Let’s face it, we all enjoy indulging a bit here and there and enjoy having a meal out with friends, family, or loved ones. Why sit there and isolate yourself from being social or going to social events and worry about a one-time eating or drinking occurrence? Although you are working towards a fitness goal or your dream physique, why be a hermit? The key is to just plan ahead, use moderation, enjoy yourself, and get back on your plan the following meal or day. Pretty simple equation if you ask us. The question is, if it’s such an easy formula to follow, then why are so many people hesitant to do so? Why do people still fear going out to eat or to social events? Simply because they feel they will hinder their progress or regress if they do.
What is Restricting You from Being Social?
We could go on for days on why people restrict themselves so much, but we have to keep this article to a minimum if you know what we mean. Let’s look at a few reasons as to why this might be:
1.) People follow an “All or Nothing Type Diet” which leads to binging occurrences.
2.) People have coaches that tell them they can’t eat out and indulge and if they do their coaches yell at them and make them feel like they’ve failed.
3.) People follow cookie cutter diets/meal plans and develop bad relationships with foods. For more info on this, click here.
4.) People are afraid to eat out because they feel they will have a set-back in their progress.
5.) People are lazy to plan ahead and be smart about eating out. Therefore they eat whatever and over consume. For tips on how to plan ahead, click here.
At the end of the day, we are all responsible for what we put in our bodies. We can control this variable 100% of the time. For those that want to isolate themselves because they are on a strict diet or are trying to prove to the world that they are so macho, well by all means do your thing if it makes you happy.
Our Experience Eating out Recently
Maybe if we give an example of our own experience with being social then many of you can relate or say, “AHH-HAA.” Two weekends ago we were craving Sushi; we are sushi fanatics and are proud of it. We knew it was going to be tough to exactly hit our macronutrient targets for that particular meal, so we first researched the restaurant we wanted to go to. Unfortunately they had no macros or nutrition facts, but that didn’t stop us. We then went online and searched for “Sushi Nutrition Facts” and what do you know, we found a reliable source that helped us estimate the rolls we were going to eat. From there we went and enjoyed our sushi, estimated our macros fairly close, and that was that.
We didn’t hesitate to have sushi, nor did we freak out if we went over or under on our food intake. We simply did our best by planning ahead and enjoyed stuffing our faces with sushi. After that life went on and we got back on our plan for the rest of the night and resumed the next day. Magic right? No, we simply just took the time to plan ahead some because we really wanted sushi and wanted to enjoy a nice dinner out with ourselves and girlfriends. That is how simple it can be folks; no need to stress over a small situation, life is too damn short to worry about such a small thing.
What Else Can you do to Prepare for Social Events?
To reiterate, this is not magic ladies and gents, this is simply taking some extra time to plan ahead and being smart about what your social event entails of. As we mentioned before, you are in complete control of what you put in your body. Here are a few ideas on what you can do if you go to a restaurant:
- Research the restaurant and their menu, plan what you’re going to eat ahead, that way you can get an indication of how much to eat and possible nutrition facts.
- Bring a measuring scale with you to weigh out your food. Do not be embarrassed to do this, take pride in this.
- Ask the waiter not to sauté anything and to put condiments on the side.
- Try eye balling your portions of macros (protein, carbs, and fats) and get an even balance.
- Stay away from fried foods and think more wholesome and more filling foods.
- Limit alcoholic beverages to 1-2 glasses.
- Split a meal with someone, that way you’re not over consuming.
- Eat beforehand and make sure satiety is high, that way you won’t get hungry.
- Bring a meal with you to the social event.
- Watch this video here for more info.
These are all great tips to take into consideration when going to a social event or going out to eat. There should be no excuses to isolate yourself from what you enjoy doing.
Wrapping This Up
We are all human; we can’t expect to be perfect with everything. It’s like the old cliché that says “you learn from your mistakes,” its 100% true. That’s all we can do. If you have a “cheat meal” or whatever it’s called, so be it, get back on track that same day.
The key is consistency over time. One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, and keep moving along! There’s absolutely no need to be down or beat yourselves up for not being perfect or enjoying social outings or the things you enjoy. There are greater and more important things in life to worry about.
Let us Ease Some of the Fear Off By Offering You Our “Busy Person’s Nutritional Survival Guide”
