Restaurant meals and accounting for hidden fats?

StellaRose227

I'm going out of town this weekend. I have a pretty good idea of where I'll be eating and what I'll order. I'm aware that most restaurant food is going to have some hidden fats. Is it reasonable to add say a half tablespoon of butter to my veggie omelette or a tablespoon of vegetable oil to my grilled fish and shrimp? Too many calories? Too few? How do you all handle this?

SideSteel

This is a great question.

I don't tend to have clients include any arbitrary addition of calories if it's an item that is already in the database.

That being said, I DO think it's a valid concern.

In my opinion, I would do your best to estimate. If it's something where the nutritional information is published online, go with it.

I would only become concerned about it if you start eating at restaurants frequently AND you start noticing slow or stalled progress. At that point, I'd start looking at restaurant food as one potential culprit.

StellaRose227

We hardly ever eat out anymore, so this won't be a long-term issue. This is a weekend trip to the beach for my husband's birthday, so we'll probably have 5-7 meals out over the course of 3 days. Unfortunately, a lot of the places I've looked at don't have published calorie counts. I tend to stick to things like grilled shrimp, chicken, or fish, which is why I know are prepared with more fat than I would use at home.

abetterluke

StellaRose227 wrote: »

We hardly ever eat out anymore, so this won't be a long-term issue. This is a weekend trip to the beach for my husband's birthday, so we'll probably have 5-7 meals out over the course of 3 days. Unfortunately, a lot of the places I've looked at don't have published calorie counts. I tend to stick to things like grilled shrimp, chicken, or fish, which is why I know are prepared with more fat than I would use at home.

I don't know where you live but if you're heading to the beach I'd guess there's a good chance some fresh seafood should be available. I'd say just order the healthiest things you can and don't worry about the little stuff. If it's not a regular thing you probably won't notice any difference.

kshama2001

StellaRose227 wrote: »

I'm going out of town this weekend. I have a pretty good idea of where I'll be eating and what I'll order. I'm aware that most restaurant food is going to have some hidden fats. Is it reasonable to add say a half tablespoon of butter to my veggie omelette or a tablespoon of vegetable oil to my grilled fish and shrimp? Too many calories? Too few? How do you all handle this?

I think you're overestimating - I'd guess no more than a teaspoon each - but never measured oil when cooking these sorts of foods professionally.

lovechattys

You can ask the to add no extra oil or butter?

lemurcat12

Depending on what I order I may add a tablespoon of butter. I always figure there's tons of butter.

StellaRose227

I can ask for no extra oil, but I don't always have faith that those instructions are followed. Especially in breakfast type places where all the food is cooked together on a flattop. I've worked in a professional kitchen, so I'm kind of aware what goes into a mise en place setup. And I know that usually means a big vat of melted butter that is liberally applied.

StellaRose227

In case anyone else is wondering about this, this is how I handled it. On the first night, I found a restaurant meal similar to what I ordered and used it. The next day at breakfast, I ordered a customized omelette, so I added individual ingredients and also added a tablespoon of butter. It was probably a few too many calories, but I'd rather too many than too few. I did the same thing at dinner that night, adding individual ingredients and adding some oil to compensate for the extra fat that I know was added.

ManiacalLaugh

StellaRose227 wrote: »

In case anyone else is wondering about this, this is how I handled it. On the first night, I found a restaurant meal similar to what I ordered and used it. The next day at breakfast, I ordered a customized omelette, so I added individual ingredients and also added a tablespoon of butter. It was probably a few too many calories, but I'd rather too many than too few. I did the same thing at dinner that night, adding individual ingredients and adding some oil to compensate for the extra fat that I know was added.

That's not a bad strategy. I had a sandwich from a restaurant on Tuesday that was super greasy (even though I had ordered a sandwich marked "light" to try and avoid that). I added 2 tbs of butter to my log to try to account for this. It didn't kill my calories like I thought it would, but it sure made me feel better about the entry's accuracy.