Eating out hasn't been high on my agenda in my bid to lose weight, but with the kids in the capable hands of grandma, my wife and I enjoyed a rare trip to a restaurant on our own. It was nothing too extravagant (our appreciation comes from a full and happy tummy, rather than Michellin stars), but a nice quiet meal for two at Prezzo was just the order of the day, not least as it is rare these days to be able to do so.
Even though this was a treat, part of me was still thinking with the diet hat on. I've written before about the perils of social eating and while I'm not averse to hogging out once in a while, I wanted to be relatively restrained and not go overboard. With that in mind I had spent a bit of time looking through the online menu in advance of getting to the restaurant. The starters didn't look all that impressive so that was an instant area to save on calorific intake. Knowing that I was designated driver meant I could ignore the beer and wine menu too.
That meant when it came to ordering, I was quite happy to go for whatever I wanted. We decided rather than go for individual meals we would do some mixing and matching. We opted for the Steak and Rocket VIP pizza, which sounded great on paper but didn't quite live up to expectations. I can understand not putting rocket and cherry tomatoes on the pizza until after it has been cooked as they would be destroyed in the heat, but to not do that with the red onion was a mistake, and several mint imperials and brushes of teeth later I'm still tasting onion some 16 hours later. We also plumped for the 2 classic pasta deal, with my wife enjoying a penne with salmon dish while I had a chicken option.
Half a pizza and a portion of pasta sounds like quite a lot, particularly when we had a mixed salad side on top, but if truth be told it wasn't too onerous. The pizza was very light, while the pasta was quite delicate and not smothered in sauce. I certainly felt less bloated from eating this than I would have done from a takeaway pizza option. As a result, I decided to plump for a dessert and thoroughly devoured my sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream.
Red onion aside, it was a lovely evening with good company. An enjoyable treat and one that I don't think will cause much damage to my weightloss goals. I ran Saturday morning (blimming well actually, taking 71 seconds of my PB for a 5k) and resume my lunchtime gym activity today. Therefore any excess from Sunday night will soon be eliminated.
When I reach my goal, and I definitely will, I know that the diet won't stop in its tracks. Having lost weight in the past and then seen it return with ease, I understand that simply putting on the handbrake would be a backward step. I'm never going to be a pristine athlete or slim Jim, but just as I've worked hard to lose the lbs this year, I'll have to keep things going to make sure I keep the weight off.
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