Recently there has been a topic of conversation with our members, the discussion was about food choices and knowledge on nutrition whilst eating out.

Now, most of our members may be training to loose weight. With training for weight loss they obviously have to be watching what they are eating. This would mean that when they eat out they need to make sensible choices in order to still progress to reaching their goal. Most people eat out once or twice a week, there isn't a scenario where we can tell members that they can't eat out if they want to achieve their goal, so what do we do?

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 Educate! Educate! Educate! Eating out sometimes isn't easy, so we have to be clued up a little on our nutrition. Most meals out include starter and main, and sometimes a desert. So when eating out its almost guaranteed that the meal will be higher in carbs and fats. One way we can ensure we enjoy our meal out is:

- Check the menu before hand. See what foods they offer and most restaurants will cater to dietary needs so for example you may order a fillet steak and asked for it not to be cooked in lots of oil or to come with as many sauces.

- Cut back on your fats and carbs for the beginning of the day - if your on a meal out in the evening, theres nothing wrong with cutting your carb and fat intake down, so you can enjoy them in the evening with your meal without feeling guilty.

- Making the right choice - be wary of portion size i.e. when ordering chips, make sure there is some veg present. Know what you can fit into your macros before.

Some people will look at the menu, panic on what to eat, and go all out and go way over on their macronutrients. We aren't saying you have to take your weighing scales on a night out with you, but being smarter with what you choose will allow you to enjoy a meal out and still keep on track of your goal.