Ah yes. The dream. To lose weight while eating in restaurants and thus maintaining needed contact with other humans. Can it be done? According to one study, yes, it can.

Let’s pass it over to our scientific sisters at Consumer Reports for the details:

An article published today in the January Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior has given me a glimmer of hope. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin looked at 35 women aged 40 to 59 years old who reported eating out an average of 5.6 times a week. Participants were screened for eating disorders or health problems that could influence the study.

One group of women received counseling and training on what the researchers called “Mindful Restaurant Eating”, which included lessons on portion sizes, being able to identify hunger cues, and being more fully aware of what you are eating (so that you can hopefully feel more satisfied). The control group received no training.

All participants were asked on three separate days to recall what they ate over the past 24 hours. When the results were in – guess what – the training helped. After six weeks, the mindful eaters had significantly less weight gain at the end of the study than the control group, even though they were still eating in restaurants as often as before. Overall they reduced their caloric intake by almost 300 calories per day, and that reduction applied to what they ate at home as well, so the training benefited them away from the watchful eye of a waiter. And they even lost a little weight.

Lose Weight By Eating In Restaurants [CR]
The Effect of a Mindful Restaurant Eating Intervention on Weight Management in Women [JNEB]

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