Don't Leave the Restaurant Feeling Miserable: How to Stop Overeating When You Eat Out

Eating at restaurants doesn't have to end with feeling stuffed, uncomfortable, or guilty.

For so many people, dining out feels like an all-or-nothing event. You tell yourself you'll "be good," but then the bread basket arrives, the portions are enormous, and before you know it, you've eaten past the point of fullness. You leave feeling like you've failed and promise you'll do better next time.

The good news? It doesn't have to be that way.

In this episode, I'm sharing simple strategies you can use while you're sitting at the table to help you stay connected to your hunger and fullness cues without feeling restricted or missing out on the experience. We'll also dive into the mindset shifts that make it easier to enjoy your meal without feeling like you have to clean your plate or "get your money's worth."

These aren't restaurant "rules." They're practical tools to help you leave the table feeling satisfied instead of uncomfortable.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Simple things to do during your meal that help you recognize fullness before it's too late
• Mindset shifts that help you enjoy eating out without guilt
• How to leave a restaurant feeling energized instead of overly full

If eating out has become something you fear because you always feel like you overdo it, this episode will give you practical strategies you can start using at your very next restaurant meal.

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Topics included in this episode: restaurant tips, overeating, mindful eating, intuitive eating, portion control, hunger cues, fullness cues, healthy habits, food freedom, emotional eating, weight loss mindset, healthy lifestyle, nutrition, eating out, consistency

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to another Isn't She Powerful podcast episode. I am your host, Laura V Healthy, and I'm excited to talk to you about how to avoid overeating at restaurants. This is a conversation I feel is important for all of us because many of us we go to restaurants and we're promising on the way there, oh I'm gonna be good, I'm going to order something that has protein and vegetables, and I'm gonna stick to my diet. And then you get there, you start looking at the pictures on the menu, and you're like, oh, but that actually looks really good. So you end up ordering something that you is not in alignment with your goals and it makes you feel really guilty about yourself. The basket of free bread arrives at the table, you end up eating way too much of it, and in your head, you're like, Well, I'm already gonna ruin everything with my dinner choice, anyways. So I might as well drink a soda, maybe have something that has some alcohol in it, eat as much bread as I want. Let's just order dessert too. We end up going all or nothing, and that is a very, very common situation that we find ourselves in. I lived in that place for such a long time, and that's why I know exactly how it feels, and that's why, you know, so many times I hear people say, You are speaking directly to me. This is exactly how I feel, and that's because I have been there. I used to feel that way. I've I've been the person that struggles with that all or nothing mindset, with the unhealthy relationship with food and feeling guilty about the choices that I make. Like I've I've been in that situation before, and in this episode, I want to talk to you about how to go out to eat, how to enjoy the meal, not how to restrict yourself so that you stay on your diet, quote unquote, but how to actually enjoy your meal while still feeling good in your body, still feeling good about your choices. So we're gonna talk a little bit about the mindset. I'm gonna give you some practical strategies of some things that you can do while sitting at the table that can help you to not leave the restaurant feeling like, oh my gosh, my mom always used to say, they're gonna have to roll me out of here. And if you feel that, then this episode is going to help you because I don't want you to leave feeling like I am so stuffed, I can't even walk, I can't even stand up, like I just feel so blah. I don't want you to feel that way. So in this episode, I'm gonna give you some practical strategies, a little bit of mindset shifts, and you're gonna leave feeling like you have a lot more control whenever you go to restaurants. So let's get into it. Welcome to the Isn't You Powerful Podcast. I'm your host, Laura B, health coach, educator, and founder of the Bee Healthy Lifestyle. I'm here to bring you all the health education and motivation so that you can sign off each week and you're equipped and empowered to deal with all of your healthy things. Come along with me as I teach you the basics of healthy living. Isn't she powerful? The first thing that I want to talk about here is that idea of being quote unquote good when you go to the restaurant. Because I want you to think back to the last time, like you were on a strict diet, and then somebody invited you to go out to eat, and now suddenly you're stuck in this situation where you're like, I have to choose something that I don't even want to eat at this restaurant, or I have to go completely off my diet. And then you get there, and like I said before, you end up going way off the deep end and ordering every possible thing that's out of alignment with your goals. The reason why that happens is because of that unhealthy relationship with food and that idea of I'm either good or I'm bad. So the first thing that I want you to do is stop referring to your choices, to the food, to yourself as good or bad, because you are not a good person based on the choices that you make when it comes to food, and you're not a bad person based on the choices that you make when it comes to food. Those things have nothing to do with your character. Yet, whenever we say I am good or I am bad, we're talking about character and our food choices are not our character. You are a good person because you're kind, because you're loving, because you help other people. You are not a good person because you had a salad, right? So I really want you to start paying attention to those words that you're using when describing yourself and the choices that you're making with food. You can go to a restaurant and you can sit down and you can say, you know what? I know that there's going to be free bread that comes to the table. I'm going to enjoy that bread because I really, really like the taste of it. It's something that I enjoy. So because I enjoy it, I'm going to be present with it. I am actually going to enjoy that food. I don't want you to say, I shouldn't be eating this, but I'm going to eat it anyway. Because what that leads to is you eating it so quickly, so fast that you don't even taste it and you're feeling guilty about it the whole time. If you are going to make the choice to eat it, then make the choice to be present while eating it. Really taste it. Allow yourself to enjoy it. You're making that choice because it's something that you like. So taste it, okay? So take your time and really enjoy those foods. And then you can say, because I had that, I'm also going to order something that intentionally has vegetables with it or really has a lean protein to it. So make that choice before you go in. Whenever I sit down at this menu, when I start looking through it, this is the one stipulation that I have. I want to make sure that there's a vegetable on my plate. I want to make sure that there's a lean protein on my plate, something along those lines. And then the rest of it, you can just say, I'm just going to enjoy the meal from there on out. As long as I have this one thing that is covered, I'm happy with the way that this meal is going. And from there, I'll just enjoy everything else. When my husband and I go out to eat, we usually go out once, maybe twice a week. And when we do, we're gonna order a dessert at least one of those times. If it's our only time going out, we're definitely ordering dessert. Sometimes if we go out twice, we order dessert twice because we are just dessert people. Like we just have a sweet tooth, and that's why I specialize in helping people who are have a sweet tooth and who struggle with the food noise and the sugar cravings, because I'm also that person and I know how to navigate it and I know how to make it to where those things don't completely ruin your life. But because I know that we are going to order one of those types of food, like I know there's gonna be something coming at the end of this meal that is gonna be higher in calorie that's not going to be in alignment with my goals. I'm gonna enjoy that food. I know it's coming, and I know I'm gonna eat it because I'm going to enjoy the heck out of it. So I need to make sure that when I do actually order real food, that I'm ordering something that has some color to it, that has some protein to it. I want to make sure this part of my meal is well balanced so that it kind of balances out the other choice that I'm making, right? Instead of it being like, well, I'm already know what we're ordering dessert. I'm just gonna get a humongous burger, I'm gonna get a side of fries, I'm gonna order a soda, I'm gonna get everything else. Instead of doing all of that, I'm making some choices. I'm saying, well, if I'm getting dessert, then I'm going to order this thing that's well balanced to again balance that choice out. So have some boundaries with yourself when it comes to going out to eat. It does not have to be an all or nothing. Speaking of the all or nothing mindset, the last thing that I want to talk about in mindset before I get into the actual things that you can do during the meal to avoid the overeating, I want to talk about what happens when you get to a point in your meal, you're thinking, this food is so tasty, but I'm starting to feel full. And then the thought comes, maybe I should get a to-go box and take this home. But then your next thought, if you struggle with an unhealthy relationship with food, an all or nothing mindset, your next thought is going to be, yeah, but then I'd have to eat this unhealthy meal again later. And I should just go in and finish it all now so that I can start over again tomorrow and not have unhealthy food two days in a row. Raise your hand if you've been there before. You're probably driving in your car right now or cleaning the dishes and your hand is up in the air because I've been there more times than I can count, where I'm like, if I take this home, then that means that I'm gonna be unhealthy multiple days this week. And it would be better for me to just be super unhealthy now and then start over tomorrow. That is not the healthiest choice to make. The best choice that you can make in that situation, if you get that internal little nudge that says, hey, you should take this home, you should stop eating right now. Let's get a box for leftovers. You need to listen to that nudge. You need to listen to that intuitive advice coming from inside of you that's telling you you are full, you are satisfied, it is time to stop eating. You need to put the rest in a to-go box. I would 400% rather you eat this quote unquote unhealthy meal again later in the week, maybe even tomorrow, maybe even later today, when you're hungry again, rather than stuffing yourself way past the point of full right now. That is going to prove to be better for you in a ton of ways. Your intuition, your body is going to feel safer. So I want you to make that commitment right now. The next time you're sitting there and you think, I should be done, I should get a leftover box. Even if it's just four bites left, if you don't want to get a leftover box, stop eating when that intuitive nudge hits you. There is a voice that is inside of every single one of us that tells us when we are getting full, listen to it because you will be able to hear that voice loud and clear if you start listening to it. So make that promise to me right now. Next time you go out to eat at a restaurant, you are not going to tell yourself, oh, it would be better for me to overeat on this now. It is not. It is better for you to stop when you start getting full, put it in a box, take the leftovers home. Again, even if there's three bites left on the plate, leave them. If you are getting full, leave the bites. It is okay if there is food leftover on your plate. You don't have to finish it all. You aren't wasting money. You aren't wasting food. It is fine for you to stop eating when you get full. You have full permission to do that. I am going to be so for real with you right now. Subscribing to a podcast is one of the only ways that you are guaranteed to see the content that you want to see. I have over 60,000 people that have chosen to click the little follow button and follow along to see what recipes I'm creating, what I have going on with my group coaching programs. They've chosen to look at what I do. And yet, most of my videos get between 1,000 and 4,000 views, which means that 60,000 plus people have said, hey, I want to see what Laura B Healthy posts, and yet they don't get to see it. And that's not a complaint. It's not because you are doing anything wrong. That is just social media. It's just the way that it works. You don't decide what comes on your feed, somebody else does. And unfortunately, my videos aren't showing up for you a lot of times. And I'm not saying this so that you feel bad for me or so that you go over to social media and look at what I have posted. I'm saying this as a reminder that you really don't have control over a lot of the media that you receive. But you do have control over the podcasts that you get to listen to. It may not be guaranteed that when you press the follow button on social media, you are going to continue seeing that creator's content. But it is guaranteed that when you press the follow button or the subscribe button on a podcast, every single time a new episode of that podcast is released, you will get a notification about it. That's a guarantee. So if you are listening to this right now and you are not already subscribed to this podcast, please go up to the top of whatever site you are listening to and press the little follow button so that you get the notifications for when a new episode of the show is live every single week, multiple times a week, and you don't miss a single thing of what you genuinely want to be consuming. Okay, now let's get into what exactly are you going to do during the meal to allow yourself to feel aware of your fullness and to stop when you start feeling that fullness. The number one thing is to slow down. Eat your food slower than you think is necessary. I want you to put your fork down in between every single bite. If it's a sandwich, put the sandwich down in between every single bite. This is something that I really practice like with burgers, especially that like that messy food. Sometimes we're eating like a burger and it's kind of getting all over us. Put it down in between bites, and I promise you, you are going to recognize the fullness so much faster because you're having to intentionally pick the food up every bite. So it's another step, it's this other action that your body has to take, even though it's subconscious. There's a a little person inside of you. I always like to think of little people inside of me. There's a little person inside of you who's paying attention, even whenever you aren't. You're having a conversation with the person that you're sitting with. There's a little voice inside of you that's paying attention. And you go to pick up that burger one time and it's like, actually, we're getting full. Because it had to take that few seconds to pick the burger up, your body has time to recognize that it's getting full. So slow down, put your food down between every single bite and chew, chew, chew. I've said it before in this episode, but you really want to let yourself taste the food. You're making the choice to eat it. So make the choice again, like I said before, to be present with it. Take the time to taste the food. It doesn't have to be stuffed down your throat. This is a such a common action for us to take. If we feel guilty about eating it, we try to eat it quickly. It's like when you're a kid or if you have a child and they are doing something that they're not supposed to be doing, they'll try to hide it. They'll try to do it in a corner or they'll try to do it really quickly because they're not supposed to be doing it. You have taught yourself that whenever you're quote unquote not supposed to eat this food because it's quote bad for you, then you're gonna eat it in a corner. You're gonna eat it in private. Nobody needs to see it. You're gonna hide the wrappers, you're gonna hide all the proof, you're gonna eat it really quickly so that nobody catches you, and you don't need to do that. Be present with the food. Let yourself taste it, let yourself enjoy the process of eating it. So slow down, chew your food, put it down between every bite, and then pause halfway through the meal. Our portion sizes at restaurants are way too large. They are just so huge that it really could be most of the time two meals for you to get out of a meal at a restaurant. Like what whatever you order could easily be two meals most of the time. And so pausing halfway through lets you recognize, am I getting full? So you're gonna pause about halfway through your meal. I even like to sometimes have my clients that I work with get up, go to the bathroom, go walk around for a second. I know that's harder in a restaurant, but you take a second and go to the restroom. And maybe you just go in there and wash your hands, or maybe you just walk to the bathroom and then walk back to your seat. You don't even have to go to the restroom if you don't want to. But how many times have you been eating at a restaurant and then you get up as you're leaving and you're like, whoa, I am way more full than I thought I was. I didn't recognize it. Getting up at that halfway point in your meal helps you to recognize it before it gets to that point. So you're gonna pause. You are potentially going to get up and walk around for a second to see how you're feeling. And during this pause, you are going to be checking in with yourself to feel for the feelings of fullness. Just like you intuitively know what hunger feels like, you also know what fullness feels like. I like if I asked you right now, hey, what does it feel like to be hungry? You would describe those sensations. It's a physical feeling hunger is. Your stomach is feeling grumbly, it's feeling empty, you might be feeling a little bit tired and lethargic, you're low on energy, you might be starting to feel a little hangry. For me, it's almost like if I'm to the point where I'm like really hungry, I can literally feel it like coursing through my arms. Like I just feel this sensation of like I need to eat right now. And that's because I get hangry. But you can feel that feeling of hunger. You also can feel the feeling of fullness. You know what it feels like when you're leaving the restaurant and you're like, oh my god, I ate way too much food. That is also a physical sensation. It's also in your stomach. It's like, oh, it's so stuffed, so tight, and you're just feeling like, ugh, you know, you know that feeling. So when you do this pause halfway through your meal, you're going to be checking, am I feeling any of that? And our goal is to stop before it gets to the point of, ugh, right? Like you want to stop well in advance of that. So you know what that feels like. You know what it feels like to be satisfied, but not stuffed, feel for that. And the only way you can do it is to pause. It takes about 30 minutes on average for our stomach to communicate with our brain. There's a lot of hormones that go into those, that feeling of fullness. There's a hormone called leptin, and this is our fullness hormone. And our body, whenever, whenever it starts to notice, oh, there's food in her mouth, it starts to send out leptin. That leptin reaches our brain about 15 to 30 minutes later. It takes that amount of time for our brain to recognize that leptin is now in our system. So if you're stuffing yourself, you're eating so fast, you're eating it like not paying attention to anything, you're just bite, bite, bite, bite, bite, then you aren't giving your body time to recognize the leptin. So, what you're gonna do is pause halfway through the meal, see if you're feeling any of those sensations, give yourself time to feel the feelings of that leptin hitting your system. And if you're starting to feel full, but again, you're only halfway through your meal, what are you gonna do? You're gonna ask for a to-go box. You're gonna say, Hey, I'm gonna eat this meal again later. Can I get a to-go box to put the rest of it away? Get it out of sight. The second that you decide I'm done, I don't want any more of this, get it out of sight. Ask for a to-go box as soon as you can. If it's something that you're like, I'm not taking this home with me, take the napkin out of your out from your lap and put it over the plate so that you can't even see it. Or put like the maybe there's some trash on the table from like straws or something like that. Crump that up and put it on the plate so that you know this is not edible anymore. This is trash now. It's out of, it's out of my way. I'm and push it away from you. Get it out from directly in front of you. That is going to help so much with the feeling of the meal is over. I am done. It is complete and I'm satisfied. Okay, I look forward to you putting all of this to use the next time you are in a restaurant. When you do, please reach out to me. I want to hear that you are using this. It makes me so happy to get DMs from you guys and to hear, hey, I'm applying what you're teaching me. That is just music to my ears. So send me a picture of your meal. Let me know what you applied, how it went for you. I am cheering for you. I am eager to see your success. Thank you so much for being here for every episode of the Isn't She Powerful podcast. Don't forget that you can put in requests for what you want me to talk about, what you need to hear by using the button down in the show notes. It's at the very top and it says send us a text. You can just say, Hey, Laura, this is what I have going on. Can you please make an episode about it? I don't know who you are unless you tell me who you are. So I will not be bugging you or reaching out to you. I will just be making a podcast episode that is directly about what you need help with. So don't forget that you can do that. I would love to hear what you need me to create for you. I can't wait to see you again in the next episode. And until then, never forget how powerful you are. Bye, guys. Thank you so much. I can't wait to see you again next week. And always remember the more you know, the more you grow.