Dealing with Eating Out

jstnwill

How do you guys deal with eating out at non-chain restaurants / those without nutritional information available? I have some local favorites, but it always bothers me that I just don't quite know how bad their food is for me. How do you guys deal with that inner conflict, or do you just not worry about it?

TeaBea

Make reasonable estimates & move on.

Life will still be full of these kinds of issues when you get to maintenance. Even then calories will count. Just do the best that you can.

blopmiyers

I just make sure not to go to those places. Or as stated above I make a rough estimate.

cecsav1

Not being snarky, but: priorities. Knowing the quality and quantity of my food is more important to me than eating out, so I almost *never* eat away from home.

Chef_Barbell

Estimate as best as you can.

silvilunazul

I guesstimate the best I can, always adding extra calories... you never know how much oil they add to everything. But I make my visits to such places very occasional.

zyxst

If you want to log something, use info from a chain shop (I use Pizza Hut for local pizzerias) or break down what you're eating into the individual items (most restaurants make fries with potatoes and oil, so I log a potato and oil). You can get what you want, but only eat half and take the rest home or share with someone.

biggsterjackster

I try to estimate the calories but also chose low calorie foods like fish and veggies or salad with low calorie dressing. I grew up with the idea that going out to restaurants only happens on special occasions like birthday etc. and never a regular thing. So not to much to estimate.

tulips_and_tea

I eat out at least once a week, but I don't go to chain restaurants. The local, family owned places are the best and the most authentic. I prefer quality over quantity, so I just choose things I like but lower in calories and have smaller portions.

Weighing and measuring food is important but I also like to make sure I'm learning from it and can estimate and eyeball portions when away from home.

jennarandhayes

I try not to eat out, but when I do I avoid sauces/dressing. I eat as fresh as possible, and I over estimate calories.

skinnyforhi

I eat out several times a week- I love it! I just do my best to make reasonable choices, exercise portion control, and err on the side of overestimating calories. If I must have something that's higher in calories (pizza!) I stop after 2 slices. I used to avoid eating out because I was worried it would impede my progress; nothing could be further from the truth. I think because I know I can eat out when I want, it also keeps me from overindulging- food just isn't that big a deal when nothing is off-limits. Why did it take me so long to figure this out?

fishshark

this is probably a non agreed upon way, but when we go out its a free for all for me. I still make good choices sometimes but if we are spending money to go out to eat im gonna drink and im NOT gonna eat a salad or a piece of chicken breast. Its special for us so i eat whatever and the next day is a new day.

SueInAz

I agree that you need to learn to handle these situations if you plan to maintain your weight loss into the future. Eating at restaurants is simply a part of most people's lives and the local ones are usually the best ones. Just do the best you can. There are a lot of good tips here for dealing with it. I'll give a couple more:

Most restaurants have huge portions. My mother, who is about 5'1" and 105 pounds, asks for a small box when she orders her food and puts half in the box before she starts eating. She then has lunch or dinner for the next day.

You can always try to order the lightest meal but, really, what's the fun in that, especially if you do this every time you eat out.

Calories don't reset at midnight and I tend to think of mine as a weekly allowance. If I know I'm going to be eating out on Friday night, because I usually do, I'll eat a little less on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday day and Saturday to compensate. I might not eat back my exercise calories or simply try to save 100-200 calories those days, whatever.

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Notaphase

Eating out is my downfall. My brother in law is a chef and I remember complementing him on a dish that tasted really healthy and yummy and he was like "yeah that's because there's more than a half a sick of butter in that." I had only accounted for one tablespoon!
My first urge is to resist eating out when I'm trying to lose weight but that's really not sustainable longterm. It's more important to get used to eating smaller portions and taking the rest home. It's also helped me to plan towards eating out so I'll eat 100 calories less every day leading up to a night out so then it balances out a bit.

pebble4321

If the food is bad, I don't go back!

But when I eat out, I take my best guess. I don't have any conflict over not knowing the exact calorie count - because everything we log is an estimate anyway, even at home, even when you weight everything. Still an estimate!

And even if the restaurant posts their calories (which doesn't happen often where I live, not for actual restaurants, only chains like KFC or McDonalds), you can't assume they are exact either, as there will always be slight variations on the day due to different product, more or less butter, oil, cheese, salt etc.

scrittrice

I eat a lot of restaurant meals. Sometimes I try to find something similar and then I may quick-add 100 or 200 or 300 calories, and sometimes I just quick-add 1,200 calories (for a full meal with a glass of wine) and call it a day. After logging for a while, I'm a good guesser. If there are a lot of entries for something, I pick one on the higher end. And if I know I'm going out for dinner, I tread lightly during the day, but sometimes it's spur of the moment. @tracymayyoung is correct: It probably has more fat than you think it does. It also probably is saltier than what you would make at home.

WinoGelato

jstnwill wrote: »

How do you guys deal with eating out at non-chain restaurants / those without nutritional information available? I have some local favorites, but it always bothers me that I just don't quite know how bad their food is for me. How do you guys deal with that inner conflict, or do you just not worry about it?

Why would restaurant food be bad for you? It's just food...

I think people who view normal life situations such as eating in nice restaurants, holidays, special events, birthday parties, etc as so overwhelming that they either agonize over them or avoid them, have the hardest time being successful long term. These events will happen forever, avoiding them is not an option nor is it necessary. Go to the restaurant. Enjoy your meal. Log it to the best of your ability using other entries in the database that look reasonable.

I lost 30 lbs and am successfully maintaining that loss. I love going out to eat and while my kids prohibit us from going to the restaurants I'd like as often as I'd like we eat at neighborhood Italian places, Mexican dives, local pizza places, etc in addition to chains with available calorie counts. Hasn't hindered my progress...

Notaphase

I forgot to mention, make sure to acknowledge the healthy changes you're already making when you go out to a restaurant. It's easy to get hard on myself for going over my calorie goal when I go out but then I think of what I would have eaten if I weren't on MFP. (probably another 1000 calories in bread and wine alone) Those are the changes that will lead to long-term success.

KassiesJourney

Eat what you think is correct and just move on with your life. You cant be perfect on everything and sometimes you just need to enjoy yourself.

sijomial

That's an odd mind-set believing food is bad for you just because you can't know what is just an estimated calorie count. Even if it's high calorie that's not the same as bad!

Make your own estimate based on experience or just enjoy the meal and the social event. Does one meal make enough of a difference to worry about?

questionfear

I just guesstimate as best I can, and try to make good decisions; if I'm eating at a burger place, i get it bunless and with veggies on the side if possible. Or I split the fries with someone else. Anything with sauce, I try to get the sauce on the side, etc.

Personally, I eat out maybe once every two weeks, and generally it's either a place where I can guesstimate the calories fairly well (like a chipotle, where you can calculate on their website), or it's a place where I can eyeball the ingredients and guesstimate well from there (for example, a place by me does an awesome chopped salad, so I just eyeball the individual ingredients and do my best to measure/limit the dressing).

jessiferrrb

depending on what i order i either divide by components and add each item (like for an omelette) and then add extra oil, or i choose from the database - if i've had something similar at a chain restaurant and i feel it's comparable i add that option. sometimes i add the chain option anyway and take a chance because usually if it's coming from chili's or similar i can assume the portion is huge and the calories match. that being said, if i'm over or if i'm wrong it's not the end of the world.

also, i love brunch, like with all of the eggs and cheese and far too many mimosas. i try to run before i go and plan the rest of the day as super low cal and know that i'll still have a deficit for the week. if i don't want to log a million items at the table i'll take a picture of my plate and enter it in later.

WinoGelato

Some good tips in this thread OP, and others, who have concerns about how to navigate dining out while losing weight...

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10213155/a-guide-to-going-out-to-eat/p1