Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I’m not young enough to buy the kid’s meals and I’m not old enough to buy the Senior meals. You know what? Ninety percent of the time, my server doesn’t care. If you are polite and order nicely, they will give you the kid’s meal or the senior meal ninety percent of the time. It’s the other ten percent of the time I’m talking about.

When the server says, “I’m sorry, but those meals are for twelve and under / 65 and older.” Here’s what to say:

Fast Food Option: Order the meal To Go and tell your server that your child/grandmother is in the car.

I’ve only had to use this option once. I was at Wendy’s for lunch. After she said that the Kid’s Meals were only for kids, I told her it was To Go and that my child was in the car. She shrugged and gave me the Kid’s Meal even though I didn’t order anything else.

Restaurant Option: Try the very polite response, “I’m watching my weight and I prefer the smaller portion sizes. Could you charge me full price and give me the smaller portions?”

I’ve had this work once. I don’t mind paying extra in order to keep myself from eating too much. Another time, I ordered the children’s portion, but the waitress brought the adult portions to me. I called her back and sent half the food back with her on her tray. The third time I tried this, the waitress wasn’t willing to help me, so she got an insignificant tip.

Remember, we are the consumers. We drive the market. If we ask for smaller portions often enough, the restaurant business will scramble to create healthy and delicious meals for us that are meant to serve one person instead of three.

Additionally, the employees of restaurants aren’t paid enough to REALLY care about the rules. Ninety percent of the time, I order the Kids/Senior Meals without anyone saying a word or raising an eyebrow. They just want to get me fed and out of their place quickly and the path of least resistance is giving me what I want. Try it. It works for me.

Controlling the amount of food I eat has been an important factor in my weight loss success. Whether I am eating at home or at restaurants, managing my portions has been essential. Ordering from the Kid/Senior Menus is just one way I’ve been able to keep my portions manageable.