Eating out

arendiva

Does anyone else find eating out stressful? Not only is it hard to find healthy options eating out but it’s also nearly impossible to track with any accuracy unless your eating at a major chain with published nutrition info.

I went out today and got a turkey and apple sandwich with waffle fries and trying to track it is such a subjective jumble of guesswork that I have no confidence my estimated imput is correct. Which makes planning for the rest of the day a nightmare too.

I don’t want to be a wet blanket since it is a Saturday and my sister who I rarely see is visiting but honestly my desire to be good and honest about what I’m consuming seriously detracts from my enjoyment out.

I don’t want to be the kind of person who only eats at major chains but it’s comforting to know what I’m putting in my body and being able to plan the rest of my day accordingly. Grr rant over. It’s only one day.

WifiresGettingFit

I tend to focus on being consistent versus being 100% accurate when it comes to eating out at places that don't have nutritional information. I have a spreadsheet that includes the date (so I can easily find it to copy the meal), where I went and what I had so that when I go there again I can use the same entries. If I go to the same place again and get something different, I create a new entry on my spreadsheet. I just pick the best entries that I think best match what I think the calories are. This includes making sure that the entry doesn't just have the calorie information but includes information for carbs, fat, protein, etc. Weighing and logging helps with this because you get used to portion sizes and calorie information for different foods so it makes guesstimating easier/more accurate.

Something you can do if you know you're going out is bank calories. Some people will eat at a bigger deficit during the week to save more calories for the weekend. Another option is to eat lighter at the other meals to account for going out. Personally, at least for me, I just let myself have a maintenance day or just let myself have a higher calorie day because if I'm eating out, I'm getting what I want otherwise what is the point? but in order to get what I want, I have to watch how often I go out or I will completely wipe out any deficit.

You're right it's just one day and the time with your sister is more important than the calories of your meal.

puffbrat

I also tend to find it stressful, but when I am being dilligent and consistent in my logging and weight loss, I also find that one or two meals out during a week doesn't stop my weight loss, it might just temporarily slow or stall it. I usually just try to select items that will be filling but not totally overboard on calories, or stick with an entree only, no appetizer or dessert. I typically just try to find the closest reasonable entry in the food database and overestimate my portion.

VeryKatie

I usually try to build the food as best possible from the database, and I choose moderate to high calories for each of the pieces. That or I type in the name of the item and "restaurant" and pick the highest calorie option of the same item from a different restaurant. That does mean the rest of the day may not have much left. But that's where I like to use a weekly average. I can make up for it with some exercise or say 50 calories less per day for a week. The spreadsheet we have here shows your overall monthly and weekly average. Also, if it isn't a common thing for you to eat out, then one splurge isn't going to hurt much. But I'm talking like once a month at most.

Honestly, even eating at a chain, the calorie information posted on their websites are statistically 20% too low anyway. So you never really know. I found its better for my mental (and therefore overall) health not to focus on having perfect numbers in my diary. I just set my daily limit a touch lower than I would and hope the difference covers any errors I make.

I ate out every meal for 2 months before my last child was born (lol we kept thinking "We'll never have the time or money to do this again!!!!") and I was still able to keep a very healthly/reasonable weight gain during that pregnancy.