Nutritional Info at Restaurants

Kimegatron
Kimegatron Posts: 772 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Every time I go out to eat, I try to log it. Unfortunately, I have not been successful in finding ANY of the nutritional information for the food I eat at their restaurants! I will randomly pick something on here that sounds the closest. Does this happen a lot to you? I will even find some entries from restaurants on MFP, but how are those even accurate, when you can't find it online? Do you guys just guess, or go with the highest calorie option on the search?

Replies

  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    I try to break the meal down piece by piece, I can eye ball 3-4oz of chicken breast for example, lettuce, an ounce of chedder cheese, 1/3 cup rice etc you can't really get it 100% because you don't know how it is cooked, but a rough estimate is better then not logging at all. Some things such as pizza will be fairly standard across the board so I will try and find a similar pizza from a chain restaurant and log it that way, if all else fails then choose the highest calorie count and go with that, worst case you ate less actual calories...
  • emiliebecause
    emiliebecause Posts: 63 Member
    edited August 2015
    It's frustrating isn't it? I don't always go for the highest calorie option but I choose as best I can. And I add a couple tablespoons of oil of some sort too.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    jeepinshawn wrote: »
    I try to break the meal down piece by piece, I can eye ball 3-4oz of chicken breast for example, lettuce, an ounce of chedder cheese, 1/3 cup rice etc you can't really get it 100% because you don't know how it is cooked, but a rough estimate is better then not logging at all. Some things such as pizza will be fairly standard across the board so I will try and find a similar pizza from a chain restaurant and log it that way, if all else fails then choose the highest calorie count and go with that, worst case you ate less actual calories...

    This. I try my best to figure out what is in it, log the components, and then add a buffer to account for calories I may have missed with extra oil or sugar.
  • Kimegatron
    Kimegatron Posts: 772 Member
    Thanks guys, I will try that! We went to Mongolian for my sir's birthday last week, and I just had no clue what to log, because I added everything meatless that I could find to put in my little bowl. Then we went to get chocolate rum balls, and I was just clueless for those!
  • emiliebecause
    emiliebecause Posts: 63 Member
    That sounds delish. :-) So far I have been able to pick and choose for myself but my kids and I are going on vacation for two weeks and staying with people so I know that there will be some meals that I just won't really be able to track very well. For those, I plan to choose the healthiest/low calorie options possible and just hope for the best. When things like rum balls enter the equation, I might choose to get some extra exercise in--a good walk at least or something.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Try to pick as close as you can and guesstimate UP.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,610 Member
    Sometimes I'll search recipe sites to find a recipe that looks close to what I had at the restaurant. Then I'll log whatever it is using the calories for about 2 servings of that recipe, because I figure there's a good chance what I had was indeed 2 servings.
  • emiliebecause
    emiliebecause Posts: 63 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Sometimes I'll search recipe sites to find a recipe that looks close to what I had at the restaurant. Then I'll log whatever it is using the calories for about 2 servings of that recipe, because I figure there's a good chance what I had was indeed 2 servings.

    Oh that's a good idea!
  • firephoenix8
    firephoenix8 Posts: 102 Member
    Wow that's a great idea! When I do go out it's often to locally owned places that aren't available online.

    I always search the internet when I'm at a chain restaurant and the stats aren't in the database on here, since most chains post their nutrition online. It's not precise since they aren't weighing, but you can always add what they say it is!
  • Strawblackcat
    Strawblackcat Posts: 944 Member
    I tend to order the plainer options on the menu. It's easier to break down a meal's relative caloric value when it's something fairly basic than it is to figure it out when it's some kind of medley swimming in a mystery sauce. When I log it, I try to find something comparable in the database. For example, when I ordered grilled salmon ar a local restaurant last week, I logged it as the grilled salmon from Ruby Tuesday's. The portion looked similar, so I figured that the calories were probably similar as well. When I can't find a comparable item, I just log the components of the meal separately and add a tablespoon of oil to the meal to account for error. It's better to overestimate than it is to underestimate.
  • Kimegatron
    Kimegatron Posts: 772 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Sometimes I'll search recipe sites to find a recipe that looks close to what I had at the restaurant. Then I'll log whatever it is using the calories for about 2 servings of that recipe, because I figure there's a good chance what I had was indeed 2 servings.

    Great idea thank you so much!!

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