Eating out panic

Options
13»

Replies

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,180 Member
    Options
    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.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,180 Member
    Options
    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.
  • Rabidrunner
    Rabidrunner Posts: 117 Member
    Options
    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!

  • grinning_chick
    grinning_chick Posts: 765 Member
    edited December 2015
    Options
    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.html

Categories