Eating out struggles!

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Sami1503
Sami1503 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone else struggle when eating out?!

I never know whether to just treat myself and enjoy the meal or whether to worry about calories! This especially applies to cocktails. I love a cocktail but a lot of the ones I have aren't on mfp. So I never know what to do and just end up avoiding them altogether :(

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    You don't have to make an all-or-nothing decision. Sometimes when I go out I treat myself -- maybe there is something on the menu I'm really wanting or it's a special occasion or whatever. Many other times, I pick something that I know will easily fit into my calorie goals. Not every meal out is a special occasion (unless you eat out so rarely that it is automatically a special occasion). If you're eating out regularly, you've got to figure out a way to make it fit.

    If the cocktails you love aren't on MFP, have you considered looking up the ingredients and creating your own estimated entry? If you can't find the ingredients and can't estimate, I'd personally treat them as an occasional indulgence . . . but that's just me.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,112 Member
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    You can find the calories for cocktails online or you can use the individual components in your food diary.

    As far as food, many restaurants list their calories. If not, then guess. I only go out to eat rarely but when I do I still log as closely as I can otherwise I tend to get the "who cares," and fall off logging all together.

    Make a best guess, enjoy a cocktail on occasion and move on. :) Just log it.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    Sami1503 wrote: »
    Does anyone else struggle when eating out?! - Of course. We all have.

    I never know whether to just treat myself and enjoy the meal or whether to worry about calories! - This one depends on the situation. Sometimes I stick with a grilled chicken salad, and sometimes I don't worry AT ALL. Tonight is going to be a 'don't worry at all' night at Buffalo Wild Wings, including onion rings and probably a couple Long Islands. I'm not going to log any of it. I'm going to enjoy every bite and get back on track tomorrow.

    This especially applies to cocktails. I love a cocktail but a lot of the ones I have aren't on mfp. So I never know what to do and just end up avoiding them altogether :( - For me, alcohol is tricky not because of the calories, but because I get the drunk munchies and eat more than I planned. So, for tonight, when I'm not going to worry about it, I'm going to have a drink or three. When I am tracking/planning, I cut the alcohol.

    P.S. The 'not track anything' meals don't happen very often. It's probably been at least six months since the last time I did this.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,021 Member
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    Sami1503 wrote: »
    Does anyone else struggle when eating out?!

    I never know whether to just treat myself and enjoy the meal or whether to worry about calories! This especially applies to cocktails. I love a cocktail but a lot of the ones I have aren't on mfp. So I never know what to do and just end up avoiding them altogether :(

    I think this really depends. Do you eat out frequently? If so then in my opinion it is best to pay attention to the calories. Is eating out a rare occurrence that only happens on special occasions? If so, then it is ok to not worry about the calories every now and then and just get back on track the next day. I eat out pretty regularly and most of the time I make sure that what I get fits my calorie goal. I may have a drink or a dessert or an appetizer, but not necessarily all three. Or only one drink. But the other day was my birthday. I had drinks, appetizers and dessert. I think it is ok to splurge occasionally. It is when the splurges stop being occasional and become the norm that a problem arises.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,851 Member
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    For me, it really helped to log my meals out (or other difficult to log but more indulgent choices). If necessary, I'd estimate, using MFP database entries that seemed similar, guessing at portion sizes, and picking database entries on the higher side calorie-wise instead of going for lowball ones that were probably optimistic. For example, if I was having a cocktail that wasn't listed, I'd look for something loosely similar (sweet if mine was sweet, with cream if mine had cream, etc.) and log the similar thing.

    By logging, I could compare the rough amount I went over to my weight loss rate, and decide if it was worth it.

    For example, when I was losing a pound a week, that meant my daily calorie deficit was about 500 calories (7 x 500 = 3500, the approximate number of calories in a pound of body fat). If I had a restaurant meal that went 1000 calories over my goal, I could estimate that I'd wiped out that day's weight loss plus one more day (1000 divided by 500 = 2 days), delaying reaching goal weight by 2 days. Based on that, I could give some thought to whether it had been worth it or not, and change my future choices accordingly.

    It also helped to look at the restaurant menu in advance, if I could find it online. That way, I could look up some foods in advance, and decide what seemed to fit in well, given the importance of the occasion, how much I wanted an indulgent treat, how many calories I had left to goal (or to maintenance calories for the day), etc. I could also fit in an extra walk or something to "bank" some calories to offset.

    If I knew earlier in the week that I was going to do something special on (say) Friday, I'd also try to come in a little (not a lot) under goal in advance for a few days to "bank" calories, then eat a little lighter earlier in the day of the planned meal out.

    IME, it's a Bad Plan to cut lots for days in advance, because it can backfire into a binge. It also can be a problem to try to compensate by cut-backs after an indulgent day, for the same reason. When the cuts are before the event, the indulgent restaurant meal stands in for the potential binge, and kind of evens things out in terms of cutbacks and indulgences. Cutting after the event doesn't even out the books in the same way, for me.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    Sami1503 wrote: »
    Does anyone else struggle when eating out?!

    I never know whether to just treat myself and enjoy the meal or whether to worry about calories! This especially applies to cocktails. I love a cocktail but a lot of the ones I have aren't on mfp. So I never know what to do and just end up avoiding them altogether :(

    Not really...sometimes it's an occasion and I treat myself...other times it's just grabbing lunch when I'm out with the boys and I'll be more conscientious about things.

    This would also depend on how much you eat out. I don't really eat out that often, so it's usually a treat and usually something that I'm specifically wanting.
  • Leannep2201
    Leannep2201 Posts: 441 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    You don't have to make an all-or-nothing decision. Sometimes when I go out I treat myself -- maybe there is something on the menu I'm really wanting or it's a special occasion or whatever. Many other times, I pick something that I know will easily fit into my calorie goals. Not every meal out is a special occasion (unless you eat out so rarely that it is automatically a special occasion). If you're eating out regularly, you've got to figure out a way to make it fit.

    This is what I do, too.
    I live in a country where most restaurants DON’T publish nutritional information/ calories- it’s only the big chain ones that do, like McDonalds or Subway. That can make it more challenging, but most places publish their menu items online- I usually look them up and pre-plan what I’m having.... as long as I know where I’m going to be eating. This gives me time to enter the foods into MFP, in the best way that I can.... I hate estimating calories, but sometimes when eating out, it’s the best I can do.

    It was our wedding anniversary last weekend, so I didn’t worry about calories, and just enjoyed the night out with my husband. Wedding anniversarys are only once a year! But we had done some hiking earlier that day, so it kind of all balanced out anyway!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I eat it and log it. I only splurge on high calorie meals when I really crave them though... and I try to make room for it in my day (for me typically it means avoiding dinner out).
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
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    Complete avoidance is going to end up kicking you in the behind at some point. I can’t ever tell myself “never” because then that’s all I can ever think about and then go ballistic.

    A cocktail once a month isn’t going to hurt you, or really once a week - as long as you can maybe do it in a controlled environment. If you have a night out with the girls once a month, or date night with your husband every other Friday, or an anniversary dinner — have one cocktail and make it one that you really like - then thoroughly enjoy it. Take a while to drink it....savor it.....just relax and really enjoy it. If you have it when your out at an event, you won’t have leftovers to tempt you later on.

  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    Sami1503 wrote: »
    Does anyone else struggle when eating out?!

    I never know whether to just treat myself and enjoy the meal or whether to worry about calories! This especially applies to cocktails. I love a cocktail but a lot of the ones I have aren't on mfp. So I never know what to do and just end up avoiding them altogether :(

    Maybe the question is - why do you eat out so much? I don't.

    But if you must eat out, make a note of the separate ingredients of those cocktails and enter them in your diary to get the calorie count.

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