How do you guess caloric value when going out?

hgycta · June 2014

I'm terrible at this! I never know how much to eat, and my worst experiences involve guessing pasta portions and guessing pizza portions. Actually, guessing EVERYTHING seems to be hard for me since I know different places can be so different for you in terms of nutritional value and portions.
I'll be going with my family Tuesday to get pizza (websit of restaurant: http://www.pizzajohns.com), and they usually order a 16" pizza. How many calories should I log one slice as? What about without cheese? How much do you think would be in the veal pasta if I skip pizza altogether? What would you order?
I contacted them, they don't have nutritional information available, so any help would be great!
Thanks

dakotababy · June 2014

These situations make weight-loss difficult. Typically, I will go off of the highest-calorie pizza. Example (I may order from TJ's or Family Pizza. If there was no nutritional info, I would put info in from Pizza Hut) I always try to over-estimate as much as possible.

Even easier - if a restaurant does not post their nutritional info, I just avoid it as much as possible. Hopefully, one day, it will be mandated for all food establishments to post their nutritional info somewhere (menu's, website, whatever).

MildredBarhopper · June 2014

I just try to find similar dishes from chain restaurants that have the calories listed here on MFP. For example, if I'm at a local restaurant without nutrition info provided and I get a caesar salad, pizza, pasta, etc., I'll log a similar dish from East Side Mario's or somewhere similar. All you can do is your best guess and try not to stress about being exact because it's impossible.