How I managed to squeeze PF Changs into my cals and hit my macros for the day LOL

lgfrie

It definitely took some pre-planning. Couldn't do anything about the sodium, though ...

Womona

That is truly impressive! Too bad they don’t make a low sodium option for their meals.

quiksylver296

Their lettuce wraps fit into my day pretty well, too. They list them as an appetizer, but there’s enough for a full meal.

Well done!

exhilen

Chinese food will always be my downfall, and I don’t feel an ounce guilty for it!

Great job!

NovusDies

I am not a fan of PF Chang's outside their cucumbers in the mirin, soy, & sesame dressing. Are they still doing the thing where a serving is half of an ordered meal though? That can be pretty confusing.

lgfrie

NovusDies wrote: »

I am not a fan of PF Chang's outside their cucumbers in the mirin, soy, & sesame dressing. Are they still doing the thing where a serving is half of an ordered meal though? That can be pretty confusing.

Hope not or I totally blew my diet tonight LOL

NovusDies

Looks like you are safe:

Note: Values shown are for full dish. Values are current as of March 2018.

I remember they once brought you a "family size" portion and the nutrition information was for a serving not the full plate.

lgfrie

NovusDies wrote: »

Looks like you are safe:

Note: Values shown are for full dish. Values are current as of March 2018.

I remember they once brought you a "family size" portion and the nutrition information was for a serving not the full plate.

They did pull a fast one on me in another way, though. The fried rice side said 300 cals online. They brought me a BIG bowl of rice at the restaurant that was obviously not 300 calories, but I have this thing where, if an overage isn't intentionally done by me then I ignore it and just enjoy the food unless it's truly egregious. For instance, if someone gives me what appears to be an extra hundred cals of sour cream or guac on a burrito, I just subsume it under "Calories are always approximate" and ignore it - as long as I didn't do it on purpose. So I ate and enjoyed the rice, which was delicious.

This morning I got curious and called them and asked, what's up with the rice, that didn't look like 300 calories worth. They said, oh no of course not! That was three servings, we started bringing out rice "for the table" a few months ago; we no longer do the individual servings. LOL

For that kind of overage, I felt obligated to log it. 50 or 100 calories, I'll ignore. An unlogged 600 cal overage will throw off my ongoing TDEE measurements. Which blew my day completely out of the water.

Still worth it, though. I don't get a lot of refined carbs these days. I savored every grain.

NovusDies

Those PF Chang folks are always trying to sneak extra calories into you.

I have almost the opposite logging style as you. I almost always log restaurant food as 1.1 or 1.2 servings depending on how many caloric ingredients are in them that could cause it to be over the estimate. Of course my over-logging habits do tend to show up in my spreadsheet. My actual results are an average of 100 calories per day ahead of my logged deficit. I prefer it that way.

That is not to say that one way is right and the other is wrong. It is just how we were individually wired. Besides once you find a system that works you should stick with it as long as it produces the desired results.

heybales

For similar Panda Express - I got into habit of putting the food on other plate on scale at home that I zeroed out between items.

So that way exact weight when logged, for correct serving size.
Sadly they normally got it close to their stated serving size. Unless I came in right before closing, not uncommon after long workout - and got a lot more than normal to empty the bins I guess.

And after a long workout - it fit the calories and macros just fine.

Phirrgus

NovusDies wrote: »

I am not a fan of PF Chang's

Heathen.

Well done OP - I can always make room for good Chinese food, and if not, I'll make it up during the week.

lgfrie

NovusDies wrote: »

Those PF Chang folks are always trying to sneak extra calories into you.

I have almost the opposite logging style as you. I almost always log restaurant food as 1.1 or 1.2 servings depending on how many caloric ingredients are in them that could cause it to be over the estimate. Of course my over-logging habits do tend to show up in my spreadsheet. My actual results are an average of 100 calories per day ahead of my logged deficit. I prefer it that way.

That is not to say that one way is right and the other is wrong. It is just how we were individually wired. Besides once you find a system that works you should stick with it as long as it produces the desired results.

I agree, it's very individual. I used to be more tenacious in trying to nail down the exact calories in restaurant food and was a stickler for logging even one extra pickle or what looked like 1.5 tbsp of ketsup instead of 1. But I realized it was turning my occasional eating out into more of a stressful spreadsheet exercise than an enjoyable break from measuring calories at home.

The longer my diet goes on, the more I've concluded that having a few safety valves for diet stress is useful to me. My overall compliance percentage is currently 91 %, meaning 91 days out of 100, I am under my limits on calories and sodium, at or over my protein target, and meet or exceed my target minutes of cardio. At one point I really wanted it to be 95 % but that turned out to be more than I could comfortably achieve without getting diet fatigue. I've figured out that I need a little flex in the system - a buttered popcorn if I really want one, or ignoring the fact that the dude at California Tortilla just glopped a quarter cup of guac on my otherwise diet-friendly burrito. One day, after opening up my burrito to remove the offending excess guac and making a complete mess of my meal and then spending the entire meal thinking about calories instead of enjoying the food, I decided I would never do that again and would go with the flow a little. But 600 extra cals of rice, that's too much - that isn't flex, it's almost .2 of a pound.

But when I am eating at home, the scale is always on the counter and everything is down to the individual gram. I've been known to pass on a 43 calorie after dinner chocolate because I only have 42 calories left. One calorie over, and the whole day gets logged as "NC" for non-compliant on my spreadsheet and I hate those LOL

NovusDies

lgfrie wrote: »

NovusDies wrote: »

Those PF Chang folks are always trying to sneak extra calories into you.

I have almost the opposite logging style as you. I almost always log restaurant food as 1.1 or 1.2 servings depending on how many caloric ingredients are in them that could cause it to be over the estimate. Of course my over-logging habits do tend to show up in my spreadsheet. My actual results are an average of 100 calories per day ahead of my logged deficit. I prefer it that way.

That is not to say that one way is right and the other is wrong. It is just how we were individually wired. Besides once you find a system that works you should stick with it as long as it produces the desired results.

I agree, it's very individual. I used to be more tenacious in trying to nail down the exact calories in restaurant food and was a stickler for logging even one extra pickle or what looked like 1.5 tbsp of ketsup instead of 1. But I realized it was turning my occasional eating out into more of a stressful spreadsheet exercise than an enjoyable break from measuring calories at home.

The longer my diet goes on, the more I've concluded that having a few safety valves for diet stress is useful to me. My overall compliance percentage is currently 91 %, meaning 91 days out of 100, I am under my limits on calories and sodium, at or over my protein target, and meet or exceed my target minutes of cardio. At one point I really wanted it to be 95 % but that turned out to be more than I could comfortably achieve without getting diet fatigue. I've figured out that I need a little flex in the system - a buttered popcorn if I really want one, or ignoring the fact that the dude at California Tortilla just glopped a quarter cup of guac on my otherwise diet-friendly burrito. One day, after opening up my burrito to remove the offending excess guac and making a complete mess of my meal and then spending the entire meal thinking about calories instead of enjoying the food, I decided I would never do that again and would go with the flow a little. But 600 extra cals of rice, that's too much - that isn't flex, it's almost .2 of a pound.

But when I am eating at home, the scale is always on the counter and everything is down to the individual gram. I've been known to pass on a 43 calorie after dinner chocolate because I only have 42 calories left. One calorie over, and the whole day gets logged as "NC" for non-compliant on my spreadsheet and I hate those LOL

I balance myself the other way. I choose not to care if I go over my calorie goal by up to 100 calories as long as it is logged and shows up in my numbers on my SS. I consider that compliant. Because I don't stress about going over my limit it does not affect my enjoyment of a meal even if I can tell it is higher than I was anticipating.

In addition to banking points that are available to cover higher overages I also have lower calorie days when I am not as hungry. I find myself some weeks trying to raise my average back to my target range when it has not happened organically. Pizza (one of my stress valve foods) has saved many of my weeks from ending with a deficit that is higher than I would like.

I think over time you have to customize your plan for your own personality not just what keeps you full during the day. As precise as I am about a lot of things I will snag a few potato chips from a bag without weighing them first. Potato chips also happen to be where I make some of my biggest errors. One week I logged enough calories for 4.5 small bags of chips and I only ate 3 bags. It doesn't matter because it all works and as long as I lose slightly faster than my deficit I am quite comfortable.

Hilogirl2018

Had PF Changs today, too- can't go wrong with the won ton soup, which is all I ever order (I'm on a high sodium diet, though). I'm all about fitting in my favorite restaurant foods, and it's fairly easy with honest logging.