I Eat Out Alot..

ERobbins98

Okay, so I eat out at restaurants/fast food probably 4-5 times a week! I know, horrible right. I eat out with my boyfriend and then we eat out with his mom and dad and my family alot too. How can I eat healthy at restaurants and fast food places!? I've looked in to the healthiest meals at fast food places but it really doesn't say anything about sit down and eat restaurants. Any tips? Thanks bunches!

missiontofitness

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jbrixe00

If the restaurant does not have nutritional information anywhere and you cannot find it in the data base, I usually try to find something close to it and log that.

uconnwinsnc1

Eat out less.

kylasantucci

Salad with Italian dressing lol its hard to find the right type of food eating out. Because you have no clue what they are putting In it.

uclaxtina

I was worse than you and eating out 1-3 times per day! Now I'm cooking more but when I do eat out I am making healthier choices by customizing my meals. For example, order a hamburger without the cheese. Or ask for a salad with the dressing on the side so that you are in charge of how much you put on. Get small instead of large. Get grilled chicken or fish instead of fried or red meat. You'll notice that a lot of fast food places are adding healthier options to their menus now-a-days. Use the MFP food database to check the nutrition for meals you plan to choose I've noticed they have a lot of restaurant foods in the database. Good luck!

GaleHawkins

ERobbins98 I had the same problem when I went off of carbs last fall.

Actually I am learning it is not as hard as I thought. The side salads seem to be safe for the most part. My daughter got the Buttermilk Ranch dressing and I saw it only had 2 carbs and I like the taste but not a fan of eating soybean oil. With two packets of that dressing that will give me a 500 calorie meal in a pinch. Fats make up 80% of my calories now.

Some restaurants have low carb options. Captain D's has salamon that I like so I just leave off the rice and double up on the steamed veggies for example.

Ate at a greasy spoon and I swear the chicken salad was laced with sugar.

If it is a place where you have a waiter just ask him about off menu solutions as they aim to please.

RodaRose

Oder grilled or broiled meat and a side vegetable. Stay away from sauces, cheeses, and fried options as those are calorie laden.

Kalikel

Most chain places have nutrition info online. Many of them are nazis about forcing people to weigh or measure...some even have equipment that doles out the exact amount, lol. You might end up taking in more calories, though.

If there is no nutritional info, you have to guess. Salads are good, of course. You can make an awesome salad at Souplantation, if you can talk people into going there.

Red Robin will let you order a burger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun, so you skip bun calories. Not much, but every little bit helps!

Liftng4Lis

I pre-log, which helps tremendously. When you have to wing it, you just need to make conscientious decisions.

sheepotato

Kalikel wrote: »

Red Robin will let you order a burger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun, so you skip bun calories. Not much, but every little bit helps!

Getting 'endless broccoli' at Red Robin instead of 'endless fries' helps a lot.

For sit down restaurants (especially when there is no online nutrition) share it with someone or get at least half of it to go. Most restaurant portions are at least 2 servings, some are 3-4. Prelog the nearest approximation you can find and overestimate the calories a little to be safe.

logg1e

Okay, so I eat out at restaurants/fast food probably 4-5 times a week!

How's that worked out for you?

sheldonklein

If you get a salad, order it with oil and vinegar dressing. You can easily save 200 calories over the sugar laden glop they call dressing. And it tastes better. When you are sick of salad as an entree, eat 1/2 of what you do order. I don't think there is any other solution. Even if you order "healthfully," the portions are insane. The last time I ordered salmon, it was more than a pound.

Soon2BeMrsSherriff

My fiance and I went to bonefish on Friday night and we definitely prepared ourselves before we went. We looked online for their menu and then came on MFT to find out what was the best for us and the calories we had left for the day. Preplanning is definitely the best option in my opinion.

pkw58

Eh, I lost weight and maintain weight and ate/eat out from 5 to 21 times a week due to business lunches, business travel and vacations. If you leave off bread, pasta, rice and potatoes, it gets real easy to select grilled fish or chicken and non starchy vegetables. Even a deli will normally have hard boiled eggs for breakfast or lunch. Poached eggs are even available at Denny's or Ihop, I promise. If the chips and salsa appear, either don't eat them, or get a small plate, count out 5 or 10, and break off a small piece of each one and chew a long time. Even Wendy's will sell you a bunless burger on lettuce and tomato! Most places now will even slice an avocado and sell it to you. If you insist on eating the starchy carbs, learn how to eyeball and estimated serving, and only eat what you can estimate and log.

noregrets99

I did weight watchers for awhile. They do have a large amount of restaurants on there, but what I learned is that when you order something also go ahead and get a takeout box and then put half of your food in the box. This will help you from eating everything that is on your plate. A friend also told me to drink 2 glasses of water before you eat, it will help to fill you up faster.

Lounmoun

ERobbins98 wrote: »

Okay, so I eat out at restaurants/fast food probably 4-5 times a week! I know, horrible right. I eat out with my boyfriend and then we eat out with his mom and dad and my family alot too. How can I eat healthy at restaurants and fast food places!? I've looked in to the healthiest meals at fast food places but it really doesn't say anything about sit down and eat restaurants. Any tips? Thanks bunches!

Look up information where you can.
Drink water or unsweetened tea.
Eat only half or order something small.
Eat lots of vegetables without a lot of sauces or dressings.
Don't eat out so much. Cut down to twice a week or something.

WinoGelato

You can eat out and lose weight, as others have said, preplanning is key. Also though, if food is something you and your boyfriend both really enjoy, why not try cooking together or taking a cooking class? Then you are more in control of the ingredients and cooking methods...

Sabine_Stroehm

With the new law going into effect, all chain restaurants will soon have that helpful info listed.
I eat out a lot too, even for work.
What I do:
I often look for one of the big salads, and then get salmon on it. Dressing on the side (I don't like a ton anyway).
But make sure they are REAL salads, not huge meals plopped on lettuce (AKA Chili's style restaurants). A caesar, spinach salad...
Grilled fish and veg.
Grilled meat and veg. (I do double veg, no potatoes if the potatoes aren't cooked healthy).
Soup and salad
fajitas, and I skip the sour cream
I don't drink calories (except wine). Be careful of iced teas, if they are sweet, there's a ton of calories right there.
I eat until I've eaten enough, and then often take half home.
And yes, compare local restaurants to restaurants in the database.

Souplantation AKA Sweet tomatoes is great for eating out on a diet, just limit the pizza bar.

Francl27

Look online for nutrition information when possible.
Check if they have a 'lighter fare' section in the menu.
If either of those fail, get meat and veggies with sauce on the side.
If you have a salad, salad dressing on the side, and be mindful of the toppings (especially nuts and cheese).
If you have a sandwich, ask for condiments on the side too.
Avoid fried food, mashed potatoes, and dessert (unless obviously you can fit them in your calories that day).
Eat less on days you know you're going to eat out.

For some restaurants you're pretty much SOL though.

Unknown

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lifeskittles

I eat out a lot too. My husband LOVES to eat out. You can eat decent at almost ANY fast food or sit down restaurant. Always order a veg as a side. If you get two sides you can either do sweet potato or another vegetable. Steaks and sirloins are almost ALWAYS safe and usually have less sauces on them to worry about than chicken. Plus, I really hate chicken. Any sort of "creamy" sauces are a no-go in a restaurant. Always very high in cals. I love to eat out, and I hate when people say you can't eat out to lose weight. Just thinking of what you're eating. If you're eating just a meat and vegetables it's unlikely there's anything in it that you can see. Oh and I've lost 90lbs total from pregnancy. I weigh less now than pre-pregnancy.

acceann

It's all about substitutions. For example water instead of soda, Skinless chicken vs friend chicken. There are soups and salads. They have chicken sandwiches too which usually don't have as much grease as burgers do. You can get baked potato fries or sweet potato fries vs regular fries.

Point is, if you have a healthier option at the restaurant, choose that.