Estimating Servings

mdawson2005

Ok, so, this is my first post having only been on this site for about 3 weeks. Doing good so far, but I have a question about estimating servings when eating out, which I do A LOT...but I have no choice since I live in a hotel at least 4 days a week since I travel for my job. The problem comes in when I try to estimate a serving size. For example, I went to a restaurant for lunch today with the guys, Famous Daves in Wilmington, DE. I ordered a Salmon Caesar Salad. If I search on Caesar Salads I get all kinds of results and I chose the entry for 1 salad, 260 Grams. Now, looking at what was actually delivered I changed that to 1.5 servings, that being based on a similar serving at a restaurant called Champs, where their on-line menu says that their Caesar Salad is actually 1.5 servings...the two portions were similar in size.

How do you go about estimating serving size, especially in restaurants? My food diary is public if anyone is interested.

Thanks,

Mike

P.S. Lost 6 lbs the first week, gained 1 lb back the second week, but my clothes are feeling looser this week. I've been going to a personal trainer for 1.5 years but plateaued there and needed this to kick-start the weight loss again.

abyt42

When possible, I go places with online nutritional data (and plan what I'll order in advance so I pick when I'm not hungry.) In order to get a handle on portion size and calories, I'll ask (for salads) for the dressing on the side, then add a reasonable amount. I also guess based on a visual I've had stuck with me for years: pack of cards= serving of lean protein, pair of dice=serving of cheese....

maddox22

I would recommend spending some time while you're home learning what different quantities look like. Focus on volume/size (cups, etc) rather than grams, as that's typically easier to measure.

Measure out 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 cups of shredded cheese onto a plate. Study how much space it takes up. Compare it to something you can always access or that you know really well (e.g., the size of a baseball, a fist, something like that). Do similar things with meat, bread, etc. I wouldn't worry too much about veg (other than starchy veg), as typically they have very few calories anyway--even if you don't log them at all, it's unlikely to derail you completely). There is also good information online and in many diet books about estimating portion sizes (e.g., one serving of meat is about the size of a deck of playing cards).

Spend time studying the sizes of known portions. Then, when you eat out, study your food for a few moments before digging in and estimate the quantities. You're probably better off entering estimated quantities (e.g., for a salad, entering the lettuce, dressing, cheese, etc separately) than trying to log the whole entree (e.g., caesar salad), since preparations and sizes vary so much. (The exception to that, of course, is if you happen to eat at a place that has nutrition info listed for its meals.)

This isn't as accurate as actually measuring everything, but it's better than just guessing (because most of us are way off until we actually start to measure).

flyingspatulas

Someone posted this link on MFP a while ago and it's really helped me visualize portions when I don't have a measuring cup around!

http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-portion-size-plate

mdawson2005

Cool...all very helpful.....turns out I wasn't that far off...I estimated the salmon caesar salad at 582 cals by combining the 1.5 servings of caesar salad and 4 ounces of salmon while from their website they peg it at 550 cals. I can live with that.

faithstephenson

I'm glad you found your info:) When you are eating from a restraunt, I always try to find it in the database first. I looked, and that salad appears to be in there. Then, if they don't have the exact thing, I try to find the closest thing (they don't have Carlos O'Kelly's queso dip, but do have Applebee's), and if it's too different, I try to "build" it w/ the individual ingredients. I also try to choose the options that don't use grams as I have no good reference for those amounts.