Does Chili’s Have Weight Watchers Friendly Options?

Does Chili’s have Weight Watchers friendly options?

That’s the first thing that popped into my head when my Mom said that she wanted to go there for lunch today. It’s not a place I visit very often. The last time I ate at Chili’s was with her in Florida last fall when my dad was in hospice and the furthest thing from my mind was tracking my Weight Watchers Points+.

The nice thing about most of your chain restaurants, like Chili’s, is that they provide nutritional information on line, so a quick Google search brought me right to this detailed list of Chili’s Nutrition Information. I also found PointsPlus value information for more than 40 Chili’s dishes on my Weight Watcher’s e-tools App on my iPad.

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Chili’s Weight Watchers Options

I was happy to learn that Chili’s has a nice selection of Lighter Choice items that are featured on HealthyDiningFinder.com and meet HEALTHY DINING’S nutrition criteria: not more than 750 calories, 25 grams fat and 8 grams saturated fat.

Several things looked good: Grilled Chicken Salad (11 WW Points+); Fajitas without tortillas or condiments (9 WW Points+); Margarita Grilled Chicken (14 WW Points+).

So, my tentative plan was to have iced tea and the Grilled Chicken salad, realizing that I might change my mind once I got there 🙂

Breakfast #1

But before that, I woke up feeling good and began the day in my typical way:

• 2 large glasses of water (0 points+)
• Decaf Irish breakfast tea (0 points+)
• 1/2 banana (0 points+)
• 2 teaspoons peanut butter (2 points+)

I took Francie for a 30 minute walk. She’s one of the best exercise partners ever. I feel so guilty when I don’t walk her since she enjoys it so much. She’s a great way to make sure I get my daily activity. Then I spent a few minutes on my yoga mat.

Breakfast #2

After the walk and yoga, I was really hungry so I had a delicious bowl of:

• 1 cup chopped strawberries (o points+)
• 1/4 cup granola (2 points+)
• 1 cup coconut milk (2 points+)

Lunch

Before I knew it, it was 1:00 – Time to meet mom for lunch. I stuck with my plan and had iced tea with the Chili’s Lightened Up Grilled Chicken Salad.

It was a very tasty combination of grilled chicken, cheese, tomatoes, black beans, and corn relish on a bed of crispy greens topped with honey-lime vinaigrette. (11 Points+)

Dinner

For dinner I’m trying a new recipe: Stir-fried green beans and pork from Harumi Kurihara, #42 on Gourmet Live’s List of 50 Women Game Changers in Food, who is incessantly called “the Japanese Martha Stewart.” I’ll be writing about it on Friday. I recently joined a fun group of food bloggers organized by Mary of A Perfect Bite, who are cooking their way through the list.

Now it’s time to sign off and get cooking…

But before I do, I’m curious: If you are on Weight Watchers, what do you eat when you go to Chili’s?

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