just take an average of around $14 for a meal.
Now keep in mind, that's $14 for a single meal likely with no leftovers afterwards which means for breakfast or lunch the next day you will need to look elsewhere for your next round of food.
Do you realize how much actual food can be bought from the supermarket for $14? I recently wrote an article showing exactly how with $20 it's rather easy to make 10+ portion sizes (or meals) meaning that each serving totals a mere $2.
If you were to eat out at this $14 per plate restaurant 10 total times, you get an overall amount of $140 not including tips! Are you starting to see the advantage not only for the health of your body to prepare food at home, but also for your pocketbook?
These 10 meals alone would have saved you $120. And keep in mind, the average meal price amount used for the restaurant example is relatively low since "extras" in the form of appetizers, alcoholic beverages, and desserts are often added to these sessions.
To have an immediate impact on your weight loss endeavor, challenge yourself with a one week goal not to eat out. Focus on preparing all your meals at home taking into consideration packing leftovers in plastic travel containers to take with you to work so lunch is already taken care of. This right here can be one of the best healthy eating tips since eating out at work can often be very detrimental to a weight loss mission.
It's choices like these that are going to make a huge difference in your efforts. Be willing to try something new and stick with it. You will delight in the results you achieve and realize that eating out is rarely going to be something positive for your waistline.
Gregory L. Gomez, a LAUSD teacher who's also on journey to develop a healthy life in an effort to lose weight and get in shape. Follow his progress on http://HealthyChoicesInLife.com as he strives to lose nearly 100 pounds by eating healthy and maintaining a consistent exercise routine. Get a FREE monthly Healthy Choices Newsletter along with a Healthy Eating eBook just for stopping by at http://healthychoicesinlife.com/programs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Gregory_L_Gomez/1195268
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