Eating out panic
Replies
-
CamillaEdwards wrote: »How is best to deal with eating out? I always panic as I do not know exactly how many calories I am eating. This can sometimes cause me to go off the rails for the rest of the day. Thanks for any help/ suggestions!!
Look up nutrition info for the restaurant in advance. Decide what fits your goals.
If there is no info available for that place then you could choose something similar from a different restaurant to log and just move on.
Some restarants have a lower calorie menu section you can choose from.
Are you paying attention to the food you log normally? Perhaps you've noticed by now certain foods add more calories than others and some foods satisfy you more than others. Just choose what will probably be lower calorie based on what you normally eat. Watch your portion size. Grilled chicken or vegetables/salad options are available most places. You can skip bread, pasta, rice if you don't want the calories from it. Don't drown your food in an excess of dressings, condiments or sauces. You don't have to choose a triple bacon cheeseburger, fries and a shake if it is going to make you panic.
One meal isn't going to damage your progress even if you go over your calories for the day.
0 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »pollypocket1021 wrote: »the only thing I know to do in these situations is get a grilled chicken salad, dressing on the side, hold the cheese and croutons. Well, I've saved a ton of money by not eating out hardly ever, at least.... I wish there were a more reasonable sounding way but if you are on say 1200 cal it's a mine field.
A dry grilled chicken salad has to be the saddest thing I've ever heard of. Why bother getting out of bed in the morning if that is what you have to look forward to?
Someone needs to introduce you to steak. A nice fillet and some steamed vegetables are easily worked into a 1200 cal day.
This has become my new go to in restaurants. So satisfying, and keeps me full!
Agreed.
I like chicken on my salad. Eat what you want and MYOB as far as what other people eat unless they ask for your opinion/help on it.0 -
Whatever sounds the most boring and unappealing, order that. I kid. Sorta. If you're choosing between grilled salmon with seasonal veggies and the deep fried bacon wrapped pork chop smothered in a butter cheese honey sauce...0
-
When I eat out, I look for plain protein and the most veggies I can get. Hummus no pita and salad, veggie burger no bread and roasted veggies. Grilled fish and steamed asparagus. I'm always surprised how it fills me up and how good I feel afterwards. It drives a waiter crazy, and tablemates roll eyes, but I have to look out for me.0
-
I'm getting pretty good at being the weirdo at the table. I ask for a to go container at the beginning of the meal, usually half of my meal goes straight in. I deconstruct everything removing things I feel are unhealthy. But then again sometimes I go for it and pay for it all on my recumbent bike at night.0
-
OP (and others) there are some great tips in this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10213155/a-guide-to-going-out-to-eat/p1
My approach - one or more of the following tactics.
1. Look at menu ahead of time (I have always enjoyed doing this - gets me excited about the meal)
2. Look for some of the menu options that sound good in the database to get an idea of how much of a calorie budget I might need for that meal. If the restaurant itself isn't listed, I look for similar restaurants with calorie counts.
3. Save up calories in the days leading up to the event (assuming the meal is planned ahead of time). 100 calories under/day gives you an extra 500 cals to work with on that Saturday - I'm maintaining so I can easily bank 200 cals/day to allow for 1000 extra.
4. Work out the day of ( this is normal for me anyway)
5. Eat lighter meals the day of
6. Choose a restaurant in a neighborhood where you can walk around while waiting for your table or after the meal.
7. Choose what sounds really good, and prioritize the courses. If I really want dessert because the restaurant has a pastry chef, then I may forgo an appetizer, the bread course, etc. Or I may just order an appetizer and salad, to allow for wine AND dessert.
8. Whatever happens - I try not to sweat it. In order to gain 1 lb, you would have to be over your maintenance level by 3,500 calories. Even with some of the huge portion sizes and calorie bombs you can find at chain restaurants, that's pretty hard to do.
9. Understand that I may see a temporary increase on the scale from the sodium intake/water retention. Expecting that makes it not hurt so much when you see it the day after the meal.
10. Enjoy it. I love dining out - and I have learned that I can still continue to do that and meet my goals.0 -
CamillaEdwards wrote: »How is best to deal with eating out? I always panic as I do not know exactly how many calories I am eating. This can sometimes cause me to go off the rails for the rest of the day. Thanks for any help/ suggestions!!
If your profile pic is indicative of what you really look like, with very tiny arms, very thin neck, angular face with prominent jawline and clearly defined cheekbones - I'd say you should maybe order a meatball sub at the restaurant with onion rings and fries and a mile high ice cream pie for dessert with hot fudge, cookie crumbles and extra whipped cream.
But instead you say the idea of eating at a restaurant panics you...
Wow. How rude. First off, OP looks normal to me. Second, OP is able to maintain her weight by watching her food consumption. It's the very people who decide that it's okay to eat uncontrolled again after weight loss that gain the weight back.0 -
CamillaEdwards wrote: »How is best to deal with eating out? I always panic as I do not know exactly how many calories I am eating. This can sometimes cause me to go off the rails for the rest of the day. Thanks for any help/ suggestions!!
If your profile pic is indicative of what you really look like, with very tiny arms, very thin neck, angular face with prominent jawline and clearly defined cheekbones - I'd say you should maybe order a meatball sub at the restaurant with onion rings and fries and a mile high ice cream pie for dessert with hot fudge, cookie crumbles and extra whipped cream.
But instead you say the idea of eating at a restaurant panics you...
Wow. How rude. First off, OP looks normal to me. Second, OP is able to maintain her weight by watching her food consumption. It's the very people who decide that it's okay to eat uncontrolled again after weight loss that gain the weight back.
There's a big difference between "eating uncontrolled" and being so obsessive about controlling your food intake that the thought of eating at a restaurant has you panicking. Of the two behaviors, I'm not sure I'd care to bet on which one is less healthy.0 -
If the restaurant does not post their nutrition info online, then stick with salads, grilled meats (or at least nothing fried) and order dressings and sauces on the side. And then just use your best estimate for logging. Or use it as a "cheat meal" and move on. But I get the anxiety...0
-
MommyL2015 wrote: »If you are panicking over one meal out, maybe you should re-evaluate your goals? One meal does not make you fat and eating nothing for one meal does not make you skinny. It's a balance over time. Calm down, eat a nice meal and have fun.
One meal can undo a good chunk of your weekly deficit though, so I don't think it's fair to dismiss it... I totally get it. I'd try to stick to chains that give calorie information for that reason, but unfortunately my favorite restaurants are not chains, so there's a lot of guesswork, especially when it's places that don't offer grilled meat and veggies. I don't know why everyone seems to take this for granted. It's really not always the case. When I was traveling, some places didn't even HAVE veggies, and side salads are usually so tasteless that I just want to eat at home instead.
I've been stuck a lot of times because I had no idea what the best option was, and it's pretty frustrating, but I guess that being a foodie, having to order a bunless burger or asking them to grill some chicken for me is sad, when they have a delicious looking menu (especially when I actually have 800 calories to work with, but everything seems to be either 300 calories or 1000).
Anyway, I totally get it...0 -
First, I check to see if the restaurant has any info online. Fortunately one of my favourite restaurants does.
Second, if that doesn't work, I check MFP's database to see if anyone might have entered data about that particular meal from that particular restaurant. That has worked on a couple occasions!
Third, if that is a bust, then I type the main ingredients from the meal, or name of the meal, into Google and search for a recipe that is quite similar. If luck is with me, I'll find several similar recipes, and then I start comparing calorie counts.
And finally ... I overestimate. So if my research suggests that my serving might be 400 cal, I'll go up to about 600 cal. ... just in case.0 -
Sounds like there are several "hangry" people in this thread.
Anyway ...sunparakeet wrote: »Why does having one bad meal make you sabotage the rest of your day? The meal out isn't your problem - it's your reaction that is the problem. I mean, if you get a flat tire you fix it and move on, right? Or do you ?
"Funny" story. My husband and I stopped at a small town in the middle of nowhere in the Canadian Rockies in November a number of years ago to get a few supplies.
When we pulled in, a guy was having some difficulty with his car ... it didn't sound too serious, but might have stopped him in that town for the night and cost him accommodation for the night and the price of a minor repair. But he was yelling on the phone and getting more and more agitated about it. Finally he hung up, got in his car, and roared around the parking lot ... went flying over several bumps ... and then all of a sudden something under the car caught on a bump ............. and pretty much ripped out his entire exhaust system. It was on the ground. His minor repair suddenly turned into a quite a major, costly repair. Especially out there in the middle of nowhere in snowy November.
So yeah ... sadly ... there are actually people out there who might just say "Everything is RUINED FOREVER!" and slash the other three.
0 -
sunparakeet wrote: »Why does having one bad meal make you sabotage the rest of your day? The meal out isn't your problem - it's your reaction that is the problem. I mean, if you get a flat tire you fix it and move on, right? Or do you say "Everything is RUINED FOREVER!" and slash the other three?
Ummmmm, yep, that's actually exactly what I do. And I bet I'm not alone there. I'm learning not to 'slash all the tires' so to speak, it's a work in progress.
One of the reasons that this app is so popular, and this forum is so active, is because so many people have (at some point in their lives) lost their way with regards to controlling or even understanding their diet and the choices they make. This can happen for many reasons, everyone has their own special combo of causative factors. Great for you that you have all this figured out. Some of us are not as advanced as your good self. Yet.
To the OP; I totally get it, and I bet that others do too. I'm slowly figuring things out, I have gained and lost the same damn 20lbs three times in my lifetime. The first two times I lost the weight using unhealthy methods. This third time, I'm doing it right, and it's a helluvalot harder. Takes longer and involves really getting to the root cause of the gain. One of which is conquering eating out where my degree of control is reduced, but importantly, not eliminated!
Like others have said, I check out the menu before going. Not only to select the best option, but also to make my mind up before I'm sitting at the table, hungry, watching all the yummy food go by. That's the worst time to try and make a good food choice!
Another trick is that I eat a piece of fruit before getting there, just to take the edge off my hunger. Last but not least, sometimes the first thing I'll do is order a side salad, and not order till I've eaten it. Often I'll only feel like a small appetizer after that.
Good luck!
0 -
Based on Googling, if the caloric information isn't available ahead of time I've settled on figuring the average meal I'll order regardless of where and what meal being eaten is 2,000 calories. So I eat half, get half to go, and log 1,000.
An overestimate? Probably at least part of the time. And possibly not the rest of the time. Thus the balance. May not work for everyone, but it's the solution I've come up with based on how I order/eat that I can live with and makes those rare occasions I eat outside the home stress free for me.
=> http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/22/upshot/what-2000-calories-looks-like.html0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 424 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions