How can you possibly estimate calories from meals at a restaurant?

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fzermer
fzermer Posts: 229 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Once a week, I eat with friends at differing Asian restaurants. Many of the entree's are multi ingredient items, shared by the group. A cup of rice is easy enough to estimate, but the rest seems impossible.
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  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Look for like items in the database and always guesstimate up. After you do this for awhile, it gets pretty easy to grasp portion sizes.
  • fzermer
    fzermer Posts: 229 Member
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    I guess that's the only option, but I have a difficult time estimating how many grams of a particular item I've eaten. I will probably just call the meal 1000 cals and be done with it.
  • eileensofianmushinfine
    eileensofianmushinfine Posts: 303 Member
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    often when looking up meals, you can look up by the restaurant (if it's a chain) or the type of food -- you can check multiple listings to see if something is listed in an alternative measurement -- cup, ounces.... OR another option may be to weigh something comparable on the scale to get an idea of what size different gram amounts are.
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
    edited February 2015
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    I use their nutritional info if they have it, or if not take the highest calorie info for something similar in the database.
  • Khukhullatus
    Khukhullatus Posts: 361 Member
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    I tend to just search for the dish then always use the highest calorie version I can find. That way, I figure I most likely won't be under. Unless you really beat some people to a few dishes, you could always just take the serving size and divide it by the number of people at the table. That is what I always used to do with blender drinks when I still drank.
  • Mentiri
    Mentiri Posts: 1,356 Member
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    I've had good luck asking my favorite restaurants for recipes. I use those when I eat similar dishes at other restaurants, too.
  • Cortneyrenee04
    Cortneyrenee04 Posts: 1,117 Member
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    There's just no way to know. I way overestimate the meal, try not to get too full, drink lots of extra water, and have an extra work out. That said, I limit meals I don't cook myself to once a month, if that. It's really helped the pounds fly off.
  • procolorer
    procolorer Posts: 326 Member
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    higgins8283801 wrote: »
    I use their nutritional info if they have it, or if not take the highest calorie info for something similar in the database.

    This! :)
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    fzermer wrote: »
    I will probably just call the meal 1000 cals and be done with it.

    A 1000 calories of what is essentially chinese fast food is a depressingly small amount of food.

    I'd consider using a bigger number...
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I went to a buffet last night and had lots of different foods and desserts. Have absolutely no idea how many calories I had. So I did a quick add calories and hopefully overestimated..
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,302 Member
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    Five Guys bacon cheeseburger is 920 calories. A 1,000 will just leave confused and then coming back and saying "I weigh everything and am not losing"
  • snarlingcoyote
    snarlingcoyote Posts: 399 Member
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    weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/qt/eyeportions.htmhttp://

    Here's a guide to guestimating portion sizes. Take that, guess how much you ate, then find something that seems as close as possible to what you ate and take a stab at it. You can usually even look up ingredients if you are completely in the dark. My Fitness Pal has a LOT of different foods in it - including a couple I was shocked to find from local places, so there should be something similar in the database somewhere. If not, this is your chance to contribute!
  • Kazzsjourney2
    Kazzsjourney2 Posts: 22 Member
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    Im the same as the others, look for it in the list going for the highest value.If you are eating out once a week or once a fortnight if you are slightly off it wont be a major issue, but if you are eating out numerous times per week is where it will become more of a issue.
  • fzermer
    fzermer Posts: 229 Member
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    eileensofianmushinfine wrote: »
    often when looking up meals, you can look up by the restaurant (if it's a chain) or the type of food -- you can check multiple listings to see if something is listed in an alternative measurement -- cup, ounces.... OR another option may be to weigh something comparable on the scale to get an idea of what size different gram amounts are.

    Fortunately, these are not chain restaurants I visit. They are (usually) family owned, like most in a "China Town" sections of a large city.
  • fzermer
    fzermer Posts: 229 Member
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    Cortneyrenee04 wrote: »
    There's just no way to know. I way overestimate the meal, try not to get too full, drink lots of extra water, and have an extra work out. That said, I limit meals I don't cook myself to once a month, if that. It's really helped the pounds fly off.

    Heh - I would eat in China Town daily if I could, so I limit myself to once a week. It's my cheat day!

  • fzermer
    fzermer Posts: 229 Member
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    fzermer wrote: »
    I will probably just call the meal 1000 cals and be done with it.

    A 1000 calories of what is essentially chinese fast food is a depressingly small amount of food.

    I'd consider using a bigger number...

    I never eat Chinese fast food, especially buffet's. These are full meals, usually 3-5 entree's shared with the whole table.
  • fzermer
    fzermer Posts: 229 Member
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    _Terrapin_ wrote: »
    Five Guys bacon cheeseburger is 920 calories. A 1,000 will just leave confused and then coming back and saying "I weigh everything and am not losing"

    Maybe so, but I am loosing weight.
  • Sunhee123
    Sunhee123 Posts: 22 Member
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    FoCoAlphaNerd wrote: »
    I tend to just search for the dish then always use the highest calorie version I can find. That way, I figure I most likely won't be under. Unless you really beat some people to a few dishes, you could always just take the serving size and divide it by the number of people at the table. That is what I always used to do with blender drinks when I still drank.

    I like this idea, it's doable!!!
  • daw0518
    daw0518 Posts: 459 Member
    edited February 2015
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    I try to go to restaurants that have nutrition info or that have foods that are simple enough to estimate. Otherwise, I just don't even try. For example, today I had nachos at a local bar that is totally unique to my area. I wouldn't even know how to find an estimate so I didn't think it was worth it. There are different sizes, different toppings, etc. There was just no way.

    I agree with the sentiment of others though - once a week seems like kind of a lot to be doing that. You could be negating much of your deficit every week and not even know. That's just a choice you have to make. I personally try to go out only once or twice a month, and if I do go out more than that I try to get a salad or something that's easier to track/not as at risk of being sneakily high calorie. Unfortunately, there's really no way to estimate, & trying to estimate is how many of us got to the place of needing to lose weight!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    daw0518 wrote: »
    I try to go to restaurants that have nutrition info or that have foods that are simple enough to estimate. Otherwise, I just don't even try. For example, today I had nachos at a local bar that is totally unique to my area. I wouldn't even know how to find an estimate so I didn't think it was worth it. There are different sizes, different toppings, etc. There was just no way.

    You must live near a lot of chains then? I can't think of a single restaurant I would choose to eat dinner at that would have the nutritional info listed.

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