Being social while counting calories

mccindy72

Food scale at home, look up stuff online for restaurants if it's available, best guess if not. At a friend's or relative's house, eyeball and estimate. I've gotten fairly good at that from weighing and I'll overestimate to be sure.
I have seen people on this forum say they have a food scale to take to restaurants, but I personally don't need to go that far.

robspot

DeguelloTex wrote: »

Why are some people so driven to see so many things as all or nothing?

I think if you're overweight and you haven't tried several traditional "diets" then you're very lucky. Mainstream thinking is that to lose weight you have to cut out all the "good stuff". Of course nearly all people following this mentality will find it doesn't work as a long term solution. I haven't read a single diet book that advocates CICO (doesn't mean they don't exist, I just haven't come across one), they all try to offer a new perspective on cutting things out. You only have to see the sheer number of people arguing with CICO on here to understand the depth of the problem.

lithezebra

I just spent a week with family. I ate tiny, high protein breakfasts and lunches to compensate for having restaurant dinners and wine. But I also ordered a lot of broiled fish and didn't eat fries, potatoes, breads, and rice.

robspot

With regards to OP, I still go out a lot but I make better choices. Steak without a sauce, pizza without fat dripping toppings, couple of glasses of wine instead of two bottles!

I try to match something from the database if it's not in there but overestimate always. After a while you can get a reasonable handle on roughly how many calories are in restaurant food. And then choose wisely, save some calories from the day or few days, and sometimes just say **** it! You still gotta enjoy

Francl27

Even if you weigh your food only 90% of the time, and you'll still be 90% more accurate that someone who doesn't.

When I go out, I estimate, and usually stay away from fried foods or sauces.

SLLRunner

At home, I weigh all my food and measure my liquids.

Out, I just take a wild guess and make sure I have enough calories left over.

When I'm on a hot date, I whip out.....no, wait a minute, I've been with the same man for ten years and he knows all about my weighing of food and even uses MFP to log his food!

SLLRunner

shell1005 wrote: »

Losing weight or counting calories doesn't limit or effect my social life. I log as accurately as possible at home and know that if I am out, I need to estimate. I order my food without making any mention or indication I am counting calories....I just order and track. Easy, peasy.

And this as well. Same when I'm at other people's homes for dinner, which I am a lot, and it has not hindered my maintenance (nor did it hinder my weight loss when I was cutting).

shadowfax_c11

I stopped at the bar for drinks and appetizers with my co-workers this afternoon. Logged what I had. Best guess and choosing the closest similar items in the database. Had a good time. Balancing out that calorie bomb with a more sensible, but still very filling dinner and a very light evening snack, I will still be just under goal at bed time. A bit challenging since it was a day off and my fitbit adjustment won' be nearly as generous.

It is quite possible to have a social life and be on a diet. You just have to be mindful when you are out.

Francl27

Also, look at weekly averages. If you know you're going to be social on Saturday, eat a bit less the rest of the week, that way you can indulge a little bit more.