So I have been invited to dinner tonight with 'the girls' - we are going to an Italian restaurant (my weakness ) I blame it on my half Italian heritage LOL...

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I found their menu online and have decided what I will eat...the 4 slice vegetarian pizza and ask for half cheese...and the italian side salad...I think that is pretty sensible choice - would you agree???

This will be a big thing for me because i have not eaten out at a restaurant since I began my "journey" so wish me luck LOL....

It's certainly not the worst thing you could eat there, but I have to ask, are you avoiding the foods you crave completely?

I don't know many people with the resolve (myself included) that can make a dramatic change to their diet, cutting out everything that's bad, and stick with it for good. Eliminating the foods we love is the surest way to gaurantee that these "diets" will eventually end and, to me, this isn't a "program" with a defined start and finish, I'm trying to make this change last a lifetime.

That being said, one meal a week will NOT destroy your metabolism or your health and it certainly won't hurt your resolve... in fact it should make it easier to stick with it... the fact that I know that I have one 'bad' meal coming, whether it's pizza or buffalo wings or whatever makes it EASY for me to be conscious of my intake for the rest of the week... and honestly I'm finding myself making healthier choices for that cheat meal as well since my stomach doesn't take well to the greasy, oily foods that used to be a staple of my dietary routine.

If it helps, look at it from the other side. Let's say that you go six months without eating anything bad; without ever treating yourself. You'll most likely break down and finally "cheat"... "just this one time", then the odds are that you'll feel that you've fallen off the wagon and you'll cheat again and, because the food will taste so good after not having had it in so long, it will be really hard to going back to foods that, most likely, you've found bland and uninteresting at that point. "Planning to cheat" is probably the best weapon you have against "falling off the wagon" because you're allowing your mind (and body, depending on your diet) to satisfy those cravings now and then, rather than bottling them up until the inevitable explosion.

I'm not saying that you should go order 3 dishes and completely stuff yourself, but if you've been avoiding restaurants and "bad" foods for a long time, you deserve to reward yourself. The worst that will happen is you'll have ONE day of inflated weight from water retention and that will disappate the next day since you'll be eating "healthier" again.

I think it's a fine choice. I also recommend asking for salad dressing on the side, so you control how much goes on your salad.

I'm with Clifford... one meal isn't going to be an issue. You might see water weight gain if you weigh daily, but that's easily cured by drinking plenty of water and going back to your normal eating. We have to live in the real world... and that includes being able to dine with friends on occasion.

I would go nuts if I couldn't have pizza occasionally. My usual compromise is to get a very thin crust, and usually one with chicken and spinach.

Enjoy yourself!

Yeah, these are the kinds of decisions I usually end up making now when I go for pizza and let myself get whatever I want. Don't get me wrong, I get my meat lovers pizzas and eat my prime rib and buffalo wings and stuff still... I really let myself have a completely unrestricted meal of whatever I feel like... I just find that I feel like healthier options more often than not.

i think its a fine choice. you dont gain weight from one meal. i dont think eating pizza is unhealthy or a bad choice or even a cheat meal. all foods should be able to be incorporated into a regular meal plan, which you are doing. enjoy your dinner out and your friends!

You're half Italian too? I knew there was paesana in those eyes, your avatar is very, "Are you talkin' ta ME?"! (Southern Italian, by any chance?)

Anywho, as noted I think it's all good. FWIW, I always do a treat meal once a week; though I'm no longer in calorie restriction mode, I do eat darned clean throughout the week and so Saturdays are to be enjoyed how I likey.

Have a great time with the girls, I miss the hell outta those blessed nights.

Truer words have not been spoken. I will not go off on a long bit, but one way to insure you will fail is to cut out everything you enjoy. It has been key to my success this time. You will eat the stuff you enjoy most, but if you try to keep yourself from it you will overdo it when you do eat it. If you let yourself eat it occasionally and in moderation you will have much better control.

I have tried this journey so many times before only to fail when I went back to eating normal. This time I have eaten normal throughout, just watching what I eat and how much I eat. If I want Italian I will eat it (like I did yesterday ) but when I do I watch how much and make a good choice. Yesterday, my wife and I went to Italian, we shared the half portion meal, and still came home with 1/3 of it, plus didn't even touch the spaghetti that comes with it.

How'd it go Sam?

Moderation is the bomb! I can even have a square of good dark chocolate daily if I choose. And though I don't always choose... it really helps keep the cravings for chocolate at bay.

And every once in a while, a decadent meal out is not so bad. I had one last week, for my birthday... mostly healthy food, just too much butter involved in the prep. But a fine, fine meal, with steelhead trout, fiddlehead ferns, morel mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, wouldn't have changed a thing!

Just can't do it every day... or even every week at my age. Anyway, I had a discouraging weight gain for a bit... but then this morning, hit a new low! So as everyone said, a treat meal won't hurt your progress.

BTW, I'm part Italian from my mom's side, though I don't look it really. But I had great grandparents who immigrated. Had a ton of great aunts and uncles when I was growing up.

Thanks for the wise words everyone

Thanks for asking Rachael!

I DO give myself little treats now and then..so theres NO WAY I can say I feel deprived - I think that has whats given me my strength to keep going onwards and upwards.

I just try to make 'wiser' choices these days...going back to last year, I'd be getting the cheesiest most fried thing on the menu PLUS fries as a side...bugger the salad and veg haha AND dessert

So last night, I ended up going with a parmesan crusted chicken breast *drool* and asked for no fries on the side and got a big crunchy mouth watering insalata and some roasted veg....

These are the little changes I am so proud of...the little things make a BIG difference....

So no dessert, BUT I did imbibe on some gorgeous white wine I love my wine

Minu - my Nonna is from the South / Palermo / Nonno is from Roma - my mother was born in Roma and emigrated with the family to Australia (Melbourne) when she was 13....

Cynthia, seems theres a few of us about these boards LOL!

samantha-its the small changes that add up and make the differences. i totally agree. great work!! you shold be proud!

Brava, Samantha. And I hear ya on the vino--I'll give up dessert EVERYTIME for a glass or two of quality wine.

Ya done good, Samantha!

Way to go Sammie!!!!!