Eating out verses eating in

When TMM and I are both off work, especially if it's mid week, we will usually have a lie in and then we are more than likely to go out for breakfast. There are a couple of nice cafe-type places in the town, but for brekkie, we always chose the same place. We are creatures of habit, and it's nice when you find somewhere that the staff are friendly, the service and prices are good, and they start to recoginze you. Basically, a place "where everybody knows your name," (but not really, just your face.)

We go there, look out the window at the sea (I never stop being grateful that I live by the sea) and chat to each other. It's relaxing and feels decadent. A wee treat on a day off work. Recently though, it's become less of a treat and more the norm. We do it almost every weekend if TMM (who works in retail, so weekends off aren't a given) is off. There have been a couple of times that we've even done it both Saturday and Sunday. Which isn't good for the belly or the pocket.

This is a photo of a plate of food that I ordered one day just because it was on the menu. (Not at our regular haunt.) It was called the Titanic Fry. (See what they did there? Belfast, Titanic?) My curiosity and greed got the better of me and I had to see what it was like and if I could finish it. It was my own wee "Man Vs Food" challenge. Seriously, I'm not safe to be let out in public! By the way, I finished it. Every scrap. To TMM's disgust/dismay/admiration? Hard to say what emotion was foremost in his mind :-)

By way of contrast, this is the sort of thing that I'm likely to make myself at home. No where near the same size of portion, but thoroughly satisfying. This was an omelet I made after a run when I was training for last year's Belfast marathon.

We're both off today, Easter Tuesday, and having slept in for a while, decided to have brunch. By the time we got a move on, it was full on lunch :-) But we were very good, and decided to stay home. Bacon and scrambled eggs. TMM had toast, I refrained, eschewing the added calories so hopefully, by the end of the day, I will finally have a few left over so I can have some chocolate. Imagine! Easter Tuesday and I've had no chocolate yet!

It was well worth the effort of cooking. For a start, I was completely in charge of the method by which the food was cooked, so I know for certain that nothing was deep fried, or even really shallow fried. I was also in charge of my portion size. I suppose you could say that I'm always in control of that, even when eating out. After all, no one forces me to eat everything that's on my plate. I could leave some food, if I so desired. But let's be realistic here, there's no way I'm not finishing my food. I don't have that kind of will power. I can just about say no to ordering dessert, but once some thing's actually in front of me? It's going down the hatch!

Today I had a big enough lunch for any mortal. It consisted of three rashers of back bacon and four eggs, scrambled. I would have had mushrooms, but we'd run out. Bummer. The Main Man's plate looked so much fuller than mine with his added toast and I had serious plate envy. But I ate slowly and what I had was more than enough. I'm just naturally greedy. I want more! Always! But, and here's the main thing, when I worked it out on the MFP app, that really satisfying, cooked breakfast only came to about four hundred calories. If I'd gone to our wee cafe, I'd have had much more food, it would probably also have contained some sort of bread, and I'd have possibly eaten something sweet afterwards. I could easily have consumed three times the calories. Certainly at least twice as many.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love going out to eat. But it should be a treat. It should be a less than frequent occurrence. That way, it's easily worked in to a day's food. But to do it too often makes over indulgence all too likely. I'm pleased that we ate in today because it leaves the option open to eat out without guilt later. And hopefully I will have another weight loss this week because I'm trying so hard to stay within my daily calorie target. I know I can't lose six pounds every week (God! If only!) but a wee bit, even a small loss every week, to keep me motivated, would be great.