I've been having a great time mystery shopping restaurants and bars with my friends. But, the margaritas, onion rings, fries, fried zucchini, chips and salsa, and chocolate cream pie are catching up with me. I'm sure I have gained weight and I worry about my cholesterol. I know salads are available at restaurants, but they are not so appealing when everyone else is eating burgers and fries, etc. Has anyone else had this experience? Do I really have to give up my fun part-time job to protect my health?

OK, you need a few Health Club mystery shops. Some even have a built-in workout session.

LOL......it's hard to pass up all the yummy food while having fun MSing. I'm with you, I know.

No, but you need to practice some restraint. We tend to stay away from the alcohol not only because of the price out, but also because of the calories involved. An 8 oz Margarita can set you back nearly 500 calories. When you have required purchases, you need to balance your non shop meals to handle usually a caloric overload. If you must order fries, you aren't required to eat all of them. Many of our restaurant shop meals have more than half the meals coming home in take out boxes for dinner the next night. It only needs a taste when served to evaluate.

OMG I totally understand. 2 years ago I was in marathon shape, now I'm just shaped like a marathon. :/

Yeah, and you can't order something off the menu (like a plain baked potato or something) because that would mess up the timing they are focused on (besides invalidating your assignment).

I totally do need some gym evaluations, plus some Sweet Tomatoes evaluations.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2016 03:54AM by Brarizona.

Grilled chicken salad with lite Italian dressing works pretty darn well and is on the menu at many places as an entree salad. Try the toast points so you can comment on them. Most entree salads are big enough to fill you and still take half of it home. Most restaurants we do require either an appetizer or a dessert to be shared. Often hard to find appetizers that aren't fried, so go for a smaller appetizer--6 coconut shrimp to be shared rather than a pound and a half plate of cheesy fries. When all else fails, a scoop of vanilla ice cream to share instead of the Thunder From Down Under with all its chocolatey gooeyness may be your best friend. With more and more places posting their calories on line, you can plan your attack before you leave home.

I wish the Hedgehog would go on a diet and offer me a dang salad or chicken strip.

I do a calorie check for any restaurant that I am going to shop. There are many sites that will tell you the lowdown on each thing or you can type in: Bloomin' Onion calories and many sites will pull up.

To give you an idea: I had a breakfast shop and I HAD to order one of the breakfast sandwiches. I went on their site and pulled up all the sandwiches and came up with the calorie count. The higher sandwich had over 750 calories! The lower end sandwich had 450 so my strategy was to eat 1/4 of the sandwich, wrapped the rest and took it home. (I am not a breakfast sandwich person, I mostly avoid breakfast shops that require me to order them).

Watching what you eat takes "work." With some simple planning for ANY restaurant you are assigned, just do your research before you walk out the door.

There is one restaurant that has 2396 calories for some dish! Really read these sites and learn... I think the restaurant was like Applebee's or TGI's. (not sure if they have redesigned the recipe to make it less since then).

Ditch the bad carbs. When you order a breakfast sandwich, just use utensils to eat the innards and leave the bread behind. This way you are not making it a special order. If a special order is allowed, replace the bread with lettuce. Lettuce wraps are popular now. Most restaurants have a couple of safer appetizers. If desert is required, a spoonful is sufficient. Just be careful as some guidelines do not allow doggie bags (for some reason).

Do some research. The bad carbs are raising your cholesterol, not the healthy proteins.

I've been meaning to talk to you about that.

@bgriffin wrote:

OMG I totally understand. 2 years ago I was in marathon shape, now I'm just shaped like a marathon. :/

I totally hear you! Two years ago, I was a manager at Burger King. You'd think that I'd be in the worst shape of my life with all the free meals. Nope! Now I have an office job where I sit on my butt all day, plus mystery shopping restaurants, and I'm up 50 lbs. Ack! A few months ago my husband and I started meal planning to cut out the junk, and it's helping (still have to add exercise back in). I really like the advice Flash and SunnyDays2 gave about the calorie check before hand. I'll have to try that.

Not only that, but my blood pressure shot up like crazy when I did a lot of restaurant shops. The only recourse for someone with no self-restraint is to stop doing those shops.

That's exactly why I don't do food shops.

I'll look at the menu before hand and decide on a salad topped with a lean meat and a chardonnay or unsweetened tea. Then I get to the restaurant, and that goes out the window. Here comes the sauce, gravy, fried, cab whatever.

You don't have to eliminate them, just do less of them if you won't make better choices.

I was hired as a cart pusher for Walmart a few weeks ago and I've been doing more food shops with no worries. I burn off a lot of calories and lost 5 pounds my first week, and we are having a heat wave where I live, at Wally World. I get paid 10.00 an hour to work out. Life is good.

Yep. I feel ya.

Yep. That's what I'm going to have to do. I definitely don't have the willpower to eat an iceberg lettuce salad when I'm surrounded by yummy drinks and onion rings. I wish I did.

I am with you having put on 15 pounds and more than that, my blood sugar levels were super high. The Doc scared me with that, being afraid of Diabetes, I went on a major change, loving salads and ordering olive oil and lemon juice dressing (good fat). Cutting out pasta,really eat well when at home, counting calories, go to Golds gym 3 time a week. Lost all my weight, numbers went back to normal, and I'm still eating out, but more aware and no desserts. I do allow myself a sweet once a week, but now used to everything low sugar. When I need to cheat, one slice of pizza (Whole foods) has a great slice for 3.50. I also order "Skinney girl" cocktail when I want a drink. I read sugar content on everything, yogurt can have from 6 to 20 sugar grams. Took about 3 weeks to lose the sugar habit. I'm happier and back in my size 8.....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2016 02:26PM by Irene_L.A..

Why are you afraid of diabetics? The ones I've known have all been quite nice

Because it might be contagious! Duh

I can remember getting the Pasta Carbonara (Spaghettini with Smoked Bacon, Green Peas, and a Garlic-Parmesan Cream Sauce.) and then asking them to top it with sausage instead of chicken. This is after the appetizer and a basket of bread with butter on each slice.



I'd estimate with the drink and everything else, it had to tip over 3,500 calories. Don't even look at the saturated fat or sodium levels.

Carbonara with peas and garlic and chicken? Sacrilege.

Lisa, are you thinking of Carbonara made with bacon, eggs and leftover pasta? I had that once, the authentic one. It was over ten years ago, but I can still taste it,; it was that good! The dishes I've had since don't compare.

I know right?

I typically try to stay whole-food, plant-based (no meat, dairy, eggs, sugar, oil, salt, flour, alcohol or processed foods).
But, I let that slide because "I was getting paid to eat it." I went crazy! I was like woo hoo! Bread!, deep fried @#$%&, alcohol! But, I'm paying for it now. I need to do more other type jobs and just do the restaurant occasionally or not at all. It would be so easy to just eat like that all the time.

You pay for those "free" meals one way or another!

You got it right Honny except for the leftover pasta part. Real Carbonara is sinfully delicious. I worked at an Italian restaurant for a couple of years. The chef/owner was originally from Sicily so I got to learn how to make a number of dishes from watching him. We also have a plethora of real Italian restaurants around here which have totally ruined me for any of those faux Italian places.

I've said it before but will reiterate; Coffee for dessert on full-service restaurant assignments. No sugar!..and all of the ordering advice above is on point as well for the remainder of your meal.

I gained 14 lbs the first year I started MSing and it took almost a decade to learn control in ordering, having the willpower to leave food on my plate at the end of the meal and remembering to not just poke my head into the gym to evaluate it on hotel assignments. FF shops are a once-a-month indulgence for me now. Fine dining is more work, but generally has more healthy options. Sodas have been out of my diet for 4 years this week (it was that or liquor...so goodbye Coke!).

Also, as far as avoiding carbs goes; I never bought into avoiding carbs in the past, but had a 2-week cruise assignment a few years ago and and was particularly concerned about the potential for weight gain. On the advice of another forum member here, when the bread server came to our table the first night of the cruise and introduced himself, I handed him a tip and told him that I never wanted to see a basket of bread anywhere near my plate for the remainder of the cruise. It worked! I went to the gym every other day during the cruise, ate absolutely no bread products for 2 weeks and both my guest and I each lost 1 lb during the cruise!

Steve,

I would never have thought ordering a coffee would satisfy the required dessert purchase on many shops...that is great to know! Does this apply to any MSC and fine dining shops universally?

Thanks for the info!

The best shape I have ever been and at my lowest weight was when I was a general manager at a fast food restaurant. I'll admit by the time I decided the work was not worth the bonus, I was 82 lbs at 5'3". I was skeletal to say the least, but I could bench press with the big boys.

I get a scoop of ice cream for dessert. When doing a fast food place I take off one of the buns or eat 1/2 of the burger and eat a few of the fries and the rest go in the trash. I was once told it either goes in the waste or on the waist and that helped me learn it is ok not to eat everything on your plate. I also eat 1/2 of my meal and take the rest home. I also look at the restaurant/fast food menu before accepting a shop, to make sure they have something I can enjoy without splurging.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2016 06:47PM by pegleg2000.