Eating healthy on vacation...

elliott2015

I travel a lot and have an issue being able to count calories accurately as restaurants don’t usually have nutrition info;) Help please with tips on what to order when constantly dinning out??

kommodevaran

I have found eating on vacation to be no problem at all - instead of obsessing over "what's healthy" and "must not overeat", which leads to limitless intake of junk food, the change of scene flips a switch and I eat to fuel activities, and I love to explore and enjoy the local cuisine. My approach to eating just automatically changes - I will eat at meals, I become more selective, I will not eat constantly, I won't eat to pass time, like I'd have a tendency towards when I'm at home.

Unknown

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Emily3907

My husband lost about 65 pounds while he was traveling every other week for work and eating out for pretty much every meal. So, he had to learn pretty quick how to work out a meal in a restaurant.

What he found was that it was easiest to order from the menu items that were easily "countable". In other words, minimal prep and food that was pretty close to the original state. So, for example, he would order an 8 oz. steak, baked potato (butter or toppings on the side) and then he would get a vegetable like green beans or a side salad (dressing on the side). He pretty much stuck to meat, starch and vegetable, but chose things that had minimal prep from the kitchen. Or he would ask for items to be "steamed" or "sauce on the side", etc. He also didn't eat from the bread basket. Wherever he went, he would really study the menu to find an option that could be ordered without a lot of extra requests, but easily calculated.

Another thing he started doing towards the end was packing protein bars and snack sized items in his luggage for breakfast options or a quick lunch. (This was more about time though than calories.)

According to him, once he started becoming more versed in menus and options, it became easier to order.

I should also add though that he took advantage of hotel gyms A LOT. He would work out pretty much every morning for an hour to make up for any discrepancies in his calorie calculations.

Need2Exerc1se

My general rule when eating at restaurants and trying to keep calories down is grilled meat (chicken, fish, small steak, seafood) and steamed/grilled veggie sides without cheese or breading. Order salads with no/little cheese and dressing on the side. Go easy on or skip bread.

That said, I don't always try to keep calories down when traveling. If the restaurant has some tasty dishes I might not be able to get elsewhere I often will order whatever sounds best to me. I don't have to eat light all the time to control my weight.

SezxyStef

on vacation I don't worry about it...if it's really vacation....a week or two.
if it's travel for other reasons I log as best I can...and yes most places are online now.
if they aren't I order stuff I know...and as I said log best I can.

COGypsy

I'm not big on kitchen duty, so I eat out anywhere from 2-5 times a week. I've lost 50 pounds so far on that kind of dining schedule, so I feel like I've made it work pretty well. For me, the biggest thing was recognizing that a meal out is still just a meal. Just because I'm sitting somewhere besides my house doesn't automatically mean it's a special occasion. So I avoid appetizers and desserts. I go for "small plates" options or "appetizer as entree" when I can and generally find that it's more than plenty. When practical, I make at least 2 and often 3 meals from a restaurant entree and decide that from the start so I can eat (or I suppose, stop eating) accordingly. Like most have mentioned, I make simple, or at least common choices most of the time. I don't always have the deciding vote on where to eat, but these tricks have made eating out while losing weight sustainable for me.