In one of my first posts I wrote about my lunch out with my co-workers at Baja Fresh – (One Day Before - 6/20/2012). Today was another birthday lunch and Baja Fresh was the birthday girl’s choice. My first inclination was to pass on going, but that’s silly. I should be able to find something to eat anywhere that fits in with my plan. I had already planned on getting lunch out that day so when the birthday lunch came up, I went. This time though I made sure I had a plan and stuck to it. I looked up the Baja Fresh nutritional information on their website.
The other thing I did this time was order first. Last time I got tripped up because I heard what someone else ordered and it sounded good so I followed suit. What did I order:
The Baja Ensalada Chicken Salad is 7 Weight Watchers PointsPlus with 0 points for the Fat Free Salsa Verde.
The salad was huge and I didn’t finish the entire thing. I forgot to take a picture until after I had started eating it and by then it wasn’t as pretty. It was delicious and I certainly didn’t feel like I was deprived of anything. I also didn’t feel sick to my stomach later in the afternoon from eating a high fat and calorie meal.
Baja Fresh offers a 1.5 oz. tortilla chip serving complementary with each entrée. At the store we were at they don’t put the chips on your plate automatically; they hand them to you when you are paying making it a little easier to turn down. But they are portion controlled for you and better than sharing a basket with your friends. Today I could fit in some chips and salsa today; at 5 Points Plus, I probably wouldn’t do this every time, but today I could swing it in my point budget.
All in all, a successful first time eating out since starting plan.
Here are my tips to staying on your plan when you go out to eat:
- Have A Plan - Look at the menu (and nutritional information) before you go out and decide what you are going to order.
- Stick To It - Order first to avoid the temptation of something else sounding better
- Control Portions - If you are going to splurge on something with a higher PointsPlus value, figure out how to control the portion size (count the chips if not portion controlled in the serving provided).
- Enjoy Your Dining Companions – That’s really why you are there, right?
