Fit Foodies App, National City, CA (2025)

12/20/2024

Favorite Tips for Enjoying Your Meal Out

How to enjoy a variety of food without FOMO, Waste or Money...

I don't know about you, but typically when we go out to eat, we like to try ALLLLLLLL the foods...

But as you know while you CAN try ALL the food your body probably DOESN'T NEED ALLLLLL of the dishes, especially depending on the amount of foods that you're trying!

When it comes to being able to enjoy a variety of foods, while also making sure that you're not shoveling your face full of food theres quite a bit of ways that you can navigate this!

Below are some of our and your Fellow Fit Foodie Favorite Tips!

ABCD Tips: Appetizer, Breads, Beers, Chips, Cocktails, Drinks, Desserts...

Lunch hour/Happy Hour: During lunch Hours and Happy Hours there are often smaller portions of appetizers and entrees, along with cheaper prices!
Not only does it allow you to share smaller portions of dishes and try different items, it also allows you to go out to eat EARLIER so that you're not waiting to eat so late in the evening, especially depending on how many calories you'd like to enjoy out.

Depending on how many appetizers you'd like to enjoy you might not even need to order an entree as a meal!

Half Portions:
As we mentioned above Happy Hours and Lunch hours are typically smaller portions, but if it isn't that time of day some restaurants will allow you to order half sized entrees. This isn't a guarantee, but worth an ask!

Side Dishes:
Sometimes at fancy places sides don't come with your meal. This can be helpful in regards to saving calories, trying a variety of different foods, but can also allow you to create your own meal since these types of sides dishes are typically larger and shareable.

For instance your side dish could be your main entree/appetizer if you wanted.

Other restaurants where side dishes are included allow you to substitute for different options and still create your own meal, because you can still get extra portions of protein, etc...

Breads/Chips:
When it comes to the free munchies if you planned them in then enjoy them. To help in being mindful of the amount that you're enjoying ask for a separate plate so that you can disperse out how much you're going to consume and can easily know when you're done with your portion.

If you didn't plan them in then you can just decline them before the waiter drops them off. If your company wants to enjoy them, then try and put the out of arms reach for you.

Drinks and Cocktails:
Drinks can definitely take up quite a bit of calories, especially depending on the drink. Take a look at the cocktail menu ahead of time or just create your own drink.

If you decide to create your own drink, often times you can make it pretty calorie friendly if you want to order a straight glass of wine or just do straight liquor on the rocks.
Liquor with zero calorie sodas are a great for calorie saving options. Vodka tonics, Ranch Water, Martini, Diet Soda and Rum, Prosecco, Etc....

Zero calorie drinks in general are a great way to enjoy a drink without the calories and of course make sure to stay hydrated with some water!

Desserts:
If you decide to enjoy a dessert, enjoy it! Sharing is great in this instance. You can also choose to have an after dinner drink as your dessert instead.

If you decide to decline the dessert, popping a mint in your mouth and also declining the dessert menu before being giving it can help remove temptations.

General Tips:

Sharing:
Sharing is our FAVORITE! You and a loved one can split an entree and a dessert helping you save on calories and allow you to talk about the food that you're experiencing together.

You can either decide to split it at the table or you can ask the waiter to have the chef split it for you. Do know that if you have the chef in the back split it for you, depending on what you're splitting sometimes they will even give you a regular size portion of sides.

For instance, if you're splitting a particular pasta that comes with soup and salad, they may give you AND your friend a regular size soup/salad and a little extra pasta in your split portion. This isn't guaranteed and every restaurant does this differently, but know it is a possibility.

Go with a larger group:
When you go with people who enjoy food and enjoy sharing, you can order a variety or appetizers and/or entrees and then split them between everyone.

When you do this make sure to portion out what you want onto your own plate, This will help give you a better visual of how much you're eating vs picking off of a plate and allow you to focus on what you're enjoying.

Order Small:
For instance, dishes or foods that come in different size, get a smaller serving. You can order a small pizza and share it with a loved one and then enjoy it with a side salad and/or garlic knot, etc..

This is also where half portions can also come into play.

Kids Menu:
Some places you can order off the kids menu, depending, which can give you a smaller portion of something that sounds good.

Leftovers:
Plan for leftovers. Allow yourself to enjoy half there and then half later. To help in this you can ask your waiter to box up half your food, so that you can enjoy what is on your plate and not have to think about leaving stuff on your plate.

You can also give your leftovers to a homeless person or family member who enjoys eating leftovers. This is GREAT for people, like ourselves, who have deeply engrained inside of us not to waste food.

Plan multiple trips back:
If you find that there is so much that you want to experience, realize that you can go back another time to try it out! This gives you something to look forward to in the future.

If you're like, but "I'm on vacation and will probably never get to visit them again...."

The "FOMO' mentality is real...
"Gotta get my money's worth" mentality as well...
But something is going to have to give...

Whether thats possibly slowing progress, the freshness of food and eating it immediately, the removing of "getting your money's worth mentality", "don't waste food mentality", etc....

If you DO decide to order everything off the menu you could make the decision to only have a bite or two of it all and then give the rest away or throw the rest away, which can even help you stay on plan while also allowing you to enjoy the food.

You could also bring it to work and/or a friend of families place where you could all share in the experience together the day after or the day of.

Depending on what you order sometimes you can also save items to enjoy on a different day and/or freeze items for later consumption. We've done this with pastries like cookies and it works out very well cause we get to plan it in later and enjoy eating more of it, in a way that also allows us to feel good.

There is also the fact that you DO decide to eat everything REGARDLESS of how many calories it is.

There is nothing wrong with this, but as with anything it's being aware of your decision and asking/reminding yourself of what is it you want to experience and how can you foster that experience?

We always like the question of, if you end up eating so much to the point of discomfort was it actually worth it?

12/19/2024

Integrating Fun Foods without Feeling Miserable

How to enjoy Fun Foods While Hitting Your Goals

When integrating "taboo" foods or what we'll call "fun foods" into your intake theres definitely some key factors to think about to ensure that you're not feeling miserable, because THATS definitely NOT fun!

First off, lets be real...

A MAJORITY of the time when we choose to eat these types of foods we typically don't do it in a way that serves our goals...

Maybe you've restricted them from your intake for so long that the day you decide to eat it, you go hog wild, because you don't know when you're going to give yourself permission to enjoy it again...

Then you feel miserable from over indulging...

Inside Phase 4: Freedom, it's all about learning how to integrate these foods in a way that allows you to enjoy them as frequently as you want in a way that DOESN'T have you feeling miserable from either

A. Overindulging or B. Feeling Hangry...

When it comes to "fun foods" a MAJORITY of the time they hold A LOT of calories for not a lot of volume.

Because of that its important to find a way to plan them in, in a way that allows you to not only enjoy eating the food, but make sure that you don't have to starve yourself in order for you to enjoy it...

Factors to Think About When Integrating "Fun Foods":

1. What Fun Food will you eat and how much?
2. How many calories are you working with currently?
3. What are your Protein Targets and Minimum amount of Protein?
4. How will you time your meals?
5. How many meals will you have that day and what will they be?

What Fun Food will you eat and How much?

Picking your Fun food, is the fun part!

But one question lies in how much of this fun food will you eat?

The amount that you eat goes hand in hand with the amount of calories that you're working with. If you're in a calorie deficit, depending on how deep the deficit you probably won't decide to eat an entire slice of cake that takes up all your calories for the day...

I mean you totally could, but that would probably leave you feeling miserable the day of and days later, plus there is probably not a lot of protein in cake...

Deciding the food you will integrate not only will it help you to identify the amount of calories that it will leave you for the rest of your meals for the day, but it will also help you in identifying what the main macronutrients of it are.

For instance, is it higher in Fat and Protein? Just Carbs? Carbs and Fat?

This will help you in planning out the rest of your food sources and meals for the day.

How Many Calories Are you Working With?

Are you currently in a deficit? maintenance? slight surplus? Are you Calorie Cycling?

Obviously the more calories that you have, the more that you're able to allocate to your fun food, but you also want to make sure that you don't allocate so many calories that you're

A. Starving before you go and eat the food (possibly causing you to eat more then you planned for)
B. Starving the days leading up to eat because you stacked so many calories on a single day
C. Starving the days afterwards because you ate a majority of your calories in the beginning of the week

Finding the right amount of calories that leaves you feeling satisfied will be person dependent and might take many trials and reflections.

What is your Protein target and What is Your Minimum Amount?

As you know Protein is very satiating, but we also only need so much. When it comes to integrating fun foods in a way that is enjoyable and sustainable setting realistic protein targets is very helpful.

The day that you integrate your fun food, identify what is the minimum amount of protein that you need to consume that day. Do note that, JUST because you're eating the minimum amount of protein to sustain muscle, DOES NOT mean that, that will satiate and satisfy you.

Find an amount of protein that not only ensures you're sustaining your muscle, but also allows you to feel good.

This will also take some trial and errors on your part.

The other factor in this is that if your fun food you're enjoying is a meat source, then you're partially ahead of getting in some protein that day!

How will you time your meals?

When we talk about timing we want you to think about WHEN are you going to consume a MAJORITY of your calories?

If your fun food doesn't take up that many calories (Less then 50% of your calories) then no big deal, but if you find that you're allocating a lot of calories towards your fun food, you'll want to think about meal timing.

For instance, if you enjoyed your fun food in the middle of the day then you wouldn't be left too hangry before and/or after eating your fun food.

If you're going out to dinner, could you push back the time that you eat your first meal so that you don't have such a massive gap between meals and/or are fueling up your hunger fire too early?

The other factor that can come in to play with this is how you're spacing your protein out. If your fun food doesn't have much protein, then starting your day with a decent amount of protein can help with satiation.

How many meals will you eat?

Depending on how many calories you have left to consume, could determine the amount of meals that you have left to eat.

This of course is also dependent on the size of your meals that you typically like to enjoy as well.

Often times focusing on leaner sources of protein and low calorie high volume foods can help with satiation from not only the protein, but the volume, fiber and water that they provide.

How to identify what your other meals look like:
1. Total Calories - Fun Food Calories = Remaining Calories
2. Ex) 2200 Calories-1200 Calories =1000 Calories Left to Eat
3. Protein Left to Consume x 4 cal/g = Total Protein Calories Remaining
4. Ex) 120g Protein Left to Hit. 120g x 4 Cal/g = 480 Calories
5. How many "Other" Calories Left?
6. Ex) 1000 Calories - 480 Calories = 520 Calories to consume from protein, carbs, fats
7. 520 Calories/2 Meals =260 Calories from "other sources" in each meal
8. How many Meals?
9. Ex) 1000 calories/ 2 Meals = 500 Calories Each Meal
10. With 60g Protein in Each Meal and 260 Calories from "Other sources" in each meal
11. What Food Sources?
* Think Lean Protein and Low Calorie High Volume Veggies
* Ex) Chicken Breast, FF Greek Yogurt, Low Fat Cottage Cheese, protein Powder, etc..
* Ex) Lettuce, Cucumbers, Berries, Celery, Tomatoes, Cabbage, Zucchini, etc...

12/18/2024

AFTER the Experience AKA Reflection

You've planned, you've gone out to eat and now its after the fact...

Going out to eat is an experience. Think about it. When you go to a restaurant you either reflect back thinking...
* "Wow the food was amazing"
* "Uff the Food wasn't worth the calories"
* "I definitely ate more then my stomach could handle", etc...

Going out to eat creates lasting memories for you to remember and to share about with others. The memories you have may be positive or negative, which not only allows for great conversations, but allows you to reflect on what went well and didn't go well so that you can identify if you would recreate that same experience of improve it for future meals out...

Not only is going out part of the experience, but there is also your experience before the restaurant and of course how you felt after the restaurant....

When you reflect on all parts of the experience it helps in setting up future meals out for success and more positive experiences...

Your Experience Prior to Going out to Eat:

1. How did you Feel Physically BEFORE eating out?
2. Were you Ravenous? Satiated?
3. If Ravenous: Increase Protein? Eat Earlier? Designate less calories for meal out? Choose a different food item out? Eat a smaller portion of the food item- share the item?
4. How did you Feel Emotionally before eating out?
5. Excited? Confident? Nervous? Tempted?
6. If Tempted: Could you incorporate the tempted food? Pass on it? Talk through it? Move it out of arms reach? Breathe?
7. How was it pre planning your meal ahead of time?
8. Tedious? Helpful? Confused?
9. If Tedious: Could you be more generalized? Have go to restaurants with nutrition facts?

Your Actual Experience at the Restaurant:

1. Did you enjoy your food at the restaurant?
2. Was it worth the calories? Would eat it again? Eat less of it? Eat more of it? Felt Satisfied? Discontent? Hungry?
3. Were you able to stick to the plan?
4. What helped? Ex) Declining the bread basket or planning in slices of bread
5. What could use improvement? Ex) Sharing a Meal
6. How were your Emotions and Presence with the food and your company?
7. Ex) Able to enjoy conversation and the food. Felt anxious and tempted around the bread. Etc...
8. Did any unplanned challenges come up?
9. What was it and how did you handle it?
10. Ex) Didn't have the meal you planned for, but ordered something similar or said f**k it and ate all the food
11. How can you improve for next time if necessary

After Eating at The Restaurant:

1. How did you feel physically right after the meal and days after?
2. Did you feel like you were going to explode from fullness? Content?
3. Did you feel bloated, swollen or slow days after? Amazing? No negative repercussions?
4. How did you feel emotionally right after the meal and days after?
5. Did you feel accomplished and proud? Did you feel defeated?
6. Was it worth it?
7. Thinking about the experience as an entirety?
8. Was the food there worth it- whether you did or didn't stick to your plan?
9. Would you go there again?
10. Did you enjoy your company?
11. Were you happy with your choices or would you change something?
12. How can you improve pre planning and enjoying the experience for your next meal out?

How to Craft "Worth it" Experiences:

Identifying and asking yourself the above questions can help you identify if everything that you experienced was "worth it"...

This allows you to help in not only identifying worth while experiences, but helps you to create more of those!

Because life is filled with experiences, both "good" and "bad" and its through these experiences that allow you to learn and identify what you enjoy and want more of, what you don't like and could do with out along with opening up possibilities in creating the life and body you love and desire.

As you continue to experience life, be patient with yourself as you learn how to navigate uncharted territory and implement the mindset and skills that you are learning.
Celebrate your wins and the little steps of progress that you make each day, even if its as simple as I ate one less bite of dessert...

Identify triggers and tendencies so that you can make changes...

Give yourself permission to experience what life has to offer and reflect often, because it is only through continually putting yourself in new and different situations that allows you to master life and grow.

Enjoy the journey, because the destination is momentary and will always change.

It is the journey that creates the person you are today and who you're mean't to be tomorrow.

12/17/2024

DURING The Experience AKA Ordering, Wait, Eating and Presence

You've planned what you're going to eat, planned the rest of your meals for the day and now its time to go out, execute on the plan and ENJOY the fruits of your labor!

You've reached the stage of "During Your Experience" which includes:

* Ordering and Waiting For Your Food
* Eating and Being Present with Your Food and Company

Since you've already decided what you're going to eat and drink, all you have to do is order, enjoy your company and stick with the plan.
Have satisfaction and confidence in knowing you're doing what you planned for!

Tips Before the Food Arrives:

1. Decline the Starters if needed or unplanned for or have them out of arms reach!
2. If you did plan for them enjoy them and the company
3. Order what you planned for!
4. If needed have your meal written down and hand it to the server or read it off to them
5. If they don't have what you planned for ask what is similar or comparable to the meal you were planning
6. You can always order "off menu" if needed
7. Have the waiter pack up half your food prior to it coming to you and/or divide your meal if sharing
8. Hydrate! If you're not having a cocktail have a zero calorie drink or enjoy the water!
9. Water helps fill your stomach up, distracts idol hands and helps with possible increased sodium intake from the meal out
10. CONVERSATE! Enjoy your conversation before the food arrives! Think about it... this is the IDEAL time, because neither of you have mouths full of food nor are you worried about what you're going to eat if you had your food picked out prior to arrival.

* Focus on listening to what the other person is saying
* Talk about your Food Freedom Journey and the person you have and are becoming. Often times you'll inspire others
* Remember the Company is there FOR YOU and to enjoy YOUR company!

Be Present and Live in the Moment: When you're fully present and "living" in the actual moment you are focused on the situation at hand!
You are aware of the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, feelings and emotions that you are currently having and allowing yourself to fully understand and process what is unfolding...

Good conversation and good food.

When it comes to "living in the moment" it is an actual skill set that is acquired through practice and repetition. We're so distracted with phones theses days and immediate gratification that out attention span is unfortunately very short!

It is also something that not only helps with increased satiation, but enhances your quality of life and relationships with others!
One thing that can help do this is slowing down!

Tips When the Food Arrives and Presence: When it comes to eating and slowing down here's some of your fellow Fit Foodies and our favorite tips and actions:
1. Give yourself permission to slow down and enjoy the food that you decided on.
2. Put your fork down between bites: Focus on whats in your mouth before shoveling your next bite in your mouth so you can focus on the flavors, textures and smells you're experiencing.
3. Use chopsticks: If you're at an Asian restaurant become a chopstick master, because for most of us it allows us to slow down when we eat.
4. Focus on what is in your mouth and try to pick out the flavors, smells, textures, etc... that you are experiencing and discuss it with yourself or another person between bites so that you can share in the experience
5. Drink sips of water between each bite or every couple of bites and BREATHE!
6. Make it a challenge to be the last person to finish their food: If you think about how quickly we finish out food at times its pretty crazy. This takes a lot of intention, awareness and presence.

Additional Food For Thought: What if your food arrives and its way larger or smaller then you expected?

Theres so many way that you can handle this. First off if its smaller, then no worries. Take it as a win.

If its larger you leave some food on your plate, ask for a to go container or just decide to consume it and take note that it might have been more calories then you accounted for.

There is no right or wrong decision when it comes to this. It is just a decision. Every meal out will be a new learning experience on your journey and one underestimation of a meal won't kill your progress.

It's all about being aware of the decisions that you're making and enjoying in the process.

12/16/2024

Part 1: Eating Out Survival Guide

BEFORE the Experience AKA Planning

One of the fun things about life is experiencing delicious food cooked and prepared by different people...
Whether you're going to a restaurant, over to a family friends for a bbq, an event, etc...

More often then not when people go out to eat they usually don't have any forethought as to where or what it is they are going to eat.
Heck, do remember when you first started on this journey, you probably didn't have your meals and/or calories thought out for the day and/or week like you do now.

That was us as well!

But as you've learned planning ahead helps set you up for success and allows you to achieve the goals that you set out for...

When it comes to eating out there are 3 Stages of Eating out...

* Before the Experience: Planning Ahead
* During the Experience: Enjoying the Plan
* After the Experience: Reflecting on How it Went

In each of these stages you'll also experience different emotions and thoughts depending on the reason why you're going out along with your relationship with your food, but We'll dive deeper into those inside the Whats Your Take on Eating out Video.

First lets dive into the tactical side of what will help set your day and meal out up for success!

Before the Experience:

Planning Ahead: Just like you plan the meals that you're going to eat for the day, there is going to be some intention and planning for the food that you're going to eat out to help better set you up for success while also being able to enjoy a meal out.
Make sure to check out some of our other videos so that you can set your meal up for success.

Define your Experience: People go out to eat for different reasons and because of this defining your experience can help you craft the perfect plan to not only help you stay on plan, but also allow you to enjoy your meal out experience.

For instance, if you're looking to just spend time with a friend, is food even the main focus and/or does there even need to be food?

If you're looking at the menu and nothing that catches your eye or is "calorie worthy" do you really need to consume a lot of calories that may not be worth it?

In identifying this it can help you decide if you even want to have any food and/or what you'd want to eat when visiting. Some other fun options could be having a cocktail or beer or maybe even splitting a dessert or just an appetizer.

But MAYBE food is part of the reason you're going out...

Believe us that is one of the reasons we LOVE going out!

If that is the case you might want to reserve more calories to enjoy for your meal out. Maybe you'll event want to spilt a couple of appetizers and/or entrees so you can try a couple of different items, etc...

But regardless, having an idea of why you're going out can help you decide the amount of calories to designate and what you'll consume when you're there.

Where am I going out to eat? Knowing where you're going to eat will allow you to look at the menu ahead of time to be able to decide what and how much you will be consuming.

If you know where you're going to eat you can identify if the place has nutrition facts. Restaurants that have at least 20 locations or more are typically required to have nutrition facts online which are helpful in giving you some baseline calories of their items.

If you're not sure where you're going to eat, don't be afraid to ask or take charge and be the person to choose where you go!

Sometimes even if you don't know the exact restaurant then knowing the type of restaurant can help in giving you an idea of the type of food to expect and typical dishes at those restaurants...

For instance, American Food, Italian Food, Japanese Food, Etc...

What and how much am I going to eat? If you know where you're going you can then take a look at the menu ahead of time. This also helps you to decide how many calories you want that meal to take up of your day.

Plus depending on the reason WHY you're going out will make a difference in what you get.

Some questions to think about when it comes to what and how much you're going to eat...

ABCD: Apps, Bread, Beer, Chips, Cocktails, Desserts:
Depending on the place you go, often times like fancy restaurants and/or Mexican restaurants, they will serve you free bread or chips. As you're deciding on your entree you'll also want to think about if you'll want to enjoy any of these items.

Appetizers, Cocktails and Desserts are another item to think about when it comes to deciding how many calories you want to enjoy in the meal out.

What and How Much?
Now that you have a better idea of the "pre game" aka ABCD's of food, what will you order off the menu if anything?

The nice part these days is that many places allow you to substitute ingredients, drop ingredients and even just order single items off the menu to essentially create your own dish.

We do encourage you to pick something that you actually want to eat and look forward to eating while also taking into account your goals.

If your place doesn't have nutrition facts we have all types of tactics to help you account for foods without the facts in other videos

But in short if your particular place doesn't have nutrition facts you can use a chain restaurants information to approximate what you will have or utilize the single ingredient method to create an approximation. This is also where the Guesstimator comes in handy!

How will I set the rest of my meals up that day? Knowing what you're going to eat when you go out will help you identify how many calories you have left to eat for the day.

When showing up to the restaurants it's important to arrive in a comfortable and confident state. That means arriving with a belly that was "satiated" prior to arrival.
Often times if you show up ravenous, ready to eat your fingers off this can cause for many types of disruptions in the plan and an inability to focus and enjoy the experience at hand.

Depending on the meal you choose out, often times focusing on lean protein, fiber and water prior to going out to eat will help you in meeting your goals along with feeling satiated.
* Example: Egg whites, spinach and fat free/lowfat cheese or Grilled Chicken breast with zucchini and asparagus. These meals can help keep calories lower before or after you go out, provides some "volume" and focus on getting protein and some fiber in.

Making sure that you're not ravenous prior to going our to eat can also make sure that you better stick with your plan and feel more comfortable throughout the day.

Reflecting on past Eating out Experiences: Reflecting on past times when you went out to eat can help you identify what set you up for success and what caused you to fall off so that you can come up with a new plan to test out this time for increased success.

If you're unclear, about what happened in the past, you know we're going to challenge you to take a moment to reflect after this experience as a Fit Foodie!
Some things to think about would be:

* Were there any triggers that caused me to fall off plan?
* What will I do this time to prevent that?
* For instance, if the bread basket sitting in front of you caused you to fall off cause you ate the entire basket, what can you do this time
* Decline the basket? Factor in some pieces of bread? Drink water during that time? The options are endless....
* Do you eat directly from the appetizer plate, causing you to eat more, vs making your own plate with how much you will eat?

Come up with a plan and test it out. See how it goes then reflect on what went well and didn't go well and identify what you will do next time.
You can download the Fit Foodie Fam Survival Guide to Eating out at a Restaurant right below the video at the top of the lesson.

Fit Foodies App

12/20/2024

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