Are you a social butterfly trying to balance friend life and happy hours with being healthy and fit? Ideally, when you balance out your social outings and your health the scale would balance perfectly and you’d feel harmony with what you choose to consume while out with friends, and how you feel about yourself the next day. But more often than not, you’re probably vowing to “never do that again,” because as we all know, it wasn’t just “a drink,” it was a couple drinks with an appetizer or two thrown in for good measure.
This story can be told just the same if you’ve been jumping on the virtual bandwagon right now. When that bottle of wine is sitting right next to you as you’re chatting away on your device, you’ve just made it that much easier on yourself to grab the bottle and start pouring again.
So, how do you balance health related goals and social hours? Here are 5 steps to keep things in check:
- Have a plan going into it. Decide how many drinks you’ll have before you go. Maybe it’s 1 or maybe it’s 3, but the point is, you decide beforehand and stick with what you chose.
- If you know appetizers might be thrown out there, jump online and look at the restaurant’s menu to see which option will fit your goals. Look for things that aren’t fried or sautéed in fat. Good options would be: chicken skewers, chicken lettuce wraps or pita and hummus.
- If you must get something fried, go with the calamari over fries so you at least get a boost of protein.
- If you are making yourself an appetizer at home, the same rules go. Don’t make nachos just because you can. It’s a lot easier to keep things healthy while at home doing virtual happy hours, simply because you buy the groceries and can control what you make!
- Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t stick to your plan. Accept where you are and move on from it.
The biggest thing here is that you’re learning to balance your goals and social life. It probably won’t happen overnight, and there are bound to be slip ups, but the point is that you’re progressing forward, even if they are baby steps.
If you are having a hard time with your nutrition and fitness, maybe it’s time you asked for some guidance? I create personalized nutrition and fitness plans, with your goal(s) as the focus. I’m ready when you are.