How to Stay Within your Calorie Goal When going out to eat

riskiestlavonn

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to stay within your calorie goal when going out to a restaurant. At home I have very few problems staying within/ under my goal, but as soon as I go out I feel the need to eat everything that I can't make for myself at home.

I would just like to add in that I have cut my outside meals down from 5 times a week to once a week (I'm in China and it's easy/ cheap to eat out every night). And I know it's unrealistic just to say I won’t go out to eat anymore.

Thank you in advance.

corys8646

I do a few things that help me.
1. Preplan my meal if the menu is online
2. Ask for a to go box when my meal arrives and immediately put half in the box, otherwise I will just eat the whole plate.

farm_mamaX9

Make sure you only drink water or unsweet tea or coffee. Leave off the empty calories, especially the ones you can eat at home, like any bread or other carbs. Try to stick with real foods, not processed stuff. Eat protein and just a few bites of the carb laced sides. Choose real veggies and lower carb fruits to go with your protein. Remind yourself that you can get the other things that you can't make at home another time. Remind yourself that you are not really being deprived of what you want, you are just spacing it out. (I just read a bunch of books about the holocaust and it really put into perspective for me how much food we really get to eat each day and how much less we can actually live on and be thankful for if we will change our thoughts about food.) Good luck!

AmazingStace

I always plan my meal before I go. Even if it was a spur of the moment thing, I look up the nutritional info on my phone. I order water to drink and drink lots of it to help myself feel full. Normally when I'm eating out, I'm with someone else so I focus on the conversation and eat slowly, too.

sugarbeans

I usually preplan by looking on the restaurants website and nutritional information.
package half of the meal if they don't have half sizes, most restaurants that I go to do have half sizes. (sometimes I will order a kids size)
I usually order a diet pop (not the best but only time I have pop)

pastryari

I do a few things that help me.
1. Preplan my meal if the menu is online
2. Ask for a to go box when my meal arrives and immediately put half in the box, otherwise I will just eat the whole plate.

This!! Especially #2, because most portion sizes are big enough for 2-3 people!!

megan1869

Depending on what kind of food place your going to I like to do one or a combination of :

asking for a box and immediately putting half away and out of sight for later

pre planning my meals by entering the info on here ahead of time or looking at webpages for nutritional info

If its one of those places that gives you a free app say bread or chips order a salad immediatley with low fat dressing (keeps your hands busy and away from the bread)

sub out foods when allowed for instance most places will let you swap fries for a side salad or some other side item

If its somewhere I reeeeeally like I will shamelessly starve myself all day to save all of my calories for one meal than splurge - may not be the healthiest approach but just dont make a habit of it

emrys1976

I do a few things that help me.
1. Preplan my meal if the menu is online
2. Ask for a to go box when my meal arrives and immediately put half in the box, otherwise I will just eat the whole plate.

this.

also, when i know that i'm having dinner out, i keep my calories lower than usual during my other meals and snacks. so i may allocate 1/2 - 2/3 of my day's calories to that one meal.

wisebadger53

When you know you are going out to eat dinner, plan your day accordingly to save up some calories for that meal. Drink lots of water during the day, and choose low cal foods like fresh veggies for lunch. All of the other suggestions posted above are great too, but most of all...don't stress out over it. If you go over 100 or 200 calories for the day you can make it up tomorrow. Weight loss is a long term project. One day will not make or break it for you.

I would rather enjoy myself and have a good time with friends, and rely on common sense with my food choices than spend the entire meal worrying about my calorie count so much that I miss out on a great evening.

tstawicki

Look for how it's prepared also.Grilled or roasted, steamed and not in a sauce is safer so there will be less calories. I just went through this over the weekend and had to choose the foods that were prepared lighter, and don't eat all of it like the others say, I regretted eating the whole portion (not thinking) even though it was healthily made and I forgot that advice which then put me too high and not in control of my caloric intake. Good Luck!

riskiestlavonn

That is a really good point. Part of it is just realizing that I don't have to eat everything I like today. I still have tomorrow and the day after that to get things in. Thank you so much for that piece of advice.

Make sure you only drink water or unsweet tea or coffee. Leave off the empty calories, especially the ones you can eat at home, like any bread or other carbs. Try to stick with real foods, not processed stuff. Eat protein and just a few bites of the carb laced sides. Choose real veggies and lower carb fruits to go with your protein. Remind yourself that you can get the other things that you can't make at home another time. Remind yourself that you are not really being deprived of what you want, you are just spacing it out. (I just read a bunch of books about the holocaust and it really put into perspective for me how much food we really get to eat each day and how much less we can actually live on and be thankful for if we will change our thoughts about food.) Good luck!

riskiestlavonn

When you know you are going out to eat dinner, plan your day accordingly to save up some calories for that meal. Drink lots of water during the day, and choose low cal foods like fresh veggies for lunch. All of the other suggestions posted above are great too, but most of all...don't stress out over it. If you go over 100 or 200 calories for the day you can make it up tomorrow. Weight loss is a long term project. One day will not make or break it for you.

I would rather enjoy myself and have a good time with friends, and rely on common sense with my food choices than spend the entire meal worrying about my calorie count so much that I miss out on a great evening.

That's a good point. I really need to remember that weight loss is a slow process. Before, whenever I went over my calorie limit for the day I would feel like my weeks of hard work had been lost. Really need to keep things in perspective.

atjays

If you have a smart phone, there are some great apps that will tell you the nutritional info of most all major eating establishments. From there you can tell pretty easily if you should eat part of the meal and save the rest or find something that won't totally wreck your day. I went out last weekend for my Mom's bday, my dinner plate came with enough food on it to feed me for two whole days. Needless to say I bagged part of it and left things like fries/sides that are of no real use. And while the rest of my family complained about how full and miserable they were after dinner, I felt fantastic.

nickyfm

If the restaurant doesn't list their nutritional info online, then be smart about it.
You can't go wrong with a salad. (As long as there's no bacon, cheese, or dried fruit. And dressing on the side!!)
Steamed fish with veggies is usually safe too

UnderCoverShyGirl

i agree a couple hundred extra calories doesn't make or break you, but a total 1000 to 2000 calorie splurge (standard restaurant meal cal. count) definately can remove the last couple weeks of work, so i do think you are right to think carefully about it.

If i have to have alcohol, i order a shot with a diet drink or water on the side...at least i know how many calories are in appx. a shot of alcohol and no extra calories from juice, etc. in the mixed drink.

Ordering of the appetizer menu can keep your portion light, if you need more food get a side of steamed veggies or a salad, etc....

Everyone else had good advice...stay with things that are more natural and not a lot of muddled sauces and things (so think grilled chicken with veggies is way better than the "chicken dish"....

Stay away from the bread/chips....they are there to fill you up and are soo hard to resist!

And i second what everyone else said, dumping half in the togo box right away, preplanning if they have online menus, etc...

And lastly, enjoy! It's nice to see you being realistic about eating out...i'm the same, i used to think i could avoid it, now i'm just having to learn how to do it! Cause i will indeed do it!

Pohudet

So, you are in china! There are some very good foods around there! But of course that means that nutritional information is not readily available. i would try to stay away from all deep fried and stir fried foods and eat steamed things. I think the chinese do a wonderful job on steamed whole fish! Is it ok there to take a doggy bag home? If so definitely ask for a container and put a half of the portion into it right away.
Good luck to you staying within your calorie limit!
At the same time I envy you because you have access to all those fancy chinese foods!