Lose Weight Eating Restaurant Foods Posted Mon, May 12, 2008, 4:06 pm PDT

I should know. During a single day recently I visited three big chain restaurants, ordered normally, and demonstrated how you can easily consume a whopping 6,000 calories — three times the recommended total. No, I didn’t eat a mountain of onion rings or a whole extra-large pizza. In fact, I didn’t even have snacks or dessert — just three square meals, including a bran muffin, a burrito, and a salad. It’s the way millions of Americans eat all the time, thinking they’re doing pretty well.

The good news is you can eat on the run — helping yourself to a lot of delicious food — and still lose weight. You just need a strong sense of determination and a wary eye for the the food traps. Start now by making smart choices like those shown here, and you’ll be much skinnier by summer!