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“The 1000 Calorie Tip” by Craig Ballantyne
List of posts in Articles by Craig Ballantyne
- “The 1000 Calorie Tip” by Craig Ballantyne
- “The 3 Best Bodyweight Exercises” by Craig Ballantyne
I like when I can post quick, practical, and helpful tips for you guys. Here’s a good tip from Craig Ballantyne, author of Turbulence Training, about being very aware of the calories you’re eating when you go out to your favorite restaurant.
Also, if you haven’t done so already, I strongly suggest you take advantage of Craig’s free 4 week bodyweight only Turbulence Training pdf that you can access and download here.
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The 1000 Calorie Diet Tip
If you eat at restaurants, it’s easy to eat over 1500 or 2000 calories per meal. Yikes! That’s a full day’s worth of calories in one dinner…
Pre-dinner bread & butter -> 200 calories
Pre-dinner cocktail -> 150 caloriesAppetizer -> This could be a 500-1500 calorie bomb on it’s own!
Steak -> 300-500 calories
Potato -> 150-300 calories
Vegetable -> 100 calories
Dinner Drink -> 150 caloriesDessert -> 300-750 calories
After Dinner Drink -> 150And that’s only if you CONTROL yourself. If you go on a rampage, you could be looking at 2500 or even 3000 calories in one sitting. Those numbers are scary.
Fortunately, there are ways to avoid this dietary nightmare while dining out. Here are 5 rules to cut 1000 calories from your dining-out diet…
1) Plan ahead and avoid restaurants that offer huge portions.
2) Skip the bread. It won’t stop you from eating your full meal anyways, so just send it back.
3) No booze or liquid calories of any type.
4) No potates. Stick to your protein and your vegetables.
5) Reward yourself with only the tiniest bit of dessert, if at all.
It’s all about taking responsibility for your choices. And yes, choosing between the “Pain of discipline or pain of regret”.
What’s your choice?
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:08 am
Good words to live by, albeit easier said than done. Unfortunately I am most often left with the pain of regret; I am sorely lacking in the discipline department.
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September 3rd, 2008 at 6:24 am
ICT,
Thanks for leaving a comment, and don’t worry because you are not the only one. I’m pretty sure that there is no one reading my blog who hasn’t experienced the pain of regret at one time or another. The key is to apply the 80/20 rule. Lyle McDonald talked about this in my interview with him that’s in the inaugural edition of my newsletter, “Feed Your Brain to Lose the Fat”. I suggest you check it out because he gave many good tips about the psychology behind losing weight. Thanks for stopping by …
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September 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 am
“The Pain of Discipline or the Pain of Regret”. Too often we have the latter. Lately with my food I am so glad that for the most party I have the former. But those are great words to live by. Wow
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September 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Maurice,
I thought it was a cool quote too! The great thing is that once you start to see “noticeable” changes in your body, the “pain of discipline” becomes much less painful
…
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September 3rd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I have been fighting the whole weight loss battle since 2007. I’m tired and now ready to do it. That quote was on point. I read another one in Black Enterprise Mag by Monica Blake “If you can’t be the very best for yourself, you don’t have much to offer anyone else”!
I want this! My goal is to be 299 by Thanksgiving. Starting weight 362, currently 358, started Monday.
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September 4th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Hey, first of all, congrats on your weight loss so far Derrick! And, I love the quote. I think I’m going to add it to my Inspirational Quotes, so thanks for sharing it with me. As far as your weight loss goal by Thanksgiving, I’ll just leave you with this. I’ve come to realize that the tortoise was right all along. Slow and steady wins the race. Your goal should be to lose no more than 1% of your total bodyweight a week, and this figure changes as you lose weight. Please keep us posted as to your progress. All the best …
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September 5th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
My wife and I try to treat ourselves every week or two and my wife has been reining me in lately (I let her because I know it is good for us) by ordering a fajita type plate of Mexican food and splitting it. We make the meat into soft corn tortillas and only eat half of the food between us both. Tonight we even bought diet cokes instead of the large margaritas.
The three dogs got the leftovers when we got home… and my wallet did not take a big hit either… it only cost $25.00 and a $5.00 tip or $30.00 total for a night out to dinner with my wife!
In the old days a night out could have easily cost $100.00 for just dinner!
Anyway great advice Muata!
John W. Zimmer
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September 6th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Hey John, thanks for leaving a comment, and that’s a great eating out strategy that you and the Mrs. have! I like getting fajitas too because you have control over how much you do or don’t put on them! Sometimes, I even ask them to substitute the tortillas for bibb lettuce wraps. It’s still just as messy and tasty …
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September 6th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I have changed my eating habits and started exercising since June when I graduated and I have lost a good amount of weight. I am 18 and attending High Point University in NC. The number one thing that I do is to share with my mom when we eat out since we are both overweight. I started at 412.5 and am down to 380.0. Muata, your blog has helped add to the inspiration I am getting from folks at the fitness center and family members. My first goal is 50 lbs and I am nearly there. I will leave another comment when I hit this goal.
Thanks,
Tyler
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September 6th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Tyler, thanks for leaving your comment and congrats on your results so far!! Losing over 30lbs. is a good thing my friend, and I can’t wait to hear about you hitting your first goal of 50lbs! Keep it going …
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September 7th, 2008 at 6:04 am
[...] Mr. Low Body Fat writes “The 1000 Calorie Tip” by Craig Ballantyne. [...]
September 25th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Yep, Lyle’s the man. I’ve got a few of his books and that guy is a real guru.Anyone looking to go sub 10% in bodyfat while preserving or even gaining muscle while being natural needs to check out his book Ultimate Diet 2.0. Best book out there for this IMO. The Stubborn Fat Solution is also a tremendous book.
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Muata Reply:
September 25th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
@Robert – Without doubt, I’m very happy that I came across Lyle and all of his works. Not only does he know his stuff, but he’s really a nice guy.
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