As a Slimming World member you might think that you have to stop eating out to lose weight. But luckily you don’t have to give up on your social life, you just need to make better choices.

I know that is not always an easy thing to do. If you’re anything like me and go to a restaurant hungry, you might order a lot of things that you don’t normally eat or end up ordering more than you need.

What helps me and a lot of other slimmers is to check out the menu before going. Nowadays that is not hard to do, nearly every restaurant has their menu online. Study the menu well – opt for foods that are grilled or baked but watch out for creamy sauces or any other hidden syns.

If I am going to an Indian, I will always choose boiled rice over naan bread or even chappati. I ditch the poppadoms and sauces too! I choose a grilled chicken/meat starter and I tend to stay away from kebabs as these are most likely made in meat that is not lean.

If going out for a dessert, I tend to choose a sorbet over an ice cream and have a fruit platter with it.

Pizza Hut

Last night we went out for a meal to celebrate my youngest daughter’s birthday (I can’t believe she is 7 already today!). The only place she wanted to go to was Pizza Hut! That is one place that we stopped going to as a family because it is usually so high in syns and a slimmer’s nightmare to be honest! But life is all about balance and I didn’t want to be a party pooper so I made sure I examined the menu really well a few days before so I knew what to have once there.

To be honest there wasn’t much choice available, I could have had one slice of pizza which would have been within my 15 syns allowance but I knew I could not stop at just 1! I would still be hungry. So I chose to have the healthier pizza available which was their Virtuous Veg pizza at only 3 syns per slice and it was supposed to be cut in 6 so 18 syns in all not bad at all! When it arrived though it was not cut into 6 and it wasn’t that big at all so I did end up eating the lot! 18 syns for a whole pizza is great!! I filled up on all the free salad as well. Best to avoid all the pasta salads as they are quite high in syns, the couscous is ok. It is 2 syns per 100g but I am not very good at guessing 100g so I just had a spoonful and counted 2 syns to be on the safe side. For drinks I chose the unlimited Diet Pepsi (Syn Free).

I even took some hifi bars with me to have as dessert! I knew the kids would have cookie dough as they absolutely love it, so I planned to have a coffee with my bars whilst they scoffed on the cookie dough.

It worked out perfectly! All in all I only used 20 syns for a meal out and felt in control the whole night and back on track this morning.