Restaurant Calorie Counts

etherealanwar

So I was wondering how much faith do you put into a restaurants posted calorie counts? I feel like it may be a rough reasonable idea of the amount you are consuming but isn't always on the spot given human variances when preparing the food. I feel like this may be my stall culprit as I've increased the times I've been eating out and have been maintaining within a 1-2 lb range for the last 2 weeks. How often do you eat out and when you do does it have a noticeable impact when compared to preparing your own food?

I feel like I really need to limit how much I eat out if I want to have a steady rate of loss. The truth hurts. lol.

janejellyroll

Unless it seems off-the-wall, I just go with them. If I was eating out more often and I noticed a stall, I would probably begin adding extra calories as a buffer or I would temporarily cut back on eating out until I got back into a steady pace of weight loss. I typically eat out 1-2 times a week.

RoxieDawn

Restaurant eating is nothing like I prepare and cook food at home. I have to trust the calorie counts on these menus for the most part and usually eating out is most of my calories allowed for the day. I will eat smaller meals/snacks around this one higher calorie dense meal.

Running_and_Coffee

I try to eat at restaurants pretty infrequently. I will track what a restaurant says in MFP...however, I can tell you that the weeks when I am eating out more often than not, even when I make the best choices I can, are usually not weeks when I lose.

etherealanwar

Running_and_Coffee wrote: »

I try to eat at restaurants pretty infrequently. I will track what a restaurant says in MFP...however, I can tell you that the weeks when I am eating out more often than not, even when I make the best choices I can, are usually not weeks when I lose.

Yeah this is turning out to be the case for me too! They must really downplay the amount of calories their food has huh

steveko89

Can't say that I'm 100% or even 80% confident in most posted calories. Some of the places I go are small/independent places that don't have nutrition posted on their website either. In that case I make a point to pick a reasonable facsimile or ask how many oz a protein portion is and build a meal with individual entries. Actually did that for lunch today, was between a turkey BLT or a burger from a local place and asked the waitress how much meat was on each. I could tell she thought the request was a little odd and had to ask the kitchen but cheerfully got me an answer which made me more confident in my choice (read: justification) for picking the 7oz burger over the 4oz turkey sandwich for the extra protein.

NovusDies

I guess because I put myself through college working in a restaurant I have less faith. If it is not a 'relaxed' diet meal I scrutinize things pretty closely. I think it comes down to looking at how reasonable the calorie count seems to be, maybe comparing it to a similar dish from another restaurant, and then using common sense.

shunggie

I want to yell at the Chipotle staff for giving "extra" ... they're being nice but it's killing my calorie count.

puffbrat

I use them as a rough guesstimate, but adding a calorie buffer to compensate would be a good idea. Also remember that most restaurant food will be much higher in sodium than what you prepare at home, leading to potential water retention. Last week I ate out much more than usual, and by the end of the week I could feel and see major bloating. Two days of eating normally at home, I lost 3lbs of water weight gained during the week and felt much better.