Staying Healthy at TGI Fridays

So in case you’ve not been following my blog (shame on you…hurry up and subscribe!) but I’ve recently joined Slimming World, and last night was my first experience of eating out whilst staying on track!

TGI Fridays is an incredibly well known chain, and somewhere myself and my other half do like to eat occasionally…he’s a big fan due to their healthy obsession with BBQ sauce and Jack Daniels. Even though there’s not one in Oxford yet, the closest one is in High Wycombe which isn’t too far from home so that’s where we tend to go!

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He’s happy to be there promise!

In my searches of the Slimming World website when I was planning my meals this week, I came across a blog all about eating at TGI Fridays and was pretty happy about it to say the least! I immediately planned it in as my treat for the week, which was one of the ways I kept myself on track during these first seven days of slimming. The blog is full of useful advice such as to take advantage of the bottomless refills of Diet Coke and to go for the grill when choosing your food. Here’s how I got on…

As the blog made very clear before I went, there is a distinct lack of healthy starters at TGIs and it’s hard to have a first course without spending major Syns. However, given that in the last five days I’ve had precisely 6 Syns this week I decided that this was a good a place as any to waste a few of my extras! I went for the ‘Jack Daniels Cajun Sesame Chicken Strips, and I did ask my waiter if they could be done ‘un-breaded’ but he said no which was a bit annoying.

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As you can see…not many healthy choices!

They’re breaded, deep fried, and have about a table spoon of Jack Daniels BBQ sauce on them as standard (as well as some on the side which I left). There were 12 pieces in the starter, but I gave four of these to Rob! I’ve looked at the Syn values in other similar things such as KFC chicken, and store bought breaded chicken, and I’ve factored in the BBQ sauce and seeds. With everything considered I estimate that I had about 9 Syns for my starter, but they were really yummy!

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On to the main course, I followed the advice in the blog and went straight for the grill section of the menu. I chose an 8oz Sirloin Steak with seasonal veg and a house salad (with dressing on the side) for my main…so no chips here! I did get the Jack Daniels BBQ sauce on the side, which has a Syn value of 1 per tablespoon (which is all I used) and I know that the steak will have been cooked in olive oil so I’ve given this course a Syn value of 3 which isn’t half bad in my opinion.

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Not the prettiest plate of food but it was all pretty tasty 🙂 Remember…I didn’t have the salad dressing!

I gave pudding a miss, and stuck to my refills of diet coke as a drink so in total my meal out was 12 Syns…still well within my daily allowance!

TGI Fridays itself is a lovely place to eat, it has a buzzy atmosphere and wonderfully happy and attentive staff; our waiter was called Rob, was really friendly, had a great attitude and a great beard! It’s definitely a great family place to eat, and it isn’t overly expensive (worked out at £25 for each of us, and that’s including the two beers that Rob had). The food was tasty and it came quickly which is always a plus for me.

So all in all a great experience, and allowed me to realise that I can eat out whilst staying on tack with Slimming World as long as I plan ahead and make sure I know what I can and can’t have!

I hope this has helped if you’re deciding where to head out with friends or family! Let me know how you get on and where you like to eat out on your Slimming World plan in the comments below!


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