Eating at restaurants is one of life's great pleasures and it's a truism that happiness comes from good food and good company.  The problem with restaurants and dieting is that restaurants add a lot of fats to their meals to make them taste good.  A

<p style="text-align: center;"><img width="451" src="https://uploads.gorgias.io/q0jJY2DPEQ2eBWMO/undefined-5ffafc31-3875-47e1-8f27-e4238799c85d" id="isPasted" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></p><p><br></p><h3 id="isPasted">Eating out at restaurants</h3><p>Eating at restaurants is one of life&apos;s great pleasures and it&apos;s a truism that happiness comes from good food and good company. &#xA0;The problem with restaurants and dieting is that restaurants add a lot of fats to their meals to make them taste good. &#xA0;A typical restaurant meal commonly contains double the amount of energy as a home meal - or even more! &#xA0;</p><p>So while you&apos;re on a diet, here are some strategies you can employ to keep your overall weight loss on track when you go to a restaurant.</p><h3 id="how-many-times-a-week-">How many times a week? &#xA0;</h3><p>Whether you are going to a sit-down restaurant or grabbing takeaway, you should consider the number of times a week you are going out. &#xA0;Try to restrict yourself to one or two restaurant meals per week. &#xA0;More than once or twice a week, then you really need to step back and consider your diet approach and work out how you can eat more home-made meals.</p><h3 id="menu-time---main-meals">Menu time - main meals</h3><p>Looking at the restaurant menu, your eye will probably go to the usual foods that you love and this is when you&apos;re going to need to make some changes to your habits. &#xA0;The good news is most restaurant menus have plenty of choices and this is your chance to try out some new foods you might have skipped over before. &#xA0;</p><p>Reviewing the menu we will be trying to select a meal that aligns with our calorie allocation for dinner. &#xA0;For an average person on a diet this would be approximately 500-700 calories and by making smart choices, this is possible at most restaurants. &#xA0;Many restaurant menus now include the calories of the meal and that makes it easy to work out what you should eat.</p><p>When we review the menu we are going to be looking at how the meal is prepared and choosing a meal that is prepared in a way to reduce calories (not flavour!). &#xA0;</p><p>IN - Meals that are: grilled, steamed, baked and roasted are all better choices. &#xA0;The better meats to go for are fish and chicken, prepared by baking or grilling. &#xA0;</p><p>OUT - Meals that are: fried, crumbed or deep-fried are all high calorie cooking methods. &#xA0;Wagyu, lamb shoulder or minced beef dishes should be avoided as these meats are already high in fat and the restaurant will add more via their preparation methods.</p><h3 id="menu-time---side-dishes">Menu time - side dishes</h3><p>Side dishes are an important part of a good restaurant meal and for side dishes we will be selecting vegetables preferably roasted and without dressing. &#xA0;Salads may not be a good choice if they come with a lot of cheese or dressing. &#xA0;Deep fried chips are generally a no-go when we&apos;re on a diet, and it&apos;s best to avoid mashed potatoes as well.</p><h3 id="isPasted">Menu time - alcohol and beverages</h3><p>The strictness of your diet will affect how closely you need to watch your alcohol intake. &#xA0;Most people could have a glass of wine with their main meal and not blow their diet. &#xA0;But realistically on a diet you&apos;ll need to restrict alcohol to once a week otherwise weight loss progress will be too slow. &#xA0;Avoid all sodas or soft drinks and drink tap water or sparkling water instead.</p><h3 id="menu-time---skip-dessert">Menu time - skip dessert</h3><p>This one seems obvious but it has to be said that when you&#x2019;re on a mission to lose weight you will need to skip the dessert section of the menu. &#xA0;Restaurant meals are already high in calories and skipping dessert is a must to keep your diet on track. &#xA0;If everyone around the table is going for dessert our suggestion would be to share a dessert with someone else, or simply go for a herbal tea.</p><h3 id="further-reading---what-2000-calories-looks-like">Further reading - what 2000 calories looks like</h3><p><a href="https://archive.is/IQtew" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">This article by the New York Times</a> gives you examples of 2000 calories from quick service restaurants. &#xA0;You might be surprised how small the serves look and these are enough calories for an average person for a whole day.</p><p>Here&apos;s to healthy eating!</p>

Eating out at restaurants

QOTA meal plans incorporate snacks during the day to supplement the main meals of the day. The important item to note is these small meals during the day need to be calorie controlled to ensure your weight loss progress is maintained.  We need to mak

<p style="text-align: center;"><strong id="isPasted"><img width="451" src="https://uploads.gorgias.io/q0jJY2DPEQ2eBWMO/undefined-79f4b0c5-7516-438c-94bd-545fe2dfcbec" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></strong><br></p><p><br></p><h3 id="isPasted">Smart snacking</h3><p>QOTA meal plans incorporate snacks during the day to supplement the main meals of the day. The important item to note is these small meals during the day need to be calorie controlled to ensure your weight loss progress is maintained. &#xA0;We need to make smart choices for our snacks and this article will provide some strategies you can employ.</p><h3 id="make-friends-with-fruit">Make Friends with Fruit</h3><p>We recommend you include at least one snack of fruit in your diet plan. &#xA0;Choose a fruit that you love to eat - apple, banana, grape, kiwi, strawberry - and buy up a week&#x2019;s worth to have on hand. Fruit juice is not a replacement for a piece of fruit and shouldn&#x2019;t be included in your weight loss diet.</p><p>Fruits are a great snack because they provide psychological satisfaction during the consumption including peeling the fruit and eating it. &#xA0;Fruits are low in calories and high in fibre and that combination helps with giving you a feeling of being full after the meal.</p><h3 id="fruits---dealing-with-cravings">Fruits - dealing with cravings</h3><p>Fruits are also your get out of jail card if you have a serious craving attack and start reaching for a tub of ice cream. &#xA0;Even if another piece of fruit isn&#x2019;t in your diet plan you can use fruit to stave off cravings, so we suggest buying a few extra pieces of fruit and have them around for when you need them.</p><h3 id="protein-bars-balls-or-cookies">Protein bars, balls or cookies</h3><p>QOTA meal plans include protein bars as snacks and we suggest them because protein throughout the day helps by giving you a feeling of satiation and keeping those hunger pangs at bay. &#xA0;Check the nutritional label and choose a product that has around 130-150 calories per bar. With protein balls we don&#x2019;t recommend buying these in bulk bags as it&#x2019;s too easy to overeat.</p><h3 id="other-pre-packaged-snacks">Other pre-packaged snacks</h3><p>There are a dizzying number of snacking choices available and the competition and availability is only increasing. &#xA0;Pre-packaged snacks can be a great choice because it&#x2019;s clear how many calories are in the serving - just be careful to ensure they contain around 130-150 calories per serving.</p><p>Some good options for snacking are: &#xA0;</p><ul><li>nut mixes (almonds)</li><li>edamame (roasted soybeans)</li><li>pumpkin seeds (high in good fat)</li><li>popcorn (plain low-butter)</li><li>corn thins&#xA0;</li><li>a tub of greek yogurt</li><li>hemp seeds</li><li>dark chocolate (4 squares only!)</li><li>seaweed</li><li>dehydrated broccoli&#xA0;</li></ul><h3 id="snacking-summary">Snacking summary</h3><p>QOTA meal plans include snacks as they are a good way to psychologically keep on track with a weight loss journey. &#xA0;It&#x2019;s important to consider that the snacks are just a small meal to keep you engaged and most of your calories should be consumed in the main meals of the day. &#xA0;We recommend fruit or pre-packaged snack foods to ensure you don&#x2019;t consume too many calories and slow down your overall weight loss.&#xA0;</p><h3 id="taking-action">Taking Action</h3><p>Work out what snacks you would like to incorporate into your daily diet (making sure the snack is around 130-150 cals) and stock up on these so you have some to hand for your snack meal times.</p><p>Remove any trigger foods from your pantry and don&apos;t buy any more of those foods while you are dieting. &#xA0;For example: potato chips, chocolate biscuits, ice-cream etc. &#xA0;It&#x2019;s much easier to stick to your healthy snack options if your trigger foods have been removed.</p><p>Here&#x2019;s to healthy eating.</p>

Smart snacking

Ever get to 6pm and wonder…. what are we eating for dinner?! Hmmm....unfortunately fast-food brands advertise heavily around 7pm to capture hungry people who haven’t planned ahead their meals. Without a meal plan for healthy eating, you might find yo

<p style="text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong id="isPasted"><img width="451" src="https://uploads.gorgias.io/q0jJY2DPEQ2eBWMO/undefined-3cbf4980-f95d-4258-9aa2-5f19210491e0" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></strong><br></p><p></p><h3 id="isPasted"><strong><p style="text-align: center;"><br></p></strong>Why meal planning is essential</h3><p>Ever get to 6pm and wonder&#x2026;. what are we eating for dinner?! Hmmm....unfortunately fast-food brands advertise heavily around 7pm to capture hungry people who haven&#x2019;t planned ahead their meals. Without a meal plan for healthy eating, you might find yourself down at your local fast-food outlet having a nutritionally poor and high calorie meal for your dinner. &#xA0;Not good when we are trying to lose weight.</p><p>If you are interested in losing weight, it is necessary to plan your meals ahead, and for that plan to be sustainable over the weeks and months required for consistent weight loss.</p><h3 id="getting-plenty-of-protein-to-manage-hunger">Getting plenty of protein to manage hunger</h3><p>When it comes to weight loss, it&#x2019;s a fact that sometimes you&apos;ll have some feelings of hunger. In order to manage these feelings, you&apos;ll need a meal plan that keeps your energy levels up and helps you minimise any discomfort.</p><p>Your main meals of the day should contain high quality protein and plenty of it. &#xA0;Those main meals need to keep you satiated enough to keep you going until the next main meal, and help you keep off the high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks.&#xA0;</p><p>Help&#xA0;with meal planning for weight loss</p><p>You need a plan that assesses your current situation and includes concrete steps to incrementally reach your goals. &#xA0;</p><p>The key factor for weight change is considering the number of calories in our daily meals and working out how these can be changed to reduce the number of calories. Some of our bad meal habits might need to be completely eliminated (i.e. high calorie soft drinks) but many meals can be easily&#xA0;adjusted to healthier options.</p><p>Healthier meals do not necessarily need to be time consuming to prepare. &#xA0;Also see our articles on &#x2018;good snacking&#x2019; and &#x2018;eating out at restaurants&#x2019; for more information.</p><p>Here&#x2019;s to healthy eating.</p><p>&#xA0;</p>

Getting started with meal planning

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Eating out at restaurants

Smart snacking

Getting started with meal planning