Do you dread eating out now?

metaphoria

He-eeeeeeellll no. It means I don't have to cook.

hgycta

It all depends on where I'm going, honestly.
If it's a restaurant I've been to before and has calories posted, I love it. I just am careful about macros since sodium is usually a bit high (especially places such as Olive Garden).
If it's a restaurant I haven't been to before, and the nutritional information is available, I'm a little tentative but I try to do research on how the food is presented (how many sides you get with what), and try to plan accordingly around that so nothing catches me off guard and tempts me/makes me feel uncomfortable (I'm so painfully obsessive about tracking my calories so that I may maintain and eat as I wish, but I also want to appear "normal" and spontaneous when ordering, since "normal" people don't log their calories).
If it's a new restaurant without nutrition info available online, I usually freak out and try to contact someone who could provide it, usually through email. If it's still unavailable, I just avoid the place the best I can, or overestimate when I'm out with friends and eat less the next day.

My biggest issue with restaurants, however, are their inconsistency and preparation methods.
Inconsistency: I doubt the nutrition is always accurate, sometimes I even question if its within 20% of what it says. A quick example is when ordering a soft serve ice cream cone, you will almost NEVER the same amount served to you twice. I've had employees give me barely any ice cream, some give me what appeared to be an average amount, and then others continue to swirl the soft serve until it was more than four times the size of the cone itself, and I needed a bowl and spoon just to contain it.
Preparation methods: I work at a restaurant. At this lovely little establishment, I use to order sweet potatoes and grilled shrimp skewers all the time, since they're some of my favorite foods. However, I later found out just how much butter they apparently submerge the shrimp in. Oh yeah, and they coat the outside of all their potatoes in bacon grease. Some waiters "allow" customers to order it without the bacon grease, but they still use it just as much. Turns out the cooks never respect those wishes. The bread (served with butter) is also made with butter, then coated with butter before and after baking.

I think I'll stop now, I'm getting worked up haha. I could go on forever, please don't let me xD

emaren

I have a daily calorie allowance of about 1600.

I work out 6 days a week, burning 6-700 each time.

So my real allowance is 2200 or so.

If on a Friday night I go out and eat 1000kcals, then big deal, it means that I need to remember to eat less than 1200 during that day.

If I go a couple of hundred over on a Friday, big deal, over the week I have probably under eaten by several hundred each day so over the week it mostly evens out.

Like many others, I log it and I am taking more notice of my macro's, but I am continuing to lose weight at a healthy pace....

CWonder003

A lot of menus have symbols next to certain "light" options, and a lot of them specify "under x amount of calories" (which I assume means JUST under "x").

Other menus have a light options section on the menu. Sometimes they have calorie info, too.

If you are at a nicer place that doesn't put the calories on the menu, why not stick with a salad, or grilled chicken? Pretty much EVERY restaurant has one of those options. Eat oil/vinegar on your salad, and ask for the dressing on the side so you can tell how much is put on the salad.

Or, if it's a sandwich place, why not eat the sandwich open-face? You can estimate the cals of a sandwich pretty easily.

CHILL! You don't have to know the EXACT calorie count/nutrients in every meal. Unless you have a business lunch everyday, this is no biggie!

ash8184

I know how you feel. I eat out almost every lunch and dinner, so I have had to get over this anxiety.

I'm sure this has already been mentioned in the thread, but you are ALWAYS safe with a dry dinner salad and/or broth-based chicken soup (even better if it's sans pasta). I have the hardest time with Italian restaurants, but most have a spinach salad (get it dry!) and meatballs.

Chinese is hard, too. If you can handle tofu, go with tofu. Otherwise, steamed veggies are a good option (if I don't eat protein, I'll have a shake if I'm still hungry).

Hope this helps! I know it isn't exciting, but with some patience, it can be easy to eat out. I love it because my salads are always fresh!

PS: on occasion, enjoy yourself!

laursoar

I don't really obsess too much about measuring portions while eating out. I do well with measuring at home, so feel like a minor difference here and there won't hurt too much. I'm generally cool with eating out too if I plan in advance for it to allot calories and think about my options. For me, I get most thrown by spontaneous "let's go out to eat tonight!" or "let's go grab a drink tonight and eat bar food!" plans. Since I plan meals in advance, usually I'm out of calories by the point in the day when this would happen. I tend to decline lately rather than go, even though I know I technically just could sip some water and hang out.

I also feel a bit weary of being away and having to eat on the go for a few days. Later this week, I'm going away to a professional conference for two days. Realizing that I'll have to eat multiple meals on the go is kind of scary for me. I'm planning to pack a good amount of snacks and do my best at making healthy choices wherever I eat.

With time, I think I'll feel more comfortable about these situations again. At this early stage, I still tend to struggle with self control more so when out than when I'm at home.

Amber82479

In a word, YES. I obsess about it and beat myself up if I go over calories. I'm on 1,500 calories a day and I'm not allowed to eat my exercise calories back (per my nutritionist and diabetes specialist) and I fight for every pound. I don't enjoy the meal and I'm so worried about what it will do to the scale that I avoid eating out (other than the few places I know I can get something that fits my plan) and potlucks like the plague.

FrauHaas2013

I don't dread it, but I share your concerns! My husband is a chef, and believe me, sometimes the things that taste the yummiest are THE WORST!!! (For instance, my husband makes THE BEST garlic mashed potatoes; he also uses an entire block of butter!!!)

I don't eat out unless I'm pretty sure how something is cooked. The last time I went out for a company lunch, there was pretty much only 1 thing I could have on the menu, but it was delicious! It was half a romaine heart, grilled, with grilled herb chicken on top of it, and sprinkled with parmesan.

Most restaurants nowadays have some "heart-healthy choices" on the menu; maybe look the menu up online and decide beforehand what you want to order?

emelia_

I enjoy it! Before I used MFP I could eat whatever I wanted out and I still do now. Typically I just try to pick something that sounds on the healthy side but also something I think I would really enjoy. I don't look up calories until after because I want to enjoy the food I'm eating and not feel guilty after eating. If it ends up being a meal over 1,000 calories it's no big deal, the exercise for the week will easily take care of it

Naener

My family goes out to eat for "Family Dinner night" every single wednesday... and at first, it was hard to behave and stay within my intake allowance.. BUT since i got my brother on MFP and hes lost almost 30 lbs, weve turned it into a game/challenge.

its fun to sit and hunt the menus for items we can fit under our deficits and still stay under the goal... although hes a jerk and gets like 1800 while i have to stick to around 1300... lol.

grillnchill

If any of the calculations are off a little, it's not the end of the world. What matters is your week-to-week, not your day-to-day!

^
exactly!

81Katz

Sometimes yes.

amazon62goddess

I think I dread eating out more than I used to for sure, but for a different reason than you. I'm doing a lot of research on various ingredients that a lot of companies tend to use. It's scary the amount of "non-food" ingredients go into "food". I have started cooking at home more often (and I love it!) and paying attention to labels more closely! That makes for longer shopping trips but I think the extra scrutiny is worth the peace of mind.

In either case, I think you're doing great by initiating the first step: awareness. Sounds like your making conscious choices for your body and health (or are at least aware of the option to do so). Keep it up!

suzyfj8

Yes I totally dread going out and not being able to calculate the calories, I can guess them but its not the same

askeates

Being a single mom, I do not get to go out to eat often... when I do go out I plan ahead. Except for a few places around here, the menu items typically can be found online, and nutrition values are listed. I have to be very careful not only for calories but for a gluten intollerance, so it makes it even more challenging, but it is worth the extra time for planning purposes.

If the meal I plan to get is large, I will ask for them to bring me a to-go box with the meal and before eating, I will put half in the go box and then put that out of sight so I'm not tempted to sneak into it. It doesn't always work, but I try really hard to do this

My other trick is to make sure I have a salad before the main course (dressing on the side of course). This helps any belly rumblings you might have, and also helps slow you down a bit when the main meal comes so you can stop eating once you are satisfied.

brokenlogic18

I used to dread it but now, not so much. Most places I eat have tasty low cal options. And I often ask them to substitute some things like instead of fries, a salad with the dressing on the side. Or the other day I asked for a wholewheat pasta instead of white at an Italian place and they were happy to oblige!

Being able to plan in advance does help. On Friday I'm having lunch out with work colleagues then dinner out with my girlfriend, that one's gonna be hard to scale back the calories on!

It also helps that because the majority of the time I've been "good" I don't mind if I go a little over by enjoying myself eating out

alisonlynn1976

That level of obsession is why I'm not counting calories. I think it can be very beneficial to count them at first, to get an idea of how much you were eating and how much you should be eating, and I have done so before, but obsess about food for the rest of my life to the point where normal social activities like going to a restaurant are angst-inducing? No freaking thank you. Some of you have some MAJOR issues.