Weight Watchers: Beware of Red Robin and Plan Ahead!

 
My youngest granddaughter is spending a week with me while my daughter and her husband celebrate their anniversary on an Alaskan cruise.  It seemed appropriate to eat out tonight as a treat to her, so we chose Red Robin, where  my older granddaughter works.

I forgot to check the nutritional info before I left (my bad), so I chose their "Simply Grilled Chicken Sandwich and switched the bun for the cibatta bun. I added a little ranch, catsup and mustard. Instead of fries, I chose the fruit bowl (they call it freckled fruit salad) and ate 5 Steak fries off Kenzie's meal.   I calculated total points for my meal at 10.  After looking at some of the other meal choices I considered, I think I deserve an A for selection! (However, the cibatta bun added fat grams, so I guess I should have stuck with their menu bun!)

Other meals I considered:

Whiskey River Wrap: Leaving off the fries, it would have been 1064 calories, 64 grams of fat, 71 grams of carbs, 48 grams protein and 3 grams of fiber. Grand total =  28 Pts!

Baja Turkey Club: Fully loaded per the menu it would have been 734 calories, 47 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbs, 46 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber. Grand total = 19 Pts!

California Chicken Sandwich: Leaving off the guacamole and mayo, it has 597 calories, 22 grams of fat, 51 grams of carbs, 48 grams of protein, and 2 grams of fiber. Grand total = 15 Pts! (This wouldn't have been too bad of a second choice)


Yikes! Thank goodness I chose the Simply Grilled Chicken Sandwich!

If you like to visit Red Robin with your family, be sure to plan your meal ahead of time or you may be in for an unpleasant surprise when you calculate the points afterward.  A link to The Red Robin nutritional calculator is below


Red Robin Meal Customizer

My Feast in Cave Creek Arizona

That's me on the left with my BFF

I've said many times before how much I appreciate that I can follow Weight Watcher's guidelines and still enjoy my life.  To that message, I wanted to share an article with my blog  followers so I can prove this to you! I wrote the article after celebrating my BFF's birthday with a shopping trip that ended in lunch in the rustic, quaint town just north of Phoenix, Cave Creek, Arizona.

Goat Milk Soaps is just one shop you can visit in Cave Creek

 We had fun and the food was delicious! The best part? I stayed within my weekly points allowance and still lost weight that week after sharing this "Smokehouse Platter" with her.

Hard to believe, huh? I kept my head and didn't overdo my portions (we split the leftovers and took a bunch of food home!), plus I wouldn't do it every week, but it's nice every once in a while to bust out of the diet routine! I was right back on the plan next day.

For more pictures of Cave Creek and our fun, check out my article at HubPages.  Start here:

Tour of Cave Creek, Arizona

 

Cave Creek is a small town full of Arizona's Western history and ambiance, and just a short 30-minute drive Northeast of Phoenix, As you reach the town limits, you'll think you've gone back in time to the Wild West. You almost expect to see two outlaws shoot it out at the O.K. Corral at any given moment! Warning to visitors: Be sure to slow down or you might meet up with the Sheriff!

Cave Creek Road is lined with quaint shops filled with eclectic and rustic furniture and decor, each item an imperfect treasure full of character and charm. If you are an art lover, look for the galleries which offer paintings and sculptures. There are also lots of restaurants serving delicious food, some with sawdust on the floor and mason jars on the table.

During the week-end nights you'll find the town bustling with a variety of party-animals; twenty-somethings doing shots at an outdoor bar in shorts and flips flops, Harley bikers in leather and bandanas, and cowboys in wranglers and boots.
If you visit Phoenix, be sure to save an afternoon or evening to visit the Town of Cave Creek. It will be worth the gas to experience this small Arizona town in the Southwestern desert. Be sure to take your camera!

For more pictures of Cave Creek and my article, continue here: "Tour of Cave Creek, Arizona"

Lunch at Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant

Image courtesy of Maderibeyza/morguefile.com

Today I made the mistake of having lunch with my daughter at Sweet Tomatoes without doing my homework ahead of time.  Our lunch was for her birthday, so she chose one of our favorite restaurants, and the choice was made spontaneously after shopping. It did sound good to me too, since I hadn't eaten there in quite a while!

When I got home with their nutritional guide, I began adding my points to my tracker and once I was done I was disheartened that I had only 7 points left for the rest of the day, and it was only 2:00 PM.  Yikes!

Here's how I used up my points so fast:

1 cup Wonton Chicken Happiness Salad = 4 points
1/2 cup Joan's Broccoli Madness Salad = 5 points
2/3 cup Four cheese Alfredo = 4 points
1/2 cup Steamed Veggies with Lemon Herb butter = 2 points
1 cup Smokey Pinto and Brown Rice Soup = 4 points

Grand Total = 19 points!

Better choices might have been:

Minestrone Soup - 1 cup for 3 points
My own salad creation with only greens and free veggies and either Champagne Pear, Poppy Seed Orange or Honey Mustard Dressing, all just 1 point for 2 tablespoons of dressing!
Sweet Potato or Skin-on Mashed Potatoes - 4 points each

This alternative lunch would have only set me back 9 points!

The moral of this story is to plan ahead or at least calculate points before eating anything! I proved to myself once more that it's not easy to determine what foods are the most healthy and lowest in points using estimation alone. There are low point foods you can eat wherever you are but you have to find them!

On the other hand, I kept my portions in check and didn't indulge in desert, so even though I could have chosen better, I'm still proud of myself.  I enjoyed the celebration with my daughter and I have been satisfying my hunger since lunch with fruits and veggies. I know I could use some of my weekly bonus points, but so far I still have my 7 points available and it's almost 7 PM.  Time to eat dinner (Lean Cuisine Steak Tips Portobello for 4 pts)!

Souplantion & Sweet Tomatoes Nutritional Guide