Happy Friday, friends! No worries, I can totally tell you how Red Lobster, Headaches & Weddings all tie together–read on! One more day of good news: I got 20 minutes of the elliptical in + 20 minutes of weights yesterday. That means, I’ve worked out 4 times this week. I’m going to take today as a rest day and then get a run in tomorrow.
Yesterday for lunch, I had a mega salad w/ strawberries & half a can of chicken. I also stopped by the cafeteria and grabbed this:
Shades of orange & yellow.
Do you see those veggies all up on the left side? Anyone know what they are? I ate them, they were good—but I don’t know what I ate. Guesses?
Last night, I was invited to dinner at Red Lobster. I haven’t been to Red Lobster in years. Eh, I take it back, I think I went last year when my brother-in-law, Dan, was craving the all you can eat shrimp. Missy, The Marketing Mama invited me and so we drove together to maximize our talking time. I had a slight headache but was hoping eating would help.
The idea behind last night was to introduce a couple (and by a couple, I mean 4 of us) to some of the changes they’ve made in the past couple of years. I’m talking overhaul of the menu AND the physical dining room decor + the outside of the building. Here’s the food they shared with us.
- Maui Laua Shrimp & Salmon — 760 calories/dish
Mango-Jalapeno Shrimp Skewers -- 560 calories/dish
- Maple Glazed Chicken — 570 calories/dish
Tilapia in a Spicy Soy Broth -- on the specials menu, no calories.
Dessert: Chocolate Wave Cake, Strawberry Cheesecake & Warm Chocolate Chip Lava Cookie w/ Ice Cream.
I didn’t take pictures of my individual plate each time but I had 1-2 bites of each dish + a bite of each of the desserts. In all, I was impressed that Red Lobster was really concentrating on NON-FRIED options. Here are some additional findings:
- Nutritional content plays a role in creating the recipe.
- Nutritional recipes are available upon request.
- Only 18-20% of menu is fried fish, the rest remain grilled, broiled or steamed.
- Note on the bottom of their nutritional menu
“We believe in offering our guests a broad range of dining experience that appeal to a variety of taste and dietary preference, and we welcome the opportunity to work with guess to customize their experience o r make substitutions where possible.”
While dining & hearing about dinner, we had the opportunity to sit with Sr. Executive Chef, Michael LaDuke (yep, this is the guy who’s photo is on the back of the menu.) It was an interesting night however mid-way through dinner, my headache got worse. To the point that I couldn’t even concentrate anymore.
I tried as much as possible to listen because…for petes sake, I was sitting next to the tippy top chef at Red Lobster! By the time we finished dinner & talking, I could barely open my eyes and felt so sick. We all wanted to take pictures at the end, so I smiled and did my best to just be in the present:
Bloggers, their guests + Chef Michael LaDuke
Just the bloggers!
While I love the taste, I don’t eat much seafood because I struggle with ideas on how to cook it–dinner tonight made me realize how yummy seafood is and gave me a ton of great ideas–seafood is so light & refreshing, I forget often how much! Besides myself, the other bloggers were:
By the time we got in the car, I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out. I dropped Missy off and came home to go right to bed.
I decided to crash on the couch for a couple hours to get some snuggle time in with Iggy.
I woke up this morning feeling way better although still moving a little slowly. As I mentioned, I’m going to take today as a rest day from workouts because I have an off-site work event at Feed My Starving Children this afternoon.
Weekend plans include a wedding at 6:30pm tonight, a volunteer event from 9am-12pm tomorrow and another wedding tomorrow night. I’m hoping to stay healthy through all of this craziness this weekend. My goal is to workout both days.
I may update this weekend depending on time because I know some of you have wanted to know more about how to get your own bracelet that I showed you earlier this week.
One bite at a time, One decision at a time.
Stay tuned!
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Roasted zucchini, of course!
My guess is Zucchini too
Definitely some kind of squash!
We don’t have Red Lobsters anymore here in Quebec, but I remember going as a kid to eat popcorn shrimps
There are so many amazing seafood recipes you can do, and healthy ones. Don’t be scared
I’m so proud of you for working out so much this week! I was reading back over some of your very first posts, and working out was a major theme. Good for you!
And that food looks amazing! I’ve never been to Red Lobster, but I may have to give it a try!
Jen,
I love it, I think it rocks. I look forward to your posts every day. You inspire me to inspire MYSELF! Thank you!!
Long time lurker…first time commenter…I want to know where to get that BRACELET!
That looks like squash to me. Not sure though.
I get headaches like that occasionally. They are the worst.
Looks like either zucchini or possibly sliced eggplant.
I agree that the veggies were some sort of zuccini/squash mixture. They look yummy.
I hope your headache went away and you have fun at the weddings this weekend.
I can’t wait to get the info. on your bracelet. I love it!
I love Red Lobster! That lobster pizza is making me hungry!!
I love Red Lobster and their healthy options. The hardest part is resisting their rolls!!
Wow, it does look like the food at Red Lobster has improved. I haven’t been in one for over 20 years, but may try it again if the opportunity presents itself.
Sorry about the head-ache, but good for you working out almost every day. It’s hard to do.
Looks like zucchini & squash.
Any consideration that the seafood (shrimp, lobster) may have made your headache worse?
That lobster pizza looks awesome – was it good?
Yup, squash for sure!
I think I may have to go out and check Red Lobster out again! Those Cheddar Bay Biscuits are liek crack.
Yay you for getting so many workouts in!
Not sure what the mystery vegetable is. I’d go with roasted zucchini if I had to guess. The red lobster dishes look good. However, it’s always interested to me that restaurants market dishes with five, six, seven hundred calories as healthy. Makes you wonder what the regular stuff has. But, for me, I love just knowing what the calorie content is so I can at least make a better decision. Plus I often don’t need to eat an entire entree, so the calorie count is much more reasonable.
Great recap post – it was so much fun being there with you! I was super-impressed with your resistance of the biscuits. And since you didn’t let them get anywhere near you, I didn’t even have the opportunity to have one. Which is a good thing. Even though I wanted one.
So sad you had a headache, but I don’t think anyone knew it! Love the 4-blogger pic.
I love it when restaurants catch on and start offering foods that are at least somewhat healthy.
Oh wow!! How awesome that you were there with the Sr. Executive Chef of Red Lobster; that’s crazy cool! I’m not a big seafood fan, so I’m really happy to see that maple-glazed chicken.
Super unlucky about your headache, I hope things improve for your busy weekend.
Nice food pics! I had Red Lobster for the first time in years when I was home earlier this year. I eat a lot of seafood here in Japan. I’ve really gotten into cooking fish at home, sometimes 2-3 times a week! One of my favorite dishes with seafood is Thai red coconut curry with shrimp…yum!
I would def. have to say it looks like zucchini. I can’t wait to hear where you got your bracelet because it would be nice to have something to wear as a reminder of my healthiness journey. Can you get whatever saying you want on it?
I love your bracelet, I too am a prior fat girl, was 275lbs and went down to 119!
Red lobster does have some great things and i make them now at home.
I’m guessing roasted eggplant and zucchini too!
I love your bracelet – can’t wait to hear where to find one to call my own.
Marilou— The word Shrimp is singular AND plural.
We did not have Red Lobster for a long time, but we have them again now. Glad to hear they are working on some non-fried options.
My wife if from New Orleans and I am from Mississippi… we LOVE seafood (even though there may be less now)—- we eat fish all the time. It is very easy to put fish in a baking dish— add some spices and bake for about 15 minutes…. real easy and very good.
Thanks!!
WeighDownSouth.com
I know you read a lot of blogs about the healthfullness journey. One of my favoirite bloggers is Sarah Jio. She actually writes blogs for Glamour magazine and I have learned lots from her. Her blogs are usually pretty short put she packs a lot of info in a short space. If your are interested in reading her blogs she can be googled. I also very much enjoy your blog and insight.
It was so great to meet you in Minneapolis and I am thrilled you were impressed with our healthier menu choices! I’ll be looking out for you in Shape…you go girl!!! You are such an inspiration
That maple chicken looks super yummy!
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