How often do you eat out during weight-loss phase?

Sophsmother

My daughter and I eat out for dinner 4 or 5 nights a week. She actually needs to gain about 5 lbs, so I find it easier to take her out to her favorite places so I know she'll eat something filling.

For me, it's been really tough. I can find something healthy to eat at most places we go to, but accounting for every calorie is tough, and sticking to my diet is even tougher when tempted by so much food. You just don't know exactly how much something weighs or what other things are going into the meal that aren't listed on the menu (butter, oil, etc.). I've been tempted to bring my food scale with me so I can make sure that the 6-ounce filet does indeed weigh 6 ounces.

Do any of you find it tough to go out to eat when you're actively in the weight-loss phase? I'm on 1,200 calories a day with about 65 lbs to lose, so I don't have much wiggle room with calories. Should I cut back on eating out for a bit? I feel like I should be able to handle eating out, but I've woken up too many mornings with swollen fingers from too much sodium and all the other great things that eating out can bring on. I'm not a failure if I can only eat at home for a while, am I?

hollyrayburn

Why 1200?

When you go out, eat half, tack on a few couple hundred extra calories to be "on the safe side" and always look for the healthier options. The grilled chicken has a lot more protein and a lot less calories than the cheesy pasta dish, steamed broccoli is just as good as french fries (in a different way, lol.).

Nothing wrong with eating out so long as it fits into your decifit, and you keep a good ratio on your macros.

k2mexox

Every once in awhile should be fine. But if your doing it that much it's not healthy. Even trying to choose the healthier options has loaded calories in places you would expect as well as other non healthy ingredients such as your sodium intake you noticed. If your daughter needs to gain weight there is a much healthier way to do it then to eat out. A person that weighs 150 pounds on a diet of lean meats proteins , vegetables. Is way more healthy than a 150lb person on a diet of McDonald's. Just because it fits into your macros does not make it healthy.

Sophsmother

I always choose the healthy options and stick to protein and veggies. But too often I find that the portion sizes just look huge or the veggies are glistening from something that I didn't ask for.

I also find myself taking bites of my daughter's food, which typically has more fat/carbs so she can gain some weight per her dietician's plan. It just tastes that much better than mine. For her needs, eating out is easier since she has many options to choose from, so I know she'll get a full meal in her. But for me, it's like an alcoholic having to sit in a bar every night and order water. The temptations so early in my weight-loss phase are just killer.

I think I've answered my own question ... eating out is just too hard for me right now.

cwolfman13

I only eat out maybe 5 or 6 times per month total. Couple of date nights per month with my wife and usually a Sunday lunch with my boys.

This is regardless of my weight control goals. In my experience, eating out a lot makes both losing weight and maintenance difficult.

berlynnwall

In reality, eating out that much is not healthy, for you or your daughter. That sodium isn't great for her either. I know that is not what you asked though, so I will not go on about it. Here are some ideas:

-You could pick up something for your daughter and make yourself a separate dinner at home.

- You could research higher calorie dinners that you could then modify so that she was getting more calories than you - i.e. chili and cornbread, but you eat just the chili and don't eat the bread, or at least not as much bread.

- You could ask your daughter's pediatrician (Im assuming this is a child and not an adult daughter?) for recommendations on supplements like pediasure or ensure if he feels she needs to gain.

Sunshine48205

k2mexox wrote: »

Every once in awhile should be fine. But if your doing it that much it's not healthy. Even trying to choose the healthier options has loaded calories in places you would expect as well as other non healthy ingredients such as your sodium intake you noticed. If your daughter needs to gain weight there is a much healthier way to do it then to eat out. A person that weighs 150 pounds on a diet of lean meats proteins , vegetables. Is way more healthy than a 150lb person on a diet of McDonald's. Just because it fits into your macros does not make it healthy.

^^^What she said

jemhh

I eat out at least 3x/week and have never found it difficult or that it impedes weight loss. We go often enough that it isn't a big deal. I rarely (as in maybe 3-4 times a year) get a dessert or appetizer. I generally go for baked or grilled meat, salad, and some sort of veggie side(s).

How old is your daughter?

Sunshine48205

I'll go out to eat once I meet a short term goal for my weight loss. Right now I'm tring to get under 200lbs (25lbs to go) Once I reach 199 I'm going to Olive garden to celebrate, it's my favoriteeee! Next will be 175, then 150. I don't really have the need to go out to eat like that but it is tastey.

orlandodenise

I only eat out once every three weeks and even then only healthy options. I never ever eat take out - too processed, salty and fatty for my liking

dawnna76

I eat out once a week. mostly out of neccesity, on night when we run low on time after taekwondo. i solo parent two young boys (6&7) cause dad works out of town 20 days a month.

4-5 days a week is alot! you need to cook more at home that you both can eat. not to mention while your daughter may be underweight now, your not really setting her up for good eating habits in the future when unfortunatly eating habits do catch up with us.

I usually make something for my boys that they will eat that and that is higher calories or fat for thier skinny bottoms. They like bean and cheese burritos, homemade personal pizzas, tuna fish sandwhich and chips etc.

I eat roasted veggies and eggs, or something else that fits my plan. I also make extra veggies for them.

Sophsmother

jemhh wrote: »

I eat out at least 3x/week and have never found it difficult or that it impedes weight loss. We go often enough that it isn't a big deal. I rarely (as in maybe 3-4 times a year) get a dessert or appetizer. I generally go for baked or grilled meat, salad, and some sort of veggie side(s).

How old is your daughter?

My daughter is 10 and is an extremely picky eater. No matter what I cook for her, which is usually something she has picked, she takes 2 bites then hates it and asks for something else. When we go out, she doesn't do that, so we started eating out 5x a week, which lead to a nice 15lb gain for me since Christmas. so for the last two weeks I've been doing 1,200 calories a day to lose the extra 65 lbs I have to lose. But the eating out is torture for me this early in the game.

I meet with my dietician tomorrow, so I'll lean on her to get us back on track.

Lounmoun

I eat out once a week.
If my dd doesn't like what I cook she has a sandwich, yogurt, cereal or fruit.

Timorous_Beastie

I usually don't go out to eat more than once a week. Sometimes less.

How about trying to recreate your daughter's favorite restaurant meals at home? Get her involved with the cooking. When I was a very skinny, very fussy eater kid, I tended to eat more of something when I helped make it.

lemurcat12

I eat out at restaurants (the ones I go to have no nutrition information) once or twice a week and have since I started. (It's part of my social life and something we do before going to a play or concert or to try new restaurants/old favorites.) I usually consider those my more indulgent meals--I try to order wisely (most of the time) and keep in mind that restaurants add more butter and have larger serving sizes and act accordingly, but eating out as much as you are would make this a lot harder. (I did this when my calories were 1250, but used exercise calories, sometimes from earlier in the week too, to cover the meals then, because it's really hard to account for most restaurant meals with those calories alone and still eat reasonably the rest of the day).

I also from time to time end up buying lunch when I'm at work, which might be more similar to what you are talking about. I go to places (like Pret a Manger) where I have calorie counts and can choose options that aren't that different from what I might make at home in calories and ingredients. I think this is okay (if more expensive than I'd recommend) and shouldn't affect your diet. But warning bells are set off by the statement about portion size and being tempted by what your daughter eats--it sounds as if you are probably going to end up consuming more calories than you want and that it would be easier to reduce the number of nights you go out for a while.

melodyesch

Before I started, my DH and I ate out A LOT. But I'm finding that I would rather cook at home so that I KNOW what's going into my meals. We eat out once per week and even though I budget my calories for the meal I'm going to have (the same one each week), I really am just hoping my estimates are close. That's too uncertain for me 4-5 times per week.

Good Luck with your daughter. I'm not a parent so I don't understand having a fussy eater who will only eat in restaurants.

callsitlikeiseeit

several times a week.

still losing consistently.

berlynnwall

Sophsmother wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

I eat out at least 3x/week and have never found it difficult or that it impedes weight loss. We go often enough that it isn't a big deal. I rarely (as in maybe 3-4 times a year) get a dessert or appetizer. I generally go for baked or grilled meat, salad, and some sort of veggie side(s).

How old is your daughter?

My daughter is 10 and is an extremely picky eater. No matter what I cook for her, which is usually something she has picked, she takes 2 bites then hates it and asks for something else. When we go out, she doesn't do that, so we started eating out 5x a week, which lead to a nice 15lb gain for me since Christmas. so for the last two weeks I've been doing 1,200 calories a day to lose the extra 65 lbs I have to lose. But the eating out is torture for me this early in the game.

I meet with my dietician tomorrow, so I'll lean on her to get us back on track.

If your daughter is 10, she can make her own food. I don't mean that you should never cook for her again and send her off to college now or anything, but I do mean that if she wants to be picky and "hates" everything, she can go make a sandwich.

CA_Underdog

berlynnwall wrote: »

My daughter is 10 and is an extremely picky eater. No matter what I cook for her, which is usually something she has picked, she takes 2 bites then hates it and asks for something else. When we go out, she doesn't do that, so we started eating out 5x a week,

1. Have you discussed this with your pediatrician? Did you ask for a referral to a specialist?

2. Can you learn how to cook tastier foods from what she's eating when you're out? E.g., perhaps they're using 85% lean ground beef and you're using 98% lean ground beef.

3. Are you eating at places with published calorie counts? If so, you know what she's getting, and hitting your targets should be easy. There will always be some variation in portion sizes of real food, and that's okay, so long as there isn't a consistent pattern of oversizing portions.

3. Cheese. Is. Amazing. It can make broccoli palatable.

4. Peanut Butter. Is. Amazing. It can make carrots palatable.

It must be frustrating, going through a phase where she won't eat your cooking. I've had kids sometimes refuse a meal, but never to the point they lost extreme weight.

kazminchu

We eat out once a week or so, sometimes less, sometimes more. It doesn't affect my diet much as I tend to try to compensate for it on my other days.

On a side note - however hard it may be, pampering your child like that is only going to make things harder for yourself. Let her go hungry a couple of weeks, she'll come around and start eating properly. Get her involved with cooking, and try to find out what she likes.
If you don't break her habit now, it'll only get worse until she refuses to eat entirely. Eating out that often isn't healthy, for either of you.

MaitreyeeMAYHEM

Once or twice a week. It may be a healthy choice one day and not so much another day. It all depends if I know I'm working out that day and to see if I can eat it.

steeheart

I find losing weight and eating out a lot do not go hand in hand. I think learning how to eat at restaurants is important for maintaining weight.. But if you are serious about losing weight then I would cut back and just eat at home. But you can do a test! Only eat out one meal a week for 3 weeks and see how much weight you lose. Then do 3 weeks of eating out at restaurants as often as you'd like and see how much weight you lose. Sometimes eating out is just not worth it.

malibu927

Same as before...fast food once a week, sit down places 0-2 times a month.

Azexas

Maybe once every two weeks or so.

It's more of a budget issue than a "dietary" issue.

sweetpea03b

We almost NEVER go out for this very reason. Everything is so high calorie and the sodium, oh my... not to mention we live on a limited budget. I'd say we go out maybe once a month. On the days I know we're eating out, I go for a long run so I know I have plenty of calories and I don't have to just order a boring grilled chicken filet. Then, when my food comes, I only eat half.

JustinAnimal

We eat out 1-3 nights per week, regardless of whether or not we're losing weight. It's pretty easy to have a 400-700 calorie meal ordering at baja fresh, subway, jimmy john's, quizno's and our other go-to restaurants. My "rules" are no creamy sauces, stick with chicken or fish (not fried) and eat less bread / more veggies when possible. However, I break those rules regularly, depending on how many calories I have left for the day. Agreed that 1200 is low. I do 1570 and think that's a ridiculous low number.

Sophsmother

CA_Underdog wrote: »

berlynnwall wrote: »

My daughter is 10 and is an extremely picky eater. No matter what I cook for her, which is usually something she has picked, she takes 2 bites then hates it and asks for something else. When we go out, she doesn't do that, so we started eating out 5x a week,

1. Have you discussed this with your pediatrician? Did you ask for a referral to a specialist?

2. Can you learn how to cook tastier foods from what she's eating when you're out? E.g., perhaps they're using 85% lean ground beef and you're using 98% lean ground beef.

3. Are you eating at places with published calorie counts? If so, you know what she's getting, and hitting your targets should be easy. There will always be some variation in portion sizes of real food, and that's okay, so long as there isn't a consistent pattern of oversizing portions.

3. Cheese. Is. Amazing. It can make broccoli palatable.

4. Peanut Butter. Is. Amazing. It can make carrots palatable.

It must be frustrating, going through a phase where she won't eat your cooking. I've had kids sometimes refuse a meal, but never to the point they lost extreme weight.

The pediatrician sent us to a dietician who we sat with for 2 hours to come up with an eating plan for my daughter. But my daughter hates my cooking. I'm not awful at cooking, but not really good either. Plus, she only wants to eat fruit and veggies. No dairy, no protein, no bread, no cereal ... it's rough trying to feed this kid.

I meet with my own dietician once a week who is super. She helped come up with a plan that allows us to eat out, but since none of these places post nutrition info, she warned me that it could be tough.

Ellaskat

I only eat about about 1 time a week; and that's not every week either. I usually do that for dinner if there's a rough work day and i'm too exhausted to cook and there are no leftovers. Or, my husband really loves going to a diner on Sunday mornings, so we also do that about once a month. This is just preference though - it's cheaper, healthier, and easier for me to manage eating what I cook.

hollyrayburn

Sophsmother wrote: »

CA_Underdog wrote: »

berlynnwall wrote: »

My daughter is 10 and is an extremely picky eater. No matter what I cook for her, which is usually something she has picked, she takes 2 bites then hates it and asks for something else. When we go out, she doesn't do that, so we started eating out 5x a week,

1. Have you discussed this with your pediatrician? Did you ask for a referral to a specialist?

2. Can you learn how to cook tastier foods from what she's eating when you're out? E.g., perhaps they're using 85% lean ground beef and you're using 98% lean ground beef.

3. Are you eating at places with published calorie counts? If so, you know what she's getting, and hitting your targets should be easy. There will always be some variation in portion sizes of real food, and that's okay, so long as there isn't a consistent pattern of oversizing portions.

3. Cheese. Is. Amazing. It can make broccoli palatable.

4. Peanut Butter. Is. Amazing. It can make carrots palatable.

It must be frustrating, going through a phase where she won't eat your cooking. I've had kids sometimes refuse a meal, but never to the point they lost extreme weight.

The pediatrician sent us to a dietician who we sat with for 2 hours to come up with an eating plan for my daughter. But my daughter hates my cooking. I'm not awful at cooking, but not really good either. Plus, she only wants to eat fruit and veggies. No dairy, no protein, no bread, no cereal ... it's rough trying to feed this kid.

I meet with my own dietician once a week who is super. She helped come up with a plan that allows us to eat out, but since none of these places post nutrition info, she warned me that it could be tough.

She's a kid.
"back in my day" we'd eat what was cooked, make ourselves a peanut butter sandwich, or go to bed.

It takes about 21 days for a habit/taste/etc to change.

agratzy

I eat out often, but I am incredibly picky about it. And I limit myself to no soda (although many people opt for diet) and no desert or appetizers. I rarely get fries or that sort of thing. It's doable just less fun sometimes!

nuttynanners

Sophsmother wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

I eat out at least 3x/week and have never found it difficult or that it impedes weight loss. We go often enough that it isn't a big deal. I rarely (as in maybe 3-4 times a year) get a dessert or appetizer. I generally go for baked or grilled meat, salad, and some sort of veggie side(s).

How old is your daughter?

My daughter is 10 and is an extremely picky eater. No matter what I cook for her, which is usually something she has picked, she takes 2 bites then hates it and asks for something else. When we go out, she doesn't do that, so we started eating out 5x a week, which lead to a nice 15lb gain for me since Christmas. so for the last two weeks I've been doing 1,200 calories a day to lose the extra 65 lbs I have to lose. But the eating out is torture for me this early in the game.

I meet with my dietician tomorrow, so I'll lean on her to get us back on track.

I'm gonna have to second with the people saying your daughter can make or put together her own food. Give her a drawer in the refrigerator or a shelf in the pantry, and teach her to cook things she is willing to eat. Not only will it give her a sense of self-efficacy, it will help her make healthy choices!

Also, if you do plan to cook a meal for the both of you, ask her at the beginning of the week/day/etc. what sounds good so you're on the same page. Figure out a way to make it healthy enough for the both of you. Skinnytaste.com has TONS of great recipes for this, especially kid friendly ones. You gotta check out that website!!!

It'll be much easier on your wallet than eating out