Do you get freaked out about eating out?

iofred

... probably depends on the type of restaurant you want to eat out ... what I noticed is that as part of this whole process I have become selective of where I eat, but on the other hand, as long as the "eat out" is not a daily occurrence, and the rest of the time I am a good boy I treat it as a treat

katarinakolo

I'm embarrassed to admit, but I find going out to eat very distressing because it ruins my caloric intake for the day. It also makes me feel overly full to the point of nausea and discomfort. I'm normally not such a freak about things, but I avoid going out to eat because it's not worth my emotional rollercoaster.

jessef593

Nope. I just make sure to plan around it, if it's a wings Wednesday. I make sure to keep my calories down during the day and aim for a bit more in the gym or during the day. It's all about compromise and planning ahead

JustMissTracy

I don't get "freaked out" per se, but I do extra thinking around it if I have notice. I'll usually do an extra cardio session that morning, or just be mindful about what I'm eating. If the meal is too caloric to fit my goals that day, I'll just eat half and bring the other half home (example: Tuscan salad at East Side Marios was 580 calories yesterday! One Bellini was 300, and I had TWO!!! I drank the booze, and brought half the salad home..lol ).

LivingtheLeanDream

No... but then I don't eat out very much.

foxandflora

I definitely can get freaked out; however, I also think if you want to be mindful of what you're eating... think about your portions. Don't feel embarrassed or concerned eating half and taking half home (especially if you checked out the nutritional information online and the meals are heavy, which in many restaurants they are). My beau and I order Chinese every Monday to watch this show we watch together. I used to eat the whole container and that was awesome. Now, I eat half and eat the rest the next day. Still enjoying it but 32oz of tofu in General Tso's sauce doesn't have to be a total meal!

Last note, because I always do this, if you are starting to "fear" eating or anything, just make sure you are being mindful of actually eating. You do not need to weigh every single thing and know it exactly right every single time. That can be a tricky mindset (read: I have/had an Eating Disorder and "logging" and "measuring" and "being freaked out" about not having full control over what I was eating was the slippery slope, if you will.) Not saying you are developing an ED! Just a generic PSA!!!! >.<

MsAmandaNJ

mojo75 wrote: »

looking at the menu you realize just how many calories you were taking in before you started to take notice.

Totally this - it's disturbing, but once those numbers are in my mind, it's easy to only eat half the meal, taking it slow.

I'm comfortable going out to eat, most often I look at the menu online before going, then check the nutritional info.

kenyonhaff

JinjoJoey wrote: »

I wouldn't care so much about eating out if the nutrition information they provided was actually accurate. The problem is, they're not weighing your fries, meats, breads and toppings... So you have no idea if what you're logging is even accurate, regardless of the info they provide. That guy at Taco Bell isn't measuring the meat, cheese and sauce he throws in your burrito, so that 400 calorie burrito could be 600 calories for all you know.

It's a major annoyance for me and I usually just avoid eating out, unless I can get a salad from somewhere. It's hard to get into caloric trouble with a salad, so long as you don't have them dump dressing all over it.

Actually, in terms of measuring the guy at Taco Bell *might* be more consistent than the independent taco stand. Big corporations try to keep portions consistent, in order to cut wastage and make sure all Taco Bell products are pretty much the same.

CMNVA

I don't really freak out but I do stress over how to make it work. Initially I was only at 1200 calories. I'm up to 1400 calories now so it's a bit easier to fit something in, but in general, there's really not too many places I can go without blowing out my daily calorie count. I do pretty well with Panera and one or two other places, but that's it. This past Monday I went to Pei Wei (which is the counter service version of PF Chang's). Anyway, I tried to quickly find something not too offending. I got a "small plate" appetizer of traditional lettuce wraps and I also ordered one vegetable spring roll. The lettuce wraps themselves were 770 calories, spring roll at 120 calories. The worst part was that as calorically dense as that meal was, I was not satiated at all afterwards. It was a frustrating day. So, I do sort of stress out over what to order and sometimes I just decline going certain places as I know I can't do well there. Maybe I'll do better when I'm in maintenance.

Francl27

I've been on MFP for almost 4 years and I still have a love/hate relationship with going out to eat. I used to LOVE it. Now... it's so stressful! My favorite restaurants are not chains so there's never any nutrition info, but you don't really need to see it to figure out how many calories are in most dishes... and it's typically a lot. You notice that pretty much everything comes in cream sauces or is fried or has 300 calories worth of mayo in it or whatnot...

I only go out now when I crave something specific and make room for it... otherwise, it's just too frustrating trying to find something that won't break the calorie bank. I'm almost never satisfied on 'half a meal' like some people are - when you consider that 300 of your meal calories are from sauces or butter... it doesn't always leave much real food, and I usually need volume to be satisfied - and the places I tend to go to don't really have huge portions to begin with... and I really dislike having to waste a lot of calories on something I didn't really want in the first place. Also I'm almost never in the mood for salads (which are always way more calories than you'd think anyway) and see no point in spending $15 for grilled chicken and veggies that I could make at home (with half the oil and butter too).

I also can't stand side salads and cardboard lettuce, and considering that it's the only low calorie side option in a lot of places... bleh.

Honestly, I typically save eating out for when I'm hormonal and have all the cravings now... and I make it breakfast or lunch as much as possible (I'm a 'hungrier during the day' kind of person and going out for dinner typically means that unless I just have a bowl of soup and stay hungry, I'll be over).

And yes it did make my last vacations a total nightmare.

MsAmandaNJ

Francl27 wrote: »

Honestly, I typically save eating out for when I'm hormonal and have all the cravings now

This just blew my mind, makes so much sense! Awesome :-)

JoRocka

No- life's to short to truly stress.

Eating/food is all about consistent averages- if you are making consistently good choices- then you're not going to lose it all over one meal out.
Certainly if you eat out a lot (I travel for work- and that's a thing) make good choices- less carbs- more meat- more veggies- don't eat all of it etc etc.

But if it's just once or twice a month? eat what you want and move on.

RachelElser

No, why do you freak out? To many options? Portions to big? Not in the database?

Michaelxo444

No

LenGray

Nope. I eat Chinese food pretty regularly from a place down the street. Enough so that it's logged in my top 5 under the 'Frequent' tab. I buy it, bring it home, weigh it, and chow down. And that's WITH the extra eggroll.