The first thing I want you to really understand is that one meal or night out will not ruin your progress. It takes much more than that. That said, it’s important to let it just be one meal and not let one day of overeating bleeds into another and you end up “falling off track” for too many meals in a row.
This blog is designed to help you optimize your social eating while keeping you on track with your goals and peace of mind that you can go out and eat without any feelings of guilt or regret.
If you do end up overeating, don’t sweat it Just get back on track the very next meal. It’s as simple as that. Do not guilt yourself or punish yourself for going over your calories the night before. Food does not make us guilty or innocent. It is not good or bad. It can be a wonderful experience if you let it and be in the moment with whatever social gathering you are attending.
Do not freak out if the scale goes up after a night out. It is a normal fluctuation and will happen more often than you think. There are many reasons why the scale fluctuates, and fat gain is not one of them. When eating socially, you are generally not in control of the portion sizes or how items are prepared (think oils and butter), so even if you track it to the best of your abilities, it’s likely there are more calories than you think. That’s completely okay.
I will be going over strategies down below as well. If you’re using the scale to measure your progress, take the ‘morning after’ weigh ins with a grain of salt and understand it’s just a data point amongst the bigger picture and trend of weigh ins. It does not define your progress.
This is arguably the most important part of the whole process. Looking ahead at your schedule is key to being able to know how many calories you have to work with and on which days, when you can hit your workouts, and if you can make it all fit within the context of your goals. For example, if today is Monday and you’re going out Friday night for dinner and drinks, you’re likely to consume more calories than normal. By using one of the two major strategies I will explain in the next section, you can stay within calorie range for the week without overindulging and basically having no plan of attack.
If you’re going out to an establishment, look at the menu ahead of time. This will give you an idea as to what you want to eat and what you can fit into your calories. Log it before you even get there and you’re saving yourself a world of trouble.
Now, if you’re going somewhere and they don’t have their menu posted (weird) or it’s a friend’s place, see the Food Choices section for how to choose foods aligned with your goal.
There are two major strategies I recommend to “save calories” for when you have social eating events or gatherings.
Eat 200 less each day Sun-Thurs to give you 1000 calories to play with on the weekend. As long as your weekly average calorie intake is the same, you will continue to make progress.
Example: Daily calorie target – 1600 (11200 weekly). Sun-Thurs -1400, Fri-Sat – 2100.
A smaller window of eating to promote portion control. It is not magic for fat loss. Total calories must still be in check. The number of hours is completely personal preference and can change daily.
Example: Only eating from 12pm to 8pm and then fasting again until 12pm the next day (16:8), or you could just fast to a certain point of the day each day without a nighttime restriction.
Calorie tracking is not perfect and it never will be. It is about creating consistency in your eating habits while trying to achieve your fitness goals and enjoying life. You will have entries that are
wrong. You will forget to log foods. These things happen. The important thing is to be consistent with your habits and choices along the way.
MyFitnessPal is my app of choice for tracking calories. It has a large database of foods, from McDonalds to Freshii to your favourite protein bar or donut. Understand that you will likely never hit your macronutrient targets right on, and this is completely okay. The numbers are an estimation based on a variety of factors that change everyday. It is the average of your daily intake over time that will determine your success.
If you calorie variance is <100kcals a day, you are on the right track. If you find yourself going over by >200kcals then something needs to change.
It is important to track your progress through a scale, measurements, and progress pictures to ensure your calorie and macro targets are accurate and working in your favour. If you are tracking accurately and are noticing no change for over 2 weeks, either you are not recording everything you are eating, or the numbers need some adjustment.
With the massive database that MyFitnessPal has, it can be overwhelming when you search for a specific item and get hundreds of results. Start by tracking one item at a time, regardless of what you’re eating. If you are having a turkey sandwich, log the brand of bread first, then the amount of meat, and then any other toppings you are having. This helps with the accuracy of the entry as there can be a ton of variance throughout MyFitnessPal. With that said, try and scan barcodes as much as possible when logging foods. If your food does not have a barcode, search for where you bought it from and look for verified entries where possible.
This is a skill itself and takes much practice. I highly advise you guess as best you can when it comes to foods not listed in MyFitnessPal. Guessing will allow you to eventually get away from
calorie tracking diligently and eating more freely or “intuitively”. You also never want to completely omit an item because you don’t know how to track it. You’re better off being within ~200 calories of an item than completely not tracking it at all.
When in doubt, look for similar entries from foods you have had before. For example, Pi Co. does not have their calories in MyFitnessPal but Blaze Pizza does. Very similar companies and I’ve logged Blaze before. So best guess based on the establishment you are familiar with. It is the best possible guess you have and that’s completely okay.
When you’re going out to eat, whether at a restaurant or at someone’s house, it is really easy to be overwhelmed with choices. By focusing on high volume, low calorie foods, you are able to
enjoy your time out while without feeling like you’re starving yourself. And you have some extra calories to work with for drinks or desserts!
High-volume, lower calorie foods are typically lean cuts of meat (chicken, turkey, fish) paired with vegetables (broccoli, cucumber, green beans, spinach, tomatoes). That means you could go for a BIG salad with a protein source on top. Or simply a meat and veggies type of night. Eat these foods first before hitting your starches and other calorie-heavy foods.
QUICK TIPS
This is likely to be a touchy subject because of the role it plays in social eating events. I will not tell you to completely avoid alcohol, even though it will definitely help with calorie management. Instead, I will give you a few low-calorie options and strategies to not let your intake get out of control.
Calories from alcohol do count. It is ~7 calories/g of alcohol. Compared to 4 cals/g for protein and carbs, and 9 cals/g of fats. The main thing I will ask you to avoid is full sugar sodas as a mixer for your drinks. Instead of rum & coke, make it rum & diet. Instead of vodka & orange juice, make it vodka & soda. Save yourself the unnecessary sugars and calories which will also generally lead to more dehydration and a worse hangover the next day.
Alternate with sparkling water in between drinks. Make every other drink Perrier or Pellegrino to give the illusion of an alcoholic beverage without actually having one. You will be hydrating yourself at the same time.
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SOCIAL EATING 101 SOCIAL EATING 101 The first thing I want you to really understand is that one meal or night out will not ruin