With the holidays in our midst, it's hard not to splurge when eating out with our loved ones.
It's also hard not to gain a little, or a lot, of weight. Fortunately, we have a choice and each question you answer to a waiter's question is an opportunity to skip the unhealthy and instead hasten weight loss this holiday season.
Thankfully, TIME broke down the most common mistakes when dining out and has provided solutions for them as well.
- Train your mind to think that you eat out all the time
People are reportedly more likely to make healthy food choices in restaurants when they don't think they're dining for a special occasion, according to a study made by the International Food Research Journal.
If you dine out in a restaurant once a week, then you could skip this. However, if it goes beyond three times a week, just think about this to avoid unhealthy food choices.
· Choose oil and vinegar dressing on the side
TIME notes that statistics do not lie about the calories that salad dressing hold. For example, according to Eat This, a house salad at Applebee's with 230 calories becomes 470 calories when blue cheese dressing is on it. Making a habit of choosing oil and vinegar reportedly keep salads at under 300 calories, which means a great deal of weight shed off each year.
- No more bread when dining out
Apparently, the top source of calories in America is bread. The ironic thing is, as much as people eat it, it doesn't really contain any nutrition but is simply sugar calories shrouded in dough. One Italian bread already locks in 80 to 100 calories.
Eat This claims that sugar rush, which is followed by a sugar crash, will prime us for dessert at the end of the meal, which is why restaurants want us to eat the bread.
- Order your meal off the appetizer menu or the kids' menu
According to New York dietitian Keri Gans, we should take advantage over the choice that we can order as little as we want when dining in restaurants.
"That's the whole reason for portion control," she said. "It's not that the pasta's so terrible for you, it's just the size of the plate." In fact, you should consider every restaurant meal "pre-super sized."
· Opt out of "grilled" food
Most restaurants reportedly "grill" their foods on a grill plate, where grease simply gathers and is absorbed by your food, meaning more fat.
TIME said to choose flame-grilling instead, which means putting food over an open flame. If your waiter says that they don't actually have a grill, the report says to ask your food to be broiled via a broiler.
Actual grilling reduces fat content significantly. In fact, according to Meat Science, grilling a pork chop will "decrease fat content by a third."
- Choose berries for dessert
Blueberries and strawberries are the two best fruit options for fat loss, according to Eat This. Chances are some restaurants have them. Just ask for a cup of berries 3 tablespoons of whipped cream, which only has around 117 calories.
If berries aren't around, a bowl of ice cream for dessert would suffice, since four ounces of vanilla ice cream reportedly locks in about 145 calories.
