Eating out

calibriintx

Thanks A lot of you have been helpful. The social aspect of eating out with everyone for lunch is what is hard. I often pack my lunch and then go to lunch anyhow. I guess I was just looking for tips on eating healthy at restaurants.

Your diary is closed so it's hard to give much advice aside from general stuff that's obvious. You can go to Chipotle and have lunch for under 1000 calories or you can go to Chipotle and have lunch for 5000 calories. I think a bag of their chips is like 500 calories but I don't feel like confirming that right now.

loserbaby84

Feeling kinda like you guys are just looking to fight .. Silly.

I just meant that it is EASIER to go out and have someone cook/prepare food for you ... No maintenance, no thought, no shopping involved. Tons of people eat out for these reasons alone.

Ugh.

Honestly, it's not easy to prepare food vs. being served at a restaurant.

disagrees..it is easy to prepare food. Take four slices of turkey breast, put on bread, add some lettuce and tomato, and lunch is ready..that takes about five minutes.

Or pre cook a bunch of chicken on Sunday and throw it in the fridge...or through the chicken in slow cooker, remove, shred, and store...

It's easy to prepare food, proof is above. I do this all the time. 30 - 60 minutes of work on a Sunday, while drinking beer and watching football. Easy.

It's also easy to stay fat. So just stay fat, seems like a lot of folks want an easy way out.

mashmore10

I bring my lunch most of the time, low cal dinners, etc. But when we do go out for lunch I order one of the "low calorie" meals. Most restaurants now offer meals that are low calorie. Also I stay away from appetizers which tend to be high and calories. Also I order water instead of soda. I think a lot of the time, people drink a lot more calories than they think.

qtgonewild

Disappointing thread title.

I agree

JoRocka

Feeling kinda like you guys are just looking to fight .. Silly.

I just meant that it is EASIER to go out and have someone cook/prepare food for you ... No maintenance, no thought, no shopping involved. Tons of people eat out for these reasons alone.

Ugh.

this is EXACTLY what I was going to say:

It's also easy to stay fat. So just stay fat, seems like a lot of folks want an easy way out.

Myhaloslipped

don't eat out,,, PERIOD!

Ewwww...especially that

Lol I love you! We think alike clearly.

skullshank

Feeling kinda like you guys are just looking to fight .. Silly.

I just meant that it is EASIER to go out and have someone cook/prepare food for you ... No maintenance, no thought, no shopping involved. Tons of people eat out for these reasons alone.

Ugh.

ok fine...semantics.

all kidding aside, sure it might be physically less demanding to order something off of a list.
but for me...mentally...that makes accomplishing my goals near impossible.
i find it far more difficult to track if i order a sub vs making one.

how much mayo did they put on...was it 1 oz of cheese, or more like 1.5?

sure, maybe i sound neurotic, but we know that accurate logging is a great tool for success in this game.

OP, get a salad with grilled chicken and no dressing. idk what else to tell ya. :flowerforyou:

skullshank

Honestly, it's not easy to prepare food vs. being served at a restaurant.

disagrees..it is easy to prepare food. Take four slices of turkey breast, put on bread, add some lettuce and tomato, and lunch is ready..that takes about five minutes.

Or pre cook a bunch of chicken on Sunday and throw it in the fridge...or through the chicken in slow cooker, remove, shred, and store...

this. this. oh and his last post too.

i happen to be one of thoe ones that prepares the weeks food sunday night (most weeks), but it doesnt even have to be that involved. take a loaf of bread to work and a pound of meat. *gasp* how hard was that again?

dude, that is impossible...you can't just take some bread and meat and throw it together in five minutes....

you know what bro...you're right. it's nowhere near 5 minutes. might be a solid minute and a half...give or take 18 seconds.

Four_Leaf_Clover

Going out to lunch is a very social thing in my workplace. It was hard to stop, but it was getting out of hand calorie wise (even ordering healthy things) and even more so $ wise. I try to go only once a week at most now and only to a place I really enjoy.

Since you asked for advice about eating in restaurants - here is my 2 cents...

If you want to continue going out, make a plan. Go to the websites of all the places you typically go - look at your options, map out how many calories you have to allot to fit that into your day and work the rest of the day around it (maybe a lighter breakfast or dinner or a longer workout). Find your go-to options (i.e., Mexican - chicken fajitas, light on the oil and eat just the meat and veggies or a Chipotle steak salad light on beans and cheese with dressing on the side) and get them. Don't waste calories on bread or chips or drinks.

Or - as someone already mentioned - you could bring your own food (DH's coworker was Kosher and always brought his own food and utensils - no one ever said anything) - or have just a drink and eat a packed lunch back at the office if you just want the company.

GL!

ldrosophila

Oh thats a hard one as some places it's such a social thing and there's a lot of pressure on that.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Find the lunch packer at your work and start eating with them. It saves you money. 5 days a week has got to cost some big bucks, and makes your life easier.

2. If eating at work is not an option bring the bag.

3. Eat at the restaurants, and become super vigilant about what you are ordering. Especially if you are doing it 5 days a week. Chipolte has great options just watch out on the extras like rice and tortilla. Salads but think meat and veggies no extras (well a little cheese if you have to). Sandwiches pull off that top bun and order everything small. No drinks with calories in them.

Your best bet is to brown bag, but there are options out there if you cant. Start looking online at the menus before you go and make the choice. Do it when you arent starving.

Best of luck to you.

sguer56

This was a group of my coworkers last year... So, this is how we changed it up for this year. However, you may need to convince some of your coworkers... This year we have a theme week. Everyone brings food to contribute to the theme, and we all eat together. For example, this week's theme is salads. Every person in the group is in charge of bringing something to add to the salad. On person might bring all the lettuce and spinach, another tomatoes and cucumber, etc. Every day we get together and build our salads and eat so we still share the social aspect. Last week was soups and stew, so one person brought a different soup a day and we shared. Your coworkers may or may not go for this, but when we decided to do this as a group, we were better able to make good decisions about our eating. On top of that, we have collectively lost almost 40 lbs since the school year started

Cheeky_and_Geeky

My general game plan for eating out is one or a combo of the following
1. order off the kids menu
2. search nutrition online BEFORE you go
3. order but plan to take half the meal home for a 2nd meal
4. order something enjoyable but "less evil" (dressing on the side, whole grain, less fat)

But it is no wonder you have packed on pounds if this is a daily occurrence!
Maybe you can suggest another lunch plan as a $$ savings / health challenge...
our workplace tried to do a lunch exchange once a week - so you rotate who bring lunch for the group on that day.

^^this!

nitaleotta

Go online and check their menu for any possible healthy alternative...and DON'T CHANGE YOUR MIND WHEN YOU GET THERE!!!! Know what you're going to get before you set foot in the door.

You don't always know the "truth" when you got out - for instance, the last company lunch I went to, I looked at the menu online...great - they had a grilled romaine heart topped with grilled chicken. YUM! And this restaurant doesn't allow any substitutes or changes, so it was pretty much the only thing I could get that wasn't slathered in some kind of sinful sauce or aioli...I asked the waiter how it was seasoned, just to be sure, and he said "oh, it's drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil and the chicken is marinated in citrus." "So it's healthy and low cal." "Oh, totally!" Then when he brought it out, it had Parmesan cheese all over it. Oh, well...I tried to scrape it off and just stick to the chicken and the romaine heart!

You don't want to/have to be Debbie the Downer when it comes to doing lunch - just be smart about it. Order a salad with dressing on the side and START with that to help fill you up before the entree.

That being said, I hardly ever go out. I always bring all my food to work. Here's my lunch/snack box for today:



I won't eat all of this; I bring "choices" so I can snack on what I feel like...here my snacks are strawberries, pumpkin/cranberry crisps, 50 calorie whipped cream cheese, 80 calorie (with only 8 grams of sugar!) Greek yogurt, a banana, a 60 calorie string cheese, and asparagus. The other items are the fixins for my go-to turkey/black forest ham sandwich - avocado (instead of mayo), sprouts, red lettuce leaves, cucumbers, and 45 calorie Sara Lee whole wheat bread. Needless to say, I ain't starvin'!!!!

Wow, stellar bagged lunch.

NRBreit

Bringing your lunch would certainly make things easier, but you can make it work by making smart choices and logging your calories via MFP. Not sure what your daily calorie targets are, but I regularly eat Chipotle and maintain a calorie deficit for the day. Just eat the right things....brown rice, chicken/steak, salsa, cheese (sparingly). After lunch, see where you are at on your calories/macros and adjust dinner as needed. It can be done.

As for mexican, skip the chips and anything with a tortilla. Focus on the chicken or fajita dishes. It's hard to stare at a basket full of chips especially when others are eating them, but it can be done. For chinese, skip the heaping serving of white rice, egg rolls, and noodles and focus on meat/veggie stir fry. Just some examples...

jillianbeeee

Look at the "lighter side menus." I only order off those and I only order water at restaurants.Never order fried foods. Stay with broiled or baked and skip anything with gravies and order dressings, butter and sour cream on the side! Skip the sodas! I just came back from a five week trip and ate out all the time. I actually LOST seven pounds during that trip by doing that. I only went to one restaurant that did not have a light menu and I could not find the calorie intake for anything on my phone.Had to really utilize everything I have learned to get through that night!

ah one other thing, I worked at a place where the "girls" went out to lunch every day. I just learned to say NO. They got it after a while and nothing changed in our friendships.

Shropshire1959

Eating out ISN'T the problem .. Self control and portion sizes IS.