Restaurant food

hila_13

Hey there!

How do you deal with eating out? In my experience, it is far easier to meet my calorie goals and lose weight when I eat at home and can cook strategically and measure what I'm making.

As a result I eat at home most of the time but not all of the time... My friends and significant other like to eat out (A LOT) and while I turn down invitations to go out or do my best to pick restaurants with nutritional information on the menu (or online), sometimes I find myself staring at a menu that I'm not quite sure what to do with.

What are the best types of menu items to stick to? (ie. fish, salads (sometimes they seem to be very high in calories). How do you deal with restaurant food?

thedarkwombat

Personally, I do intermittent fasting so I skip breakfast everyday. Not saying you have to do this. However, on a day when you know you are going to eat out, skip breakfast, and have a very light lunch, like a 300 calorie soup. Then you will have between 1,000 to 1,200 calories if not more to eat what you want when you eat out.

g82green

First off, I'm shocked at just how many calories are in some of the meals I used to eat. (Regularly... YIKES!) I look online for the best options and try to plan ahead as much as possible. I do try to eat at home a lot more now (Bonus... money savings!)

jess135177

If I know I am eating out, I check online for calories and pick something that works with my daily allowance and that I want to eat. If it is something higher in calories I make sure to run a few extra miles or eat light the rest of the day.

AmyRhubarb

If I know where I'm going, I try to check out the menu and nutritional info online before I go, and pick out a few items based on what I like and their nutritional value, which narrows the field once I'm there. Or if I know what I want, I'll go ahead and decide and log it before I go. Sometimes pre-logging will keep me from going crazy (like at Texas Roadhouse, where they bring you this amazing, homemade, hot fresh dinner rolls before you even order, and I could eat six of them!), plus it lets you know if you've got the room to indulge in a drink or whatever.

If the restaurant doesn't have nutritional info available, I just go with what seems best - checking nutrition for various restaurants over the years has taught me that a salad isn't always the best option, as they are often higher in calories and sodium than a burger and fries! Something with chicken or beef, an option of veggies for a side, or if you go for a salad, ask for dressing on the side. And to log an unknown, I just find what seems to be the closest match in the database and wing it.

BarbieAS

I try to make a conscious effort to eat at home as much as possible, while also recognizing that losing weight doesn't mean having to avoid social situations. So, I try not to grab dinner if it's just because I'm lazy or tired, but if it's an invitation to go out with people or a special occasion, I don't turn it down.

First step is planning, which it sounds like you're already doing by looking at menus online - good call. I also usually try to save some calories for that meal (more than I would usually eat for that meal) and/or squeeze in a bit of extra cardio. Even if you're able to find a totally reasonable meal, it doesn't hurt to have a couple hundred extra calories if you decide you just can't resist the bread basket or a couple of bites of the dessert everyone ordered to share. If you can choose your meal ahead of time (knowing the calories), you're set.

If you can't choose ahead of time or the menu doesn't have nutritional info available, what I do is to try to stick to menu items that have whole foods and order with as many sauces/dressing/whatever either on the side or not at all. Yeah, you still have to make some guesses for portion sizes and cooking oils and stuff, but choose plain foods that it's harder to hide calories in and then YOU can decide how much stuff to put on them. Ask for oil and vinegar for salad dressing instead of whatever pre-made dressings they have. Try to control all of the unknowns as much as possible. It's a LOT easier to log a piece of steak and a baked potato and some broccoli than to log something that was created by someone else and you don't know what's in it, you know?

Does that make sense? Lol. All I'm saying is try to choose items where there's the least amount of guessing.

viglet

i LOVE eating out! I swear it could be considered a hobby to most.

In the beginning I used to get really stressed out about it but then I just found a way to make it work for me.

Sometimes I will order something light like a hearty salad (but who really wants to pay for a salad).

Most of the time I will just work out a bit more to make sure it fits in my calories. And like a previous poster mentioned, sometimes I will skip breakfast and lunch so I can fully enjoy my dinner out with no guilt!

Eventually it got to a point that my stomach was so used to eating smaller amounts that even when I went to a buffet, the amount I ate wasn't as gluttonous as it used to be.

taiyola

I don't go out for a sit down meal very often - maybe every couple of months. If I'm going out to eat, I just eat whatever I want.

However, if I ate out a lot, then I'd pre-log and eat light the rest of the day/day after etc.

staceysmomm

Life goes on! Your diet should not just be a weight loss goal but a life style change. Are you never going to go out to eat again? Make healthy choices. Learn to live while eating healthy!

cwolfman13

Hey there!

How do you deal with eating out? In my experience, it is far easier to meet my calorie goals and lose weight when I eat at home and can cook strategically and measure what I'm making.

very true...which is why I substantially reduced the eating out we were doing...bonus is that we also saved a lot of $$$ in the process.

when you do eat out, you have to just do the best you can...if it's a chain restaurant, nutritional info is available...if not, you just pick something as close as possible from the data base. A good rule of thumb is that if you eat an entire entree...for the most part you're looking at 800 - 1000 calories given that a typical restaurant entree is about twice the recommended and they use a lot of oils and butter.

I typically only eat out maybe 6 times per month. We usually have Friday nights out as a family and then a couple other times during the month...usually a Sat or Sun when we're out and about and need some fueling.

hila_13

I've actually been considering the fasting option more but I find it really hard when I'm at work not eat something. Do you have a low calories food (so far I try celery, cucumber, etc) to help get you to dinner time?

wahmx3

i eat out once a week or sometimes less but I try and eat less during the day and drink more water. if you fast almost completely....everything will look so good that it will b even harder to make a good decision. Perhaps have an omlette, other protein, lots of fruits and veggies throughout the day so you are hungry but no overly so much that you choose the worst thing on the menu. No reason not to eat out, just choose carefully, drink lots of water and try to avoid dessert (hard for me to do that).

suziepoo1984

i eat out atleast 3-4 times a week. I plan to eat out the days i exercise as i can eat more than on a rest day
Pre-plan what you want to eat, plan the rest of your day around it and done!
I love eating out, the only thing different now is - portion control and i try to get healthier options of the same meals by asking them to cook it with much lesser oil/fats!

Francl27

You just try and make the best choices - grilled chicken, grilled veggies, salad dressing on the side etc. Personally, I can't do portion control, unless it's really a huge plate.