Curse you Cheesecake Factory!

The Labor Day weekend temptations begin...

My great-aunt is in town from California (only comes to visit maybe once a year) and she wanted to take all her nieces out for lunch. The restaurant she picks: The Cheesecake Factory. Pretty much every WWer's nightmare. Considering their 1500 calorie-a-slice pieces of cheesecake, I don't think there is anything healthy served here--so the freaking out began immediately.

What CF is also known for is that they don't publicize their NI! There are several independent websites that have caloric information, but I really don't know how accurate they all are. I scoured the web for a good 30 mintues trying to find anything at the restuarant that wouldn't take up all my points for the day, until I finally came across these two Hungry Girl postings:

http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=1057

http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=1997

Thank you Hungry Girl! Even these options were calorie and fat laden, but I ending up going with the Weight Management Grilled Chicken, which HG has listed as 11-16 points. Not really knowing how many points to count it for, I opted for the 16...I'll just have a light dinner tonight!

Btw: the chicken I had wasn't all that great. Not terrible, but not worth 16 points.

I had a great time with my aunts, sister and cousins and was able to not blow ALL of my points for the day. If this were my last time around on WW, I would have either completely blown off lunch, or just said "eff it" and ate what I wanted. I am glad this time around that I am able to meet in the middle.

Tomorrow we are having a family bbq, and I went out and bought baked chips, veggie burgers and 1-point buns to bring to the event. Hopefully I will be able to resist the rest of the good ol' southern cooking from my aunt and grandmother...we'll see!