Staying focussed when eating out

So much of my life revolves around food

I love seeing my friends.

I love seeing my family.

Both of these usually involve food. Either a quick catch up in a coffee shop or a meal in the evening after work... even staying round someone else's house and eating dinner / breakfast.

All my friends and family are lovely and if I didn't want to meet them at a restaurant, I'm sure they'd be OK with it, however it's an enjoyable part of my life and it's something I don't want to change - Sure, I could meet them in a pub for a drink... or I could meet them at their house / my house for an evening, but in general, so much of my social life revolves around eating out. 

So rather than write the day off as 'failed' or politely decline to meet anyone in a restaurant, I try and plan ahead - As all the people I know are supportive, they don't mind going to a particular place due to its healthy options or the fact that I don't have a starter / pudding but only a main course.

One of my 'top 3' places to eat is Pizza Express (the other 2 being Wagamamas and any Japanese restaurant). As not only do they do Pizzas, they do salads and one of them is under 350 calories which is pretty good - it's also huge and actually really tasty. They recently changed the recipe and I can't say I like it as much as the old one, but hey... it's still nice and a really good choice if you're looking to stay focussed and continue to eat healthily.

I am not a big fan of avocado, so tend to ask them to cut it out but ask for 'double chicken', so there's a lot of protein which fills me up. 

I had a lovely time with my friend who I hadn't seen in nearly two months - looks like she's well on her way to divorcing her controlling and ever so slightly odd Husband. She knows first hand how stressful work can be as does a similar job to me, therefore was really good at listening to me pour my heart out and very supportive when I spoke of finding a new job. 

I think it's really important to talk to friends about worries and feelings - I spent years bottling things up and turning to food when I was stressed. I can't say I don't do that still, however I'm trying to be more open and share more stuff with people who genuinely mean it when they say 'Talk to me if you've got a problem'.

So all in all, a pretty good day in regards to eating healthy and staying in track, despite going out for dinner.