When dining out

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  • culo97
    culo97 Posts: 256 Member
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    When dining out, how do you account that into your daily calories? Not every place has menus where they will tell you the calories in each meal, and I have been asking the restaurant, but they never know how many calories there are in the meal. How does everyone in here deal with this issue?
    If you don't know the ingredients of a recipe, you can Google to find out or look it up on a website like AllRecipes.com. Sometimes the nutritional information per serving is available.
  • David_AUS
    David_AUS Posts: 298 Member
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    When eating out, enjoy yourself first. Worry about logging second. If you use scales at home you can estimate pretty well. For hidden calories like dressings ask for these on the side to moderate your intake.
  • AbsolutelyAnnie
    AbsolutelyAnnie Posts: 2,695 Member
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    It may help to look up the restaurant on the web before you go out. You can usually find the nutritional facts for just about every big restaurant i.e Olive Garden, Red Lobster etc. as well as some popular small ones. The MFP database is also a good source. When in doubt overestimate then do a little more exercise!!!

    What she said.

    A lot of restaurants, even non-chains, now at least post their menu online. Even if they don't list the nutrition/calories, I can at least browse that menu in a neutral setting...without the fantastic aromas and sights of other diners' plates.

    Looking at the menu online I can make rough estimates about calories and decide what I am going to eat before I even arrive at the restaurant. That is power. As best I can, I pre-log my whole day including my best over-estimation of what I have selected for dinner.

    When I place my order, I ask the server to have all sauces and dressings served on the side, AND to bring a carryout box when my food is brought to the table. If the portion is much larger than I anticipated (I have gotten reasonably skilled at eyeballing portions) I put part of the food in the box before I start eating and set it aside. I am less likely to unconsciously clean my plate and I am again in control of my portion size. Most places will also allow you to make substitutions of veggies or their side salad for the standard fries or loaded baked potato.

    You do the best you can with figuring out calories, remembering that you can control what and how much you eat. If you go over, you will make it up the next day. Most importantly, enjoy your time out with your dinner companions.

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