Day 80 - A Turning Point?

I had a great experience yesterday. I went out to eat in a restaurant, and I didn't obsess about it, I didn't get stressed out, I had a delicious meal that felt like it wasn't "bad", and I left feeling good.

Going out to eat was my own idea. I chose a local Thai-Vietnamese place that I love. I ate my regular breakfast and lunch, and went for a run after work before we headed out. I ordered an appetizer of rice paper wraps (cold summer rolls with lots of veggies, pork and shrimp), there were two rolls with some peanut sauce. I ate 1.5 and used the sauce sparingly. I gave the extra piece to my husband to try.

For my main course I had a Lemongrass Seafood stir fry with steamed jasmine rice. It came with a lot of sauce, so I just ate the seafood and veggies out of the sauce, and left most of it behind (I liked it better that way anyway). There was more than a cup (estimated) of steamed rice on my plate. I ate it until the veggies were gone and then I stopped. I estimate that I ate half of it. I also had a glass of wine, but no dessert.

I was full, and it was delicious. Could I have eaten more? Sure! Did I need to? No! This might have been one of the first times I have ever left uneaten food behind at a restaurant. I never do it at home, but I always put the RIGHT amount of food on my plate to begin with.

When we were driving home, my husband said he was proud of me. I felt so good! I compared that to how I would have felt on the drive home if I had ordered deep fried stuff, had dessert, and over-eaten. That good feeling was more satisfying than the temporary rush that eating bad food would have brought me.

I consider this a bit of a turning point for me...

Also, I weighed myself the morning before the meal and the morning after. No change! Proof that I can enjoy social outings without derailing my healthy eating plan!

I had to estimate my dinner at the restaurant, but I think I had around 1756 calories for the day, and I burned about 509 during my run.