There will likely be times when you need to eat out, but this doesn’t need to throw you off-track. With effective planning, you can still enjoy social occasions, while staying on top of your training and nutrition. We apply these tried-and-tested steps with our clients, helping them navigate meals out without sacrificing their results.

Key Takeaways

• Plan ahead to make sure you don’t get caught off-guard.
• Find alternative options for socialising that don’t revolve around food or drink (where possible.)
• Use your support network to keep you focused.
• Don’t be afraid to research and adapt menu items in restaurants to fit your goal.

Step 1:

Plan ahead!

The biggest mistake people make when dining out is not planning in advance. To avoid this, at the end of each week, ask yourself: “How many work or social events do I have scheduled for next week that may affect my progress?”

Identifying events in advance will give you plenty of time to formulate a plan, and adapt the rest of your week if necessary.

When reviewing your upcoming week, you should consider:

Sometimes eating at home works best

Although food will be available at certain events, there may not be an expectation for you to eat. For example, many of our clients regularly attend evening drinks parties, where there is typically a buffet or canapes on offer. In such cases, we recommend eating at home before the event. Make sure to time your meal close to the event, as this will help you to stay strong in the face of temptation.

You can socialise without dining out

For many people, dining out is the default option for networking with colleagues or socialising with friends and family. While we certainly do not want to discourage this, you should also consider non-food related activities, like coffee meetings, bowling or the cinema. It can also be a great opportunity to get friends and family in on the action with active socialising, such as walks, playing sports or activity centres.

Tell people about your transformation

Some people reading this will be in the fortunate position where their friend, partner or relative prepares a large proportion of their food for them. If this is the case, you need to have a conversation with them before starting your transformation, so they can prepare meals that fit with your goals. Even if you prepare your own meals, we recommend updating people that you regularly socialise and interact with on your transformation plans, so they can support you along the way.

Step 2:

Choose the restaurant and get the menu!

Once you have identified how many times you will be dining out during the upcoming week, the next step is to review where you will be eating. If possible, try to take the lead and suggest a venue that you know offers healthy options. This should be relatively straightforward to research, as most restaurants share sample menus on their website, or will be happy to send a copy if you get in touch.

A top tip here is to find go-to options for different dining out occasions that fit with your meal plan. Do a little research and identify a go-to medium-priced restaurant for casual meals with friends, a higher-priced restaurant for special occasions and a fast-food chain, café or supermarket for convenience.

Even if you cannot influence the choice of restaurant, you should still make an effort to get a copy of the menu in advance. This is important, as it gives you time to properly review the menu and make a decision, without any peer pressure from fellow diners.

Step 3:

Select your meal!

So, what do you do once you have the menu?

Identify the protein sources

The number one rule to follow when dining out during a transformation, is to make sure that protein is the main component of the meal. For example, a steak dinner is a protein-rich meal, whereas protein is just a topping on a pizza. When deciding between protein sources, we recommend choosing the leanest option. For example, go for a fillet steak, rather than a sirloin or rib-eye.

An unavoidable truth of dining out is that any meal you order almost always contains more calories than the same meal prepared at home. You may care about controlling your calories, but the chef’s priority is making food taste good. This often means using plenty of calorie-dense, flavour-adding ingredients like oil, butter and cream. We call these ‘hidden calories’, and while they are difficult to spot, they can have a big impact on the calorie total of a meal. Selecting a lean protein source helps to control the total calorie count. Any hidden calories are added on top of a lean protein source, rather than a higher-calorie fatty protein source.

Skip dessert and go with starter/main or main only

Almost all restaurants have the option to choose a starter, main course and dessert. Depending on how many calories you have allocated for the meal, we recommend ordering either a main course only, or a starter and a main.

Restaurant dessert options are almost always calorie bombs. In contrast, most starters typically come in small serving sizes and there is normally a protein-based option available. If a starter looks like a good option, you could also order it as your main alongside a side dish.

And what should you do if everybody else orders a dessert? Have a coffee (decaffeinated if eating late) or tea and enjoy the conversation!

Modify the menu

If you see an option that is close to being a good choice, ask the server if it is possible to modify it. For example, if the dish comes with fries, ask if you can replace them with a salad and for dressings and sauces to be served on the side.

Another modification you could make is to order a side of vegetables to bulk out your meal. However, vegetables are not automatically low-calorie options when dining out, especially if they are fried or served in butter or creamy sauces.

The menu description will not always mention this, so check with the server and ask for them to be steamed or served ‘dry’. Alternatively, the safest bet is to order a salad with the dressing on the side, as this involves no cooking.

The final modification is to remember that you do not have to clear your plate. Some restaurants are very generous with serving sizes (especially with carbohydrate sources like rice and potatoes). Some only offer large serving sizes, such as massive steaks. Don’t be afraid to only eat a normal-sized portion and either leave the rest, share with a fellow diner or ask to take the leftovers home.

Step 4:

Adapt your meal plan!

On days when you are not dining out, the meal planning process starts by scheduling your meals and selecting your protein sources. On days when you are dining out, you should start by selecting your order (step 3), and then estimating how much of your daily food intake this takes up. You can then plan how to spread the remainder of your calories over the rest of your day.

The first place to check when estimating the calorie content of a meal is online, as a lot of restaurants now list nutritional information on their website. If the information is not available, try looking for a similar meal on the menu of a restaurant that does share this information. Failing this, you will have to ‘guesstimate’ the calorie content of the meal, by researching the individual ingredients.

This is much easier to do when you choose simple menu options, like steak and vegetables, compared to complex, multi-ingredient meals like curry or lasagne. Your estimate will also be more accurate, as restaurants typically list the serving sizes for protein sources on the menu.

You then need to adjust your estimate to account for any hidden calories. From experience, the easiest way to do this is to add 25% to your calorie estimate for the meal. For example, 400 kCal becomes 500 kCal, 500 kCal becomes 625 kCal, and so on.

The next step is to plan the rest of your day by following the steps outlined below:

1. Subtract your calorie guestimate from your daily calorie target to calculate your revised calorie target.

2. Subtract your protein guestimate from your daily protein target to calculate your revised protein target.

3. Follow the meal planning steps for non-dining out days to plan the rest of your day.

Note: You can assume that the +25% adjustment came purely from fat and adjust your fat target accordingly, or just focus on hitting your protein and calorie target for the day.

If the meal is bigger than expected, simply adapt your serving sizes later in the day and you will know for next time.

Step 5:

Enjoy the meal!

The final step in adapting your meal plan for dining out, is to remember to enjoy the meal! Feeling included and spending time with your friends and family is incredibly important. Avoiding social occasions out of fear is an unnecessary worry. Ultimately, your rate of progress will determine if your approach to dining out is effective or if you need to make a change.