Counting calories when eating out?
DapperDassie
Posts: 190 Member
I'm going out for my birthday tonight and not sure how to calculate the calories. I've looked at the menu and tried entering some options in myfitnesspal but they all look way too low and not accurate
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Replies
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Just do the best you can. Usually when I calculate meals out I am shocked at how many calories I eat, even when I try to eat healthy, but there are times it is absolutely worth it.2
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If you want to count calories, choose a grilled chicken breast or fish with no sauces and steamed veggies.
Or enjoy your birthday by ordering what sounds good and get right back at it tomorrow.3 -
You may only be able to guesstimate because restaurant portions are often nonstandard.
If it is a once in a while splurge sometimes its just good to just enjoy instead of stressing out.
Some things may surprise you pleasantly eating out though. A steak, and green salad with light dressing can be quite healthy. And delicious.3 -
If you want to count calories, choose a grilled chicken breast or fish with no sauces and steamed veggies.
Or enjoy your birthday by ordering what sounds good and get right back at it tomorrow.
Today's actually not my birthday, my birthday was Sunday. This is just the only time my dad can take me out. I didn't count calories on my birthday but don't want to make it a non-calorie counting birthday week so I'm back to counting haha. I want to be able to order something yummy and high in calorie I just want to be able to count it accurately and fit it in my day1 -
Happy birthday yes you should count the calories do your best and I log more than one portion if I think it looks like the calorie amount is too low0
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Another option, if the restaurant website doesn't have calorie info listed, I sometimes google the restaurant name, item, and calorie information. I usually get reasonable results with that, sometimes closer to what I think it would be than what I find on here. I also second the recording a double portion if ;the MFP counts seem low0
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For restaurants, I usually give myself a serving size of 1.25-1.5 depending on how "off" I feel the calories are. If I go somewhere and they say a dish is 500 calories and then bring out a full, 10" plate, I log 1.5 servings. I also prefer to err on the side of guessing too high than too low.1
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You didn't find any of the items from local restaurants in MFP? I don't live in a particularly large city and still there are a lot of my local restaurant's menu items in MFP. They're generally just estimates from previous patrons, but it saves me the time of trying to estimate it myself and most seem fairly accurate. And it helps if the menu item has some type of unique name. I imagine it would be difficult to find something like "homemade chicken soup" from the menu, for example.0
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Workout before you go!0
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I honestly don't think it's a huge deal. It's your birthday dinner. Eat as much as you think is acceptable and just work twice as hard the next day! Happy Late B-Day!0
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hlblakeley wrote: »Another option, if the restaurant website doesn't have calorie info listed, I sometimes google the restaurant name, item, and calorie information. I usually get reasonable results with that, sometimes closer to what I think it would be than what I find on here. I also second the recording a double portion if ;the MFP counts seem low
I tried that didn't find anything0 -
You didn't find any of the items from local restaurants in MFP? I don't live in a particularly large city and still there are a lot of my local restaurant's menu items in MFP. They're generally just estimates from previous patrons, but it saves me the time of trying to estimate it myself and most seem fairly accurate. And it helps if the menu item has some type of unique name. I imagine it would be difficult to find something like "homemade chicken soup" from the menu, for example.
Nope and i haven't for any of the restaurants where I live. There's lots of little local restaurants here and have never been able to find the calories for any of them0 -
gamerbabe14 wrote: »Workout before you go!
did that0 -
I usually log 800 to 1000 calories for a restaurant meal plus an extra 400 for dessert if no calories are posted.
Happy Birthday✨0 -
Eat a side salad vs fries, drink water with lemon, get a chicken sandwich and make it open faced. Get soup! I don't think eating out is that difficult. You just have to be smart.0
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I use the closest entry I can find with the largest calorie count. If you are having a spaghetti with meatballs, pick the one that comes closest to the size. You can usually find something that is close to what you got. I know how hard it is to find counts for small or single restaurants since I live in a town of only 3500 for summer and double that for winter.(snowbirds in Az) Good Luck and remember it's your birthday not everyday.0
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gamerbabe14 wrote: »Eat a side salad vs fries, drink water with lemon, get a chicken sandwich and make it open faced. Get soup! I don't think eating out is that difficult. You just have to be smart.
like I said I'm not trying to eat a low calorie meal. The thing I love about calorie counting is being able to have big "unhealthy" meals once in awhile because I worked it into my calories for the day. I just want to know how to count it accurately1 -
ElizabethHanrahan wrote: »I use the closest entry I can find with the largest calorie count. If you are having a spaghetti with meatballs, pick the one that comes closest to the size. You can usually find something that is close to what you got. I know how hard it is to find counts for small or single restaurants since I live in a town of only 3500 for summer and double that for winter.(snowbirds in Az) Good Luck and remember it's your birthday not everyday.
yeah that's what I'm ending up doing thanks0 -
In Canada restaurants have to provide the calories right on the menu. If they don't have that it's usually on their website. If not, I ask how I can track it down and they are usually very helpful.0
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