Wow.  That calorie info is good to know.  I never realized they had so many calories!

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I'm going to the Olive Garden tonight.  I've reviewed the online menu and decided to order the Seafood Portofino and eat half with a bread stick for 550 calories.  I will save the other half for the next night with no bread stick for 400 calories or give it to my husband.  We'll see how it works out on the scale next week.

Wow, I just joined restaurant talk and read your post.  Eating out is so hard for me because I love fast food/restaurant food.  Kudos to you for keeping your calories in check!!

I'm on day one and between my fiance's work schedule and my family going out to eat as get together's, its hard for me to dodge eating out.  I'll have to remember to look at calories before I leave.  My Dad likes Olive Garden so I'm going to keep this in mind.

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Kimberly once you talked about the calories in Olive Garden's breadsticks I just had to look it up and I too love them, but now know to cut back, even though they are SO good.  I am going to Olive Garden in 2 weeks and decided to do some research about the calories in the foods.  One of my FAVORITE dishes, that I get all the time when I go there is the chicken parm which for a dinner portion has 1090 calories and not to mention the 49g of fat (that and the breadstick will basically take up a whole day's worth of calories).  But I do split it and take some home.  But since I'm so committed in doing well I've decided to do pasta with marina sauce (and take half home) and a salad without/or with minimal to no dressing and not have a bread stick.  Since I know that even though the breadsticks are REALLY good, I'm so determined in losing this weight.

Looking into the calories of each dish of Olive Garden I went under the nutrition information under the children's menu and saw that comfort food classics are alot less like mac and cheese with 340 calories  and grilled chicken with brocelli and pasta for about 310 calories...as it will give me the food that I desire plus the right portion where I could finish my whole plate and not feel guilty about stepping on the scale later.

I ate out  for the 1st time too last night.  It was my anniversary so I couldn't really dodge it.  But I was really proud of myself I ordered soup for appetizer and side salad for dinner and only ended up eating 1/2 of each ( that was a feat, I am a plate cleaner, hate to waste food).  I did make room for a martini since it was my anniversary afterall.  I think I ended up being 100 calories over for the day.  Not bad, not bad at all.  I can do this and so can you!!

this is my first week- restaurants are hard!

here is a blub from my post on a resturant in the city called Carmines!  enjoy- have a good weekend.  I can not wait to weign in this week!

my first!

Carmines! NYC Italian ***** 5 stars!

But i had absolutely no biz being there.  regardless i went  (told no one of my "diet") ( why is that shameful?")  I had water all night, ate 11 plain rigatoni from the edge of the serving plate, i really thin piece of lemon chicken and the banana from the "tug boat" dessert ( which is rridiculously amazing if you love ice cream) so i did it!  I was really proud of myself.

here's a tip.  take your fork and roll it in the napkin leaving food on your plate.  no one doesnt even know you are not eating, it slows you down and really limits you.

So here is what I learned so far, dont tell anyone you are on a diet,- they dont care and i think they only want to see you fail.  i think we somehow take their joy away.  other people there were also overweight ( as HELLO- MOST PEOPLE ARE!  isnt that crazy?) and they arent ready yet like we are.  it seems we can really only help ourselves anyway.  I hate making people feel guilty, I dont want to be guilty, I just changed my habits, that is all.  I am sad i cant eat anything i want and not gain weight, but i cant.  it would be healthy anyway.  Lots of thin people suffer from all sorts of stuff like cholesteral and such.  Oh I admit, my only concern is to be ( LOOK) thin and fit into my clothes.  I am incredibly vain sometimes and when i saw a friend who had had surgery to be thin I had to admit how much YOUNGER they looked.  gosh that is an incentive as much as anything.

So satuday will be my big once a week weigh in.  This was my first week and I can not wait to find out how much i lost.  heres  the deal, slim fast is not a miracle.  I didnt gain this in a week and I am not going to loose it all in a week, at 2 pounds a week that 25 weeks which is a bit more than 6 months!  I wont make my goal of thanksgiving unless i up the loss ( ugh! "exercise")  I know my evil twin would much rather watch a movie, eat pasta, popcorn and pizza and drink wine, beer, vodka cocktails, but heres the deal- he is getting smaller and I am winning this.  Ed, is going to lose 50 pounds, I am on my way to lose 50 pounds, 50 pounds are going to be released into space and I dont care where it goes but it aint going to stick on me anymore.  if you think your feel the same, let me know, i need the inspration too!.

Hello fellow members!  I am on day 2 of my Slim Fast "change of habits eating".  As a word of caution, I couldn't believe how many calories are in ONE breadstick at Olive Garden.  While I absolutely LOVE them...in the future I will now know I cannot over indulge on them.  By the way, isn't the meal plan tool amazing!  It had everything in there for Olive Garden, except for the ceasar salad.  Kudos to this website!  While today was a slight setback (still learning)...tomorrow will be a better day!  Good luck to all!  I have began counting my steps and have LOVED it!  My puppies love it to, because now they get to go for daily walks, sometimes twice a day.  Again, good luck to all of you!