Another restaurant experience tonight. We had a gift card & went to Firebirds. It’s basically a vanilla’ed up, casual steak chain. I tried to order well but need to be less reliant on the existing menu. I thought my choices skewed according to program guidelines but what I got wasn’t as close as I though. The dressing on the spinach salad was way too sweet. The port mushrooms probably had some bad stuff in there too, though not tons.

I’ve already had lessons about needing to build systems so I’m ready to handle experiences. I remember when I had my mindset down for the normal week and was doing quite well. Then when we went out for a special occasion to one of my favorite restaurants, I went off the rails. Ordered anything I wanted. Tonight I was prepared for that & had some of my system in place. I skewed healthy with all my orders.

I figure that the healthy choices on a great menu will still be close to the tastiest items. Not too far off anyway.

So my lesson tonight was that I need to be very specific about what I order when I’m out. I can’t leave it up to the restaurant’s version of whatever the menu listing is. I shouldn’t have gone with the port mushrooms. I need to go all the way. Vegetables without sauce. Look for a bean option. And make sure the protein doesn’t have extra calories on it – even look for more lower calorie protein options.

Still learning!