When food is to good to be true....

stephaniemarie2

So I just went to Ruby Tuesday, primarily because they are one of the only restaurants nearby that post calories other than Subway or McDonalds. Anyway, I ordered their Bella Chicken as is with 2 sides of veggies. Total for all 470 calories. This was so delicious and I am so full, probably won't be hungry until dinner. I still have 480 calories for day, but already felt like I cheated.
Thoughts?

cityruss

My thoughts are you need to re-evaluate your relationship and thoughts on food if the above situation is giving you a feeling of "cheating".

You ate some food. That's all.

maidentl

I think this means you have fallen into the trap of thinking that you must eat bland food in order to lose weight.

Need2Exerc1se

I'm not really sure what you are asking. It's quite possible you've eaten more than 470 calories since restaurant meals can vary greatly depending on things like portion size, ingredients, etc. that are not weighed and measured each time. It's also possible you ate less.

I'm not sure why a 470 calorie meal would make you feel like you cheated, but just stick to your calories and see what happens. You'll never know if the plan is working if you don't give it a shot.

WBB55

You feel like eating a delicious meal constitutes cheating on your plan?

It is in fact amazing how a goodly amount of protein, fat, and fiber can fill one up, is it not?

PinkPixiexox

No such thing as 'cheating'

dubird

Eating out doesn't mean cheating. You found something you like that fits within your goals for the day, congrats! Don't fall into the trap of thinking any food is bad or evil or that by eating out you're automatically sabotaging yourself. You did good by looking it up before hand, ordered what you wanted, and you didn't have to cook it or clean up afterwards. I consider that a win. ^_^

omatga

I know what you mean. Generally you probably eat more frequent "lighter" meals and you did not expect to feel so full after this 470 calorie meal. The fact you feel stuffed has you second guessing if it was accurate. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Don't sweat it either way. You made a healthy choice with what you had to work with. That's what matters

Francl27

Not going to debate the whole 'cheating' thing but I don't always trust restaurant portions sides, they often underestimate the calories. But yes, it's happened to me before, even with things I cooked myself.

stephaniemarie2

Omatga - Right on!
thanks all.

abetterluke

470 calories is awesome. Why would you feel bad about that?

viperbrick

I always feel that way after eating the Chili's "Lighter Portions" steak and avocado meal with garlic and salad. I'm stuffed and my desire for something sort of forbidden is satiated.

Good for you! And I in no way want to be Debbie Downer, but I was reading about a Tuft's University study about how they counted restaurant calorie counts and found a lot of them undervalued by 100 calories. They found one undervalued by 1000 calories! So I can appreciate why you'd be suspicious.

But the proof is in your measurements, right?

Kalikel

Cheating how?

lindsey1979

I'm not getting into the idea of cheating -- in the end, you're only doing things that promote or discourage your goal.

My caveat to you is that when you're not actually weighing your food, the actual food you can receive -- whether at a restaurant or in a package -- can be greater than it says it is. This is especially true at restaurants. I've seen cites that say that they can be off as much as 20-30%. So, when it says 470 cals, it could actually be something closer to 600. So, to truly know, you need to weigh all your food.

As for 470 cals being satisfying, oh yeah, that's totally possible. I find that when I made meals with a high level of protein, moderate fat and low carbs (especially the non-starchy variety -- like spaghetti squash), they can be incredibly satisfying, especially if the veggies are high in fiber. One of my favorites is spaghetti squash, chicken and vodka sauce -- a modified chicken cacciatore. It's awesome and fall below that threshold -- and very filling.

PinkPixiexox

If I went to a restaurant and managed to eat a meal that only contained 470 calories (and I was content and full afterwards) I'd consider that a major win.

hamelle2

abetterluke wrote: »

470 calories is awesome. Why would you feel bad about that?

I believe she doesn't trust the calories listed by the restaurant. And I don't blame her. I am positive the chef is not weighing the portions and sauces etc...
If I felt like I just consumed more then 450 calories.....I'm sure I did.
We are told here to weigh everything and I have learned from doing this that even an apple can vary as much as 50 cals.
She shouldn't beat herself up but that realization is important.

Unknown

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Francl27

hamelle2 wrote: »

abetterluke wrote: »

470 calories is awesome. Why would you feel bad about that?

I believe she doesn't trust the calories listed by the restaurant. And I don't blame her. I am positive the chef is not weighing the portions and sauces etc...
If I felt like I just consumed more then 450 calories.....I'm sure I did.
We are told here to weigh everything and I have learned from doing this that even an apple can vary as much as 50 cals.
She shouldn't beat herself up but that realization is important.

Yeah the chef will weigh the meat but that's pretty much it.

Can go the other way though, I had lunch at Uno a couple weeks ago and had a side of broccoli that the website claims is 85 calories, but looking at my plate, it was more like 40 calories tops (no butter, nothing, just steamed). So, there's that.

The worst offended for restaurants is steak info. You often find restaurants (Chili's, Uno's) giving you 200-220 calories for a 6oz steak, but it's hard to believe that it could be so little, unless it's basically fat free, which I doubt restaurants bother doing.

It's one of the reasons I hate eating out now, to be honest.

cbnorris

I got this from Perkins the other day. It's their tuscan chicken grilled chicken. It's on their fit menu and with the rice it's like 599 calories, but I'm not big on rice, so I subbed it for broccoli and and it was even less calories, like 470 I believe? It was delicious.

jgnatca

Do you feel like you were disloyal to your bland food at home? JK

I felt like this coming off a VLCD (medically supervised). If I had one extra helping it seemed too much. But then when I added the calories it was just fine.

pstegman888

I love the Chicken Bella, log it in at the listed calories, and don't worry too much if it's 100% accurate because it's only an occasional treat. My day-after-dining-out is always a salad day anyhow, so I figure it all evens out. And I'm losing consistently, right on target, so I'm going to enjoy my food and not worry about anything.