Disney for Dieters

[Fudbutter]

Sorry to repost this, but I had this as part of a larger post and got no replies as to this particular aspect. Since we aree leaving Friday, I thought that I'd give to one more try here. So, if you can help ...


We love food. The wife was born in Venice and cooks like it. We got so large at one point, that we would take a trip to the West Coast and affect the tides. We couldn’t go to the beach because Greenpeace would show up and try to push us back in the ocean. Finally, we bought a talking scale, I got on it and it said “one at a time please”, so it was off to the nutritionist. 2 years and 135 lbs lost between us later and we are each within both 20 lbs of our goal. I promised the wife dinner at Per Se (an excellent but ridiculously priced restaurant in NYC) when we’ve made it, so I’m in no hurry to get there.

The point of all this is that we cannot gain weight on this trip. OK, stop laughing, we actually took an 11 day cruise and didn’t gain and this must be easier. We love to walk and that will help on the park days, but only to an extent. What we try to do when we travel is to have a nice dinner in each city we go to and try to “be good” the rest of the time. We always choose the dinner by Zagat’s food rating. Not a foolproof method, but it’s worked well for us. In Orlando, they rate two restaurants "27" for food. That’s pretty high (30 is the highest, but I’ve never seen a 30). One is V&A. The other is Le Coq au Vin in downtown Orlando, which looked a tich more appealing to us so we’ll go there Fri. night (but V&A looks right up our alley). Oh well, no breaking the “one city, one dinner” rule.

Anyway, if you have ever been in our predicament, we can really use your advice. What we can’t have is starches (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes) or fats (which cuts out anything fried or dairy related). If you don’t think that’s easy, consider the fact that she’s of Italian descent and she can’t serve up pasta, bread or cheese. Now that doesn’t mean no cheating ever. You try to save that for "The Dinner".

We’ll have breakfast covered by a case of Fiber One bars so we need to cover 3 lunches and 2 dinners on park days. I’ve seen someone eating a turkey leg, that’s not too bad if you pull off the skin. Asian restaurants tend to have healthy choice. Otherwise, I am clueless.

Anyone with this experience out there willing to provide a tip or two?

A thousand thanks in advance.

 

[smep013]

Hi there - here are my tips:

1. Drink your water (you can get free ice water at any of the food stands and counter service restaurants).

2. Try for salad at lunch (most of the counter service restaurants offer salads and all the dressing is on the side, so you are good to go there). If you cannot get salad, eat fruit. Get bananas, apples etc wherever you see them.

3. Don't worry too much. You will walk A LOT!

 

[MickMick]

SHARE!!!! The portions are so large that we end up sharing a lot of the different foods. We also make sure that we have light breakfasts - cereal, fruit, milk.

Also, we do ONE snack per day and we share that.

One good thing is that you are going to be walking around the parks.

 

[biolabetty]

My husband and I shared about every meal we had too. I ended up losing 6 lbs. and having fun doing it. I did drink a lot of water, and only occasionally would I have dessert, but then I would share that too.

 

[engle]

My DH and I also lost tons of weight together and got healthy by working out and changing our eating habits.

Here's where we eat when we go. There are lots of healthy choices at all...be careful at buffets to not overeat. If you can't trust yourself, stay away. And NEVER order dessert. Just don't, no way to save yourself there.

Crystal Palace - buffet
Jiko
Flying Fish - we LOVE fish/seafood and never have problems here
California Grill
Columbia Harbour House for lunch - counter service
Teppan Edo
Brown Derby
Artist Point
Victoria and Alberts (this is our splurge dinner!!! And yeah, we eat the dessert here!!)

All places are willing to sub potatoes for veggies or the like. Often times the potatoes are a small portion and if you get the right kind, won' t be laden with fat or extra stuff. We eat potatoes, rice and pastas in moderation (as side dishes and tend not to eat too much of it!)

Good luck...you should be fine to eat pretty much anywhere if you've changed your eating habits as it sounds like you must have. Drink red wine, don't eat desserts, don't have snacks, drink lots of water, enjoy dinners out! and eat light for lunch (salads or the like).

 

[engle]

Oh yeah, I read your post again and must respond to V&A. Go. Eat. Love it. If you love food and love to eat, you will love it. And order what you like. The portions are small....you'll leave stuffed. And have the carmelized banana gateau for dessert. And the wine flights. And definitely have coffee even if you don't want it. It is an experience.

 

[Fudbutter]

Oh yeah, I read your post again and must respond to V&A. Go. Eat. Love it. If you love food and love to eat, you will love it. And order what you like. The portions are small....you'll leave stuffed. And have the carmelized banana gateau for dessert. And the wine flights. And definitely have coffee even if you don't want it. It is an experience.

Good tips all. I appreciate a person who appreciates food

V&A looks wonderful, but we're going to have to miss it this time. Le Coq au Vin, a small French restaurant downtown is rated slightly higher, costs half as much and meets Fudbutter's Travel Rule #10: "Eat Where the Locals Do". Either way, they both rank among the best restaurants in Florida, seem to be in the top 3 in the Orlando area and certainly deserve a visit. Le Coq au Vin allows you to bring your own wine for a $15 corkage charge per bottle. That severley cuts down in the standard wine markup saving much $$, which allows you to bring a bottle of something really really good.

In any event, you made me look at the menu again and V&A sure looks like a night to remember. I'm anticipating that not going there will be the one regret we'll have from this trip.

 

[Fudbutter]

My husband and I shared about every meal we had too. I ended up losing 6 lbs. and having fun doing it. I did drink a lot of water, and only occasionally would I have dessert, but then I would share that too.

Great! Now we'll feel guilty if we don't lose 6lbs each! (Just kidding of course, good job!)

 

[SandraC]

I'm on the diet wagon again.....but once upon a time I did lose 80 lbs. When I was going for the last 10 pounds, we ended up in WDW. I didn't want to "diet" in WDW, but I didn't want to gain weight either. So I just made good food choices at each meal without suffering. Walking and swimming in Florida helped. When I got home I weighed the same as my pre-trip weight.

Good luck! Have fun! You know what to do! Sandra

 

[Fudbutter]

Hi there - here are my tips:

1. Drink your water (you can get free ice water at any of the food stands and counter service restaurants).

This is great! I had anticipated buying expensive bottles of water. Hearty approval from the wife too.

2. Try for salad at lunch (most of the counter service restaurants offer salads and all the dressing is on the side, so you are good to go there). If you cannot get salad, eat fruit. Get bananas, apples etc wherever you see them.

This is what we were hoping for. You can get this in the parks?

3. Don't worry too much. You will walk A LOT!

thanks for this

 

[Fudbutter]

I'm on the diet wagon again.....but once upon a time I did lose 80 lbs. When I was going for the last 10 pounds, we ended up in WDW. I didn't want to "diet" in WDW, but I didn't want to gain weight either. So I just made good food choices at each meal without suffering. Walking and swimming in Florida helped. When I got home I weighed the same as my pre-trip weight.

Good luck! Have fun! You know what to do! Sandra

Inspiration from our friends to the North. It helps to see someone else who understands. I'm right where you were, 85 down with 15 to go. The first 20 were quick, the last 20, uh, not so quick.

 

[Sunshein]

I have one last suggestion. Talk to the wait staff. We had allergies in our group and the restaurants were all amazingly accomodating to special requests. You can ask that something you want be altered a little to make it lighter for you and they will. You can substitue pasta or risotto on a plate with veggies or ask that sauces be put on the side so that you can use sparingly or not at all.

Keep in mind that if you are touring the parks you will be burning a ton of calories too. I know that Columbia Harbour house has a great lunch salad and most counter service places offer apple slices in lieu of fries. I went last fall and ate on the dining plan. I am a WW lifetime member and I managed to maintain my weight although i tell you the urge to keep eating was definitely there. Enjoy your trip and my hat goes off to you for losing as much as you have! Keep going!

 

[pjlla]

Go to allears.net and check out the "dining" page. It lists menus from many, if not all, of the restaurants in WDW. It might help you make some better choices about where to eat..............................P