Eating Out

As a little clarification, the old WW plan used Points, and the new one uses Points Plus.  I am doing the new program, and all the recipes have the new Points Plus.  Going forward I am going to just type pp instead of points plus.

When we first started WW, the thought of eating out was very scary.  You don’t know how the food is prepared, how much will be on your plate, etc.  Luckily the internet provides us with the ability to check out a restaurant’s website, and most of the time it’ll have nutritional information on there somewhere so you can make a decision about what you will eat before you go, or you can make the decision not to go there to eat.  Sometimes you are not given a choice of restaurants, but if you are, Chili’s is not a WW friendly restaurant, at least not for a girl who doesn’t have very many pp in a day.  Even a salad there is crazy!

Going to someone’s house to eat was just as scary.  You don’t know what they are making; if there will be any choices or how to measure portions.  I’ve learned to just make good guesses, and so far it has worked out pretty well.  WW sells serving spoons that are also measuring spoons.  The package has a ¼, ½ & 1 cup spoon.   I use those, but you may be able to find them at other places.  I also use a food scale to weigh mostly meat, but it is also helpful to weigh snacks like pretzels that are 1 oz so you don’t have to count out the serving size.  But, it may not always be convenient or appropriate to bring all that to someone’s house or to a restaurant.   You can offer to bring something that you know isn’t too bad, and choosing things that are grilled and like steamed vegetables is always a good idea. 

Restaurants where we’ve become comfortable eating:

Cici’s Pizza

It’s a buffet, its 4pp per slice, and it tastes awesome!

Mexican

Since the restaurants near us neither have a website nor nutritional information available, I’ve just used the WW website or my phone app to search for things that I would order.  Also the pocket guide and eating out guide are helpful here.  The choices I usually make are:

Salsa-0pp

Tortilla Chips-4pp for 14, and I do count them!  I break them in half so I feel like I’m eating more

Taco Salad-10pp, but it is very filling because of all the protein, I get beef, no beans only because I don’t like beans

Regular Sour Cream, if you have to have it, (like I do!) it is 1pp for 2 Tbsp

Chicken Quesadilla-the best and lowest choice for the amount you get is only 7pp

A beef taco is only 6pp, but who can just eat one taco, I’d have to have 2!

Subway

This is a very good “fast food” choice.  A 6 inch on wheat with turkey, cheese, mustard & veggies is only 7pp

McDonald’s

Let’s face it, there are sometimes you cannot avoid eating here!  The best choice I’ve found is the grilled chicken snack wraps (any sauce you like) is 7pp.

Get a side salad which is 0 and the low fat balsamic vinaigrette is 1pp for the whole package.

Chick-fil-a

This is also a very good fast food choice.

Side Salad-2pp

Light Italian Dressing -0pp for about half a package

Fat Free Honey Mustard (my favorite)-2pp for about half a package

Grilled Chicken Sandwich-6pp

Grilled Chicken Salad-4pp

Sweet Tomatoes

Salad bar!  Choose only veggies & don’t add any pp by adding like cheese & croutons & use all the pp for the dressing.

Fat Free Honey Mustard is 1pp for 2 Tbsp

Fat Free Italian is only 1pp for 2 Tbsp

Fat Free Ranch is 0pp for 2 Tbsp, but I don’t personally like the way it tastes.

Be careful since it’s a buffet, you’ll be tempted to overdo it.  Just count everything you get.  They always have a bunch of soups, and they’re all on their website.  So check them out before you get them to find your favorite and best choice.

And, last but definitely not least!!!!!!  Yogurt Mountain-the best find ever!  It tastes like ice cream, not frozen yogurt, it is so good!  Everything is either fat free, sugar free or low fat.  They have nutritional information posted on every flavor, but they are all 100 calories which is 3pp for about 3 oz.  You have to weigh your cup to pay for it, so you’ll know how much you got.  It may take you a few times to get the hang of how much you can get, but with the cup filled about ¾ the way full is about 6 oz or about 2 servings which comes out to be about 7pp.  Not too bad for how much you get!  And it is sooooooooo good!  It is self-serve, and they have taster cups, but just be mindful that you’re not really counting that!