After I lost 50 pounds, going the Golden Corral, my favorite buffet restaurant, was like walking in a minefield.

There was tasty, beautiful, wonderful food everywhere!  The choices were endless.  Their website said the salad bar alone had over 50 items to choose from. Then there are the many entrees to choose from, side dishes, soups, rolls and desserts — even jelly beans.  How was I going to eat there, and not weigh 300 pounds?

In my earlier blog, “Act like a Thin Person,” I mentioned that I watched thin eaters to find out what they were eating, and that’s what I started doing again — this time at the Golden Corral,at the buffets in Las Vegas, the lunchtime buffet at Rigo’s Mexican Restaurant, and every buffet from then on, to see what thin people had on their plate.  I also noticed what the not-so-petite eaters had on their plates as well.  I became a food spy once again, and came up with with a few ”How to Eat at a Buffet-style Restaurant — and Not Look Like You Do” tips.

1. Before you go, read my blog, “Cancel Your Membership in the Clean Your Plate Club.”  It is most important at a buffet. You are not personally responsible for ending the waste of food in the entire world.

2.  When you first arrive, take a quick tour before piling food on your plate to see what you really want.

3.  Only take tiny amounts of food.  That way you can try everything you want!

4.  Don’t take a whole serving of anything, even if it is served that way.  Cut a piece off.

5.  Make salad one of your choices.

6.  Remember you only have limited stomach space.  Make the most of it to only eat what you really, really want.

7.  If you taste it and don’t like it, don’t feel obligated to continue eating that particular item.

8.  This may be the hardest one:  when you hit full, stop eating.

9.  Save a little tiny space at the end for a desert, even if it’s just a bite of something sweet or one cookie.  

10.  Save space, save space, save space (in your stomach).  Remember, buffet eating is a art! The space in your stomach will always runs out quicker than you want it to — and then you have to stop eating.

These tips must work because my husband and I eat at buffet restaurants at least once a week and I have managed to maintain a 50-pound weight loss since 2001.  I usually save buffet eating for the weekend, when I tend to cheat a little bit on calories because I have been  good all week.  It’s all part of the weight maintenance game, but oh, so worth it. 

One more thing about going to buffet restaurants — make sure the buffet is a good one, where they serve really good food.  There’s nothing more disappointing than feeling like you’ve wasted calories because the food is not tasty — stick to ones you know are good, or, if you eat something that is bad, don’t continue to eat it! That is also the joy of buffet eating — just push it away, and go try something else.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 5:28 am and is filed under Health. Tags for this post: Bathroom scale, BMI, buffet restaurants, Burning Calories, Calorie Calculator, Calorie Counting, calorie myths, Calories, Counting Calories, Diet, Diet Ideas, fat calories, fat grams, hcg, Health, Healthy Eating, Healthy Lifestyle, Healthy Living, Keeping Weight Off, Living Thin, Living Well, Losing Pounds, nutrition, overeaters anonymous, real age, Restaurant Eating, san diego, Scales, thermic vegetables, Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance, weight management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.