How do you count calories when eating out?

Semele0

Hello, I'm new here. These past days I've registered meticulously everything I ate, measuring it with a scale. This evening I'm going to eat out, and I know I'll go over my calorie limit and it's not a problem. But I would like to enter today's dinner in the diary too, so as to keep track of my "cheat days". I just have no idea on how to calculate the calorie I'll be eating. Do you have some suggestion on how to evaluate, even if roughly, how many calories are on a plate?
Thanks!

cwolfman13

If it's a large franchise/chain type of restaurant they are required to publish their nutritional information...they do this on their websites. If it's a local place, you just find something similar in the database and do the best you can.

kd_mazur

Many restaurants publish nutrition information. do a search for the restaurant and see what pops up. if it is a mom and pop type place maybe decide generally what you are planning to eat and look up the components to see approximately what you will be consuming.

chocolate_owl

I don't eat at many chains. If I'm having chicken enchiladas at my local Mexican joint, I browse for chicken enchiladas from places like On The Border and Chili's and pick one of the entries that's highest in calories. My local place may be lower cal, but since I have no idea I'll aim high to be safe.

sllm1

I do the best I can. If the restaurant I'm eating at doesn't provide nutritional information, I choose a similar dish at a restaurant that is in the database. If you're tracking carefully all week, one restaurant "estimate" won't derail you. I try to estimate "high" for restaurant food since they tend to add butter, oil, and such for flavor.

Semele0

Thank you all for the info and advices!

saintshoc

Always check the company website and then plan B is to just guesstimate.

Semele0

In the end what I did was to create a new recipe, where I added all the ingredients of my meal, guessing their weight, and adding some oil or butter that they might have used for cooking.

emmooney235

If you go into the diary and click on the meal like you are going to log, there is an icon next to the bar code scanner. Its a GPS restaurant finder, find where you are going and click on it. It's possible the restaurant's menu & nutrition will be there.

Semele0

Thanks for the info, I can't seem to find it right now, but I'll try again when I've got some time.. Anyway I don't think many restaurants in my area will be posting nutritional facts online, I've never seen it done. Thank you anyway, it might be useful sometime, maybe if travelling abroad.

CajunTess

emmooney235 wrote: »

If you go into the diary and click on the meal like you are going to log, there is an icon next to the bar code scanner. Its a GPS restaurant finder, find where you are going and click on it. It's possible the restaurant's menu & nutrition will be there.

I use this all the time, but you need to have your location services turned on for the app in order to use it.

Trish1c

You use your best guess & round up. It's all you can do.

I have found my restaurant meals don't really put me over. The "problem" is usually the portion size, not the food or even the preparation itself. If it's something I really love & I'd be tempted to eat the whole thing which is usually 2-3 portions, before I dig in I cut it in half and put 1/2 on the bread plate so I am closer to only eating 1 legitimate serving rather than how much they dished onto my plate.