Eating out...it's not helping me!

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Hallzeehall
Hallzeehall Posts: 38 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Good Morning -

Here's my post and question to anyone who would like to respond. I have been doing okay for the past couple of weeks but eating out is killing me. I know that you need to try and make healthier choices and I have been trying...for example I have been getting into the habit of ordering salmon if it's available instead of something I would have normally ordered like a fried chicken sandwich or pasta. However, it's so hard to calculate this when tracking I think it is detrimental to my success. If anyone has suggestions on how to calculate (by the way it's mainly due to eating at NON-chain restaurants where the nutrition information is not available). Also it is mostly situations I have no control over either when choosing the restaurant as well or I would pick somewhere like an Applebee's that offer's under 550 calorie meals. I get a side salad with light or no dressing on the side too to help.

I have about 120 lbs to lose and want to stay on track so any comments/suggestions are welcome.

THanks in advance! :)

Replies

  • abadvat
    abadvat Posts: 1,241 Member
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    a) reduce eating out
    or
    b) bring a mini scale along with you
    or
    c) eye ball your portions
  • girldownsouth
    girldownsouth Posts: 920 Member
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    I eat out quite often and because I have a lot to lose, I'm prepared for it to take a long time, so for me this is a lifestyle change, and I don't want to make eating out not a part of my lifestyle.

    Depending on what I have I either try and break down the meal into what I think is in it and track it as if I'd had those separate items. Or, I have standard places I'll check, ie a few different chain pubs/Italians etc that I go to regularly enough that I can say, for example, this pizza is a pretty thin crust, like the one in pizza express, but it's a bit bigger, so I'll track 1.2. I also have standard things I use for everything where there's no info, ie my fries/sweet potato fries/quarter chicken in my diary are always from the same place that isn't where I went. For those I looked up a few and took one that looked about average. I also find if you compare meals in chain restaurants of similar styles, the calories are often pretty similar.

    When I first started I'd torture myself for ages over the numbers I put in, but I've relaxed with it now as I'm still losing consistently when I eat out. I think as long as you can think of something in your head that you could compare it with, and try not to wildly under or over (a lot of people guess way over 'to be safe', but this I think is actually a bad, as it leaves you with less calories for the rest of the day, and can lead you off track) you can estimate things accurately enough.

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