Eating Out and Counting PPVs

Is Green Beer The Key To Weight Loss?

I had a loss this week after celebrating St. Patty’s Day, twice.  Was green beer the reason for my small loss?  Not likely.  You can’t gauge anything from just one week but I do know that changing it up probably helped. 

I ate out four times this week.  That might seem like a lot for some.  It was actually more than the norm for me.  I often only eat out once or twice a week, as I am tired of leftovers and eating home cooked meals!  I have also been struggling with eating not feeling “fun” and that my clean eating, while good for my body, is starting to make me want to be reckless (see previous post about my recklessness).

So I made the decision at the start of my week that I wouldn’t go to the store for food but would just wing it with what I had at home, Weight Watcher meals in the freezer, and a few planned meals out.

My first two meals out were places I have been many times and so calculating PPVs was not difficult.  (I wish I had thought to take pictures).

 

Costa Vida

I love the large sweet pork salad.  Costa Vida has nutrition information online but since I hardly ever eat anything without placing a special order, I sort of have to deconstruct it.  Here is my method.

·         Tortilla (a full tortilla is 10 PPVs but I never eat it all) – 8 PPVs

·         Black beans (about half a cup with liquid) – 3 PPVs

·         Sweet pork (sweet means sugar and the serving isn’t too large) – 5 PPVs

·         Tomatillo ranch (on the side a small pour) – 2 PPVs

·         Tortilla strips (small amount) – 2 PPVs

·         Mexican cheese (small amount) – 1 PPVs

For today’s meal, I didn’t have the tortilla strips or the cheese.  I just didn’t want to spend the extra PPVs.  It didn’t taste quite the same though.

 

Panda Express

I always order the same two item meal.  Panda Express also has nutrition information available and it is even in the Weight Watcher eTools as well.

·         Mixed veggie side item (NI shows 2 PPVs but WW eTools says 0) – 0 PPVs

·         Beef broccoli – 3 PPVs

·         String bean chicken – 4 PPVs

·         Side of brown sauce – 2 PPVs

·         Fortune cookie – 1 PPVs

I don’t always eat the cookie but I always take out my fortune.

 

Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner at the Melba Catholic Church

This was the tradition CB&C dinner that I attend almost every year.  I already know what is being served and used the eTools app to look up the PPVs in advance.  I even looked up regular beer and light beer and made note to ask when it was being served.  I couldn’t find PPVs for lime sherbet so I calculated that when I was at the grocery store earlier in the week.  I always skip the roll.  They are store bought and not worth it to me.

·         Corned beef (3 oz is 5PPVs but I don’t like it that much) – 3 PPVs

·         Potatoes, carrots, cabbage (best estimate on how much was served and seemed a little greasy from the beef) – 6 PPVs

·         Butter – 1 PPVs

·         Green beer (Coors Lite and 16 oz) – 5 PPVs

·         Lime sherbet and homemade mini cookie (left some sherbet so I could enjoy the cookie, they are really good) – 3 PPVs

 

St. Patty’s Day Celebration at The Ram in Boise

This one was a little harder but the nutrition information was also available.  It was a struggle because the PPVs were so high in almost every dish.  I also wasn’t 100% sure what I was going to have and so I knew the PPVs of many dishes.  I had to do my own deconstruction through.

·         Veggie burger – 15 PPVs.  The original burger was 24 PPVs.  I subtracted from the PPVs the items on the burger I didn’t eat: avocado (-4 PPVs), half the whole wheat bun (-3 PPVs), and mayo on the side (-2 PPVs)

·         Homemade Ram chips (best guess for about 6 chips lightly dipped in a sour cream sauce) – 4 PPVs

·         Green beer (regular 12 ounces with small extra pour) – 7 PPVs

I had really wanted a dessert prior to going and had also looked up the PPVs.  I then realized I could get USwirl frozen yogurt instead for less PPVs

·         USwirl frozen yogurt (with Reese Peanut Butter Cup, coconut, almond slivers, and strawberries) – 10 PPVs

 

As you can see, Sunday was a very high PPVs day.  I off set my week with smaller and lighter meals and got in three days of good solid activity.  I am also working the graveyard shift so the last two meals were at the start of my day and I had the most PPVs available to me.  I had also saved all my WPPAs for just these two meals.

I was shocked when I had a small loss.  That is why we can’t judge anything by just one week.  I did enjoy eating this week and really enjoyed my meals out.  I also planned ahead, looked up the NI and PPVs, and built it into my week.  There were still places I could have cut back but I am glad I didn’t.  Both my St. Patty’s Day meals and visiting with friends and family was very enjoyable.