Need help estimating how many calories in my restarurant mea

Slimmer_Amy

:flowerforyou: OK, so I am going to a pub quiz tomorrow with my friends, and everyone is getting something to eat. As much as I want to lose weight, I am not one of those people who lets it get in the way of stuff, i.e. avoiding eating out. BUT I am one of those people who worry about it :S

I have been before and the only thigs on the menu I can eat (I am a veggie) are pasta in a tomatoe sauce with garlic bread. Cheese ciabatta panini and chips or a cheese and potatoe pie with chips.

Firstly I want to know which one has the least calories. (I have guessed the panini with chips) Secondly I want an estimate at how many calories it will be so that i dont eat too much in the day.

atm I am going with the panini unless someone tells me otherwise. I have guessed at 255 calories in the ciabatta roll, 125 calories in the cheese (i guessed at only 30g of cheese cos its melted ) and 380 calories for the chips. Does this sound right? if not, what is? Thanks

mamashatzie

Restaurant food can be incredibly sneaky. I would at least double your estimated amount of cheese on the panini, and add some butter on there as well.

GFreg

Restaurants are tricky. Your estimates sound pretty good in my opinion but it is hard to tell. As mamashatzie said, definitely expect butter or oil for then panini. After all, that what makes them so crispy and good. I think you have a good strategy of trying to plan what you eat during the rest of the day. Stay a little bit under your normal amount and you should be good for a few unseen calories. Your estimate is pretty good and I don't think the meal would vary too much. Only thing you might want to be careful of is if they serve a huge portion of chips.

Edit: Alternatively, one dinner won't throw you off your good habits for the week so I wouldn't stress over it too much. On a related note, tonight is my local bar trivia night and I was looking at their website to decide what to order when I saw your thread.

Rynatat

Most restaurants are required by law to provide nutrition info on all their foods due to the number of people with food allergies, diabetes & other health problems. Call the restaurant & ask to speak to a manager - they should be able to provide you with the labels of the ingredients they use in the least so you can better estimate.

While your estimates sound OK if you're making the food yourself, just realize that restaurant foods is PACKED with sodium among other fillers. So doubling or tripling your calories is usually a good practice. I have Celiac's (gluten allergy) and can't really eat out at most places, but the places I do go to I check their nutrients/ingredients each time & you'd be surprised how often that changes based on the vendors they use, etc.

If you're that concerned & can't get a good caloric content, just work out a but more earlier in the day & for the next couple days & up your water intake to combat the sodium. Enjoy your time out :drinker:

Slimmer_Amy

Thanks guys, you have all been very helpful. x