Calorie counting was going well...then I went out for dinner

EmGee922

I've been logging my food and workouts pretty religiously for the past couple weeks and haven't found it too difficult, but I went out for dinner tonight and have no idea how to even begin to guess what to log to even be in the ballpark.

I had ginger chicken w/ rice at a non-chain Vietnamese restaurant as well as a bubble Thai tea. I'm thinking about just grabbing the nutrition information from some similar sounding item from PF Changs and figuring it's about as close as I'm going to be able to guess. I only eat out once a week or less, so being off a bit shouldn't throw my numbers off horribly.

Maybe the more experienced among you can give me a better idea? A wild guess must be slightly better than not logging the day at all?

leapsonbounds

It is hard to get the exact right numbers when you go out. But I find that because of logging in all of my food, it makes me more aware of what I'm consuming, especially when I go out. And that's kind of the whole point of this, is that we learn what more appropriate proportion sizes are, we learn to eat more veggies, etc. So do the best you can with guesstimating tonight's dinner, and get back on track tomorrow. (Just don't be surprised if the weight goes up a little tomorrow or the next day due to the likely high sodium content of your dinner.)

laursoar

Definitely better than not logging at all. If nutrition information isn't available, there's generally not much you can do other than trying to use a comparable chain. Other possible options are doing some googling about the healthiest generic choices at different types of restaurants or cutting restaurant portions in half while eating out. If you're worried about underestimating calories, I'd suggest maybe exercising a bit extra this week and not eating those calories back. Ultimately though, these types of situations pop up here and there from potlucks to non-chain restaurants. I wouldn't stress too much as long as you log the best you can.

EmGee922

Thanks for the replies. Yes, the sodium was no doubt through the roof...I've been guzzling water ever since I got home and still feel thirsty. I suppose I'll just make my best guess and get back on track tomorrow. The only other things I had today were a banana and black coffee and I walked three miles, so I don't think it should've thrown me too far off track calorie-wise. I'm definitely beginning to get a better idea of what I should be eating through the food logging. I've managed to be under my calorie goal 9 of the last 10 days, but sugar and sodium have been *way* over every day. I'm trying not to stress too much about it as my goal is to gradually reach a point where I've developed healthy eating habits that I can sustain on a long term basis...I know if I make a complete change over night, I'll be back to old habits in a week.