General Guidelines for Eating Out

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Replies

  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    What do I do? I never default to a salad....ever.

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  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,995 Member
    I eat out two or three nights a week. I do a big cardio workout beforehand to make room to have whatever I want. Though I do try to stick to lean protein and veg. My last restaurant meal, i was served two duck breasts (with skin) with puy lentils and blackcurrant and wine sauce. I took home half of the duck and and lentils for lunch the next day.
  • healthyandfitgirl14
    healthyandfitgirl14 Posts: 413 Member
    I love to eat out, but I will not share tips with strangers.

    Well I mean you are what you eat, right?
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Am I the only one who finds eating a burger with no bun kind of depressing?

    When I go to restaurants I usually get what I want, but try to be cognizant of portion sizes rather than just go to town. My husband and I will often have apps and then split an entree at places where the portions are big. I rarely order dessert.

    I do my best to log the meal and rarely feel guilty because I know I can eat less the next day to compensate.
    I order burgers no bun often. I call them "steak". :smile: Seriously, to me? a restaurant bun isn't worth the calories. I also often check to see if they have a ruben. If they do, it means they have rye bread (doesn't bug my stomach) and then I get a burger on rye.
  • dawn_h_d
    dawn_h_d Posts: 184 Member
    I have a friend that owns a restaurant - it is local (as in, not a chain). I don't expect him to give me the recipes for his food, but it is OH soooo yummy. Anyways, I know it is made with "real" ingredients, so I just find something similar and go with it. Like his Potato Skins are similar to TGIF's, so I log TGIF tater skins, Pizza - Similar to Domino's, etc. I know it isn't exact, but it is close. I feel that if I don't enjoy somethings, sometimes, that I will fail.

    Even when you make a recipe at home, are you sure that you are eating 1/6 of something that makes 6 servings - as in, if it has a cup of green peppers in it (and a whole bunch of other ingredients), are you making sure you only get 1/6 of that cup of peppers when you measure out the helping?

    Let the burning of me begin :)
  • roxylola
    roxylola Posts: 540 Member
    shugmn, I do much the same thing, just log closest I can. I tend to overestimate sizes of portions. Which is why I don't get too caught up if my calories are more or less than goal, I have them set at 1200 but if i exceed by a bit well it's still a deficit really :D
  • kennie2
    kennie2 Posts: 1,170 Member
    i just relax and eat whatever. not like im doing it every day
  • bigphatcat
    bigphatcat Posts: 7,843 Member
    In for funny non topic replies
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
    I think a great guideline to remember is that a family style casual chain is still fast food.

    At Olive Garden most everything comes from frozen. At Applebee's much of the "cooking" is done in plastic bags and containers. It arrives mostly pre-made and requires microwaving. They even par-cook the pasta and microwave it before serving.

    Some chains are better than others (I do enjoy On The Border once in a great while--but it's hard to find menu items that don't have scary high calorie counts).

    I prefer eating out at a small family owned restaurant. Even last weekend where I got fast food--a clam roll and fries--I still went for the small locally owned family restaurant where everything is made to order and the seafood is local. My favorite clam shack happens to use cholesterol free oil and they change out the oil a lot. Still cheap but at least the cooks are actually cooking and not heating up microwave plastic bags of food made in a factory.

    Whatever you get while eating out just break it down by ingredient if not a chain and log to the best of your ability. If the food is simple and homemade it should be pretty easy to log!

    There's also this article that was published last week that breaks down if eating out is actually cheaper than eating at home:

    http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2013/08/20/put-new-study-test-eating-out-cheaper-than-cooking-home/CytldzC97LORKpESA31RTI/story.html

    My favorite quote from the article: "No question, groceries are expensive and getting more so. The gap might be narrowing, but is eating out cheaper than cooking at home? Well, if you believe that, you probably want to be careful about traveling too close to the horizon, lest you fall off the edge of the earth."
  • jess135177
    jess135177 Posts: 186 Member
    When I do eat out its a treat so I order what I want. I make sure to look the calories up afterward and log it. I order something that I cant make at home!
  • overweightrn
    overweightrn Posts: 2 Member
    I eat out about once a week and usually eat what I want within reason. Sometimes if too big a serving will bring some home for next day.

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