The vast majority of us like to go out and socialise with friends and or family. Whether it’s going for a nice meal or going out drinking. Now just because you have health and fitness goals you want to smash. Does not mean you have to live like a monk and no longer go out to socialise and enjoy yourself. It is possible to make weight loss progress have fun and enjoy yourself.
Plan how you are going to handle your diet before you go out. So this means if you know ahead of time that you are going to go out on certain days. Which would normally be at the weekend for most people. By planning ahead, it means you have an idea of what you are going to do. Rather than being reactive, which would make it more likely of consuming more food in your week than you wanted.
How to plan ahead?
When we are eating to lose weight, every day does not have to be a dieting day. What do I mean by this? Well, we don’t have to eat the same amount of calories every day of the week. You could create a bigger calorie deficit on the days before you are going out. This means eating fewer calories than you normally would. How you can do this is by reducing your calories Monday to Thursday or Friday, depending on the day you are going out. So this means that the day you are going out you can allow yourself to eat a little bit more and have some alcohol.
Have a look at the menu of the restaurant you are going to go to in advance. This means you know what you are going to be eating and drinking before it happens. Typically we will make better choices before we are in the situation of being hungry. At the actual meal, eat the high protein foods and vegetables first before we get to the rest of the food on your plate.
What you can also do on a night you are having a night out is you can eat in a way to accommodate it. For example, you could have some vegetables and high protein foods before you go out. So it can allow more calories for going out and enjoying yourself. Always remember it is one meal out of 21 to 35 meals in a week. Which is not enough to ruin the progress you make, unless you are doing a lot of overeating.
We also need to consider alcohol and how much you are drinking. Why? Well because believe it or not alcohol does contain calories and most people do like to have a drink when they are going on a night out. It can be helpful to learn what drinks are lower-calorie and what are the higher-calorie ones. So you have the option of making better choices. To give you a rough idea, clear spirits tend to be the best options. Red wines and a Stella are on the higher end of calories. Remember to drink alcohol in moderation because it can impact your activity levels and how well you stick to your diet and exercise routine. For more on calorie amounts for different beverages check out drinkaware
You can still go out and have fun while improving your diet. While relaxing your diet at times. By planning and putting into action some strategies that will work for your preferences.
