logging calories after eating out???

mallieh

I've been having the hardest time trying to log the food I eat when I go to a restaurant, or local cafe or something along those lines. I end up coming home and going through the database and picking entries that I think are close to what I ate, but that seems risky seeing that I need to make sure I don't severely go over my calorie limit.

Does anyone have any tips ??

donna56

If they don't have it here in the database, go to the restaurants website and look up the nutritional info and put it in your database. You can type in all the facts.

lelesmama

You can find info on a ton of different restaurants on www.dwlz.com! She has a link there for Restaurants and put nutrition information (and Weight Watcher points) for tons of favorites. I always check out the info before I go out to eat!

DeathIsMyGift

Stop eating out? Sounds harsh but if the restaurant doesn't have a nutrition menu, I don't eat there. But that's just me...I'm obsessed

BrenNew

You can find info on a ton of different restaurants on www.dwlz.com! She has a link there for Restaurants and put nutrition information (and Weight Watcher points) for tons of favorites. I always check out the info before I go out to eat!

I totally agree with this! It really is BEST if you can check out the website info BEFORE you go, so that you know EXACTLY what your numbers are going to be. Then you'll know that you won't be over on your daily totals.

AndriaLL

When you search for the item, make sure to put in the restaurant name so it comes up first if it's there. For example "sesame bagel" will bring up all sesame bagels from 77 to ~500 calories. If you search "Starbuck's sesame bagel", you get the actual one at 440 at the top. It doesn't even show on the list the other way....

If it is truly not there, and can't be found on the internet, I've been going with the worst case scenario.

aippolito1

Research the restaurant before and pick what you're going to eat and actually eat it, otherwise, you're sure to fail. Any time I've eaten out without having an idea how many calories are in the entree...I've gone seriously over. I try to go somewhere I've already been or have an idea of the nutrition facts when it's spur-of-the-moment so I'm better prepared, but nothing is better than actually looking at their website (or MFP) and picking what you eat. Then there's no second guessing, panicking, and feeling guilty.

hkuiuc99

Stop eating out? Sounds harsh but if the restaurant doesn't have a nutrition menu, I don't eat there. But that's just me...I'm obsessed

I try to look the food up BEFORE going and if they don't offer the nutrition info, I either don't go or pick something that sounds close in the database.

girliegirl1822

bump

TheMotherAwesome

I agree with looking things up before hand, but I know I used to visit a lot of small, family owned type restaurants that are not required to, and don't, post their nutritional information. Being that I have a better grasp on portion size now and what I can eat and need to stay away from, I tend to order smart and guess as close as possible. If you're not comfortable with the guessing, though, I'd suggest not going to places that don't offer a nutritional guide.

gnme4243

Stop eating out? Sounds harsh but if the restaurant doesn't have a nutrition menu, I don't eat there. But that's just me...I'm obsessed

I agree! I have zero desire to put any food into my body that I am not fully aware of the nutritional content. I don't think that's being obsessed, I am just sick of being fat and unhealthy. Plus, when I know what's in something, it give me the power to decide if it's worth consuming- it's not random, if that makes sense.

Even if you can't find the nutritional info for a place you are going, maybe call ahead and ask if they have any info available- they may not have it on a website, but might have it in the kitchen.

:flowerforyou:

MacMadame

One thing I do after I've picked something in the database that's close is to look at how many fat grams MFP says I've consumed. Restaurants are notorious for adding lots of butter/oil/fat to meals to improve the taste so sometimes I add a pat of butter to the list to get the fat grams up more where I think they should be.

I'm sure someone looking at my food diary and seeing that would think I'm insane. You went to a restaurant and added a pat of butter to your chicken breast? But I didn't actually eat butter. I just need to add in more fat grams. :laugh:

SraArroz

That is so hard for me too... and of course my hubby and my favorite place to go is an "authentic Mexican restaurante"... LOL.. so of course there's no nutritional information there. :grumble: So I struggle with it, but I try to choose things like salad or fajitas, generally, but every now and then, this girl wants her cheese enchilada! :blushing:

onmyway45

I totally agree with checking first, tonight I was with a friend who really wanted panda express so I just ordered a side of bejing beef- major mistake, it has 700 more calories than the broccoli beef (which only has 150). I wish I had known. I am totally regretting it right now:(

calumgray1

I'm pretty bad for putting in guestimates. I do most of my logging on the iPhone app so if you have one of those there are plenty of apps that have extensive food databases. Just a case of noting down and then inputting the data into your mfp database.

cthomas1967

When all else fails, I go with portion control. If you get some mystery dish X, only eat half of it and take the rest to go. Then when you get home you can do more research, or reconstruct the dish from components as best you can. At that point decide whether or not to finish it.

If it's 1200 calories... you only ate 600 of it, which isn't a huge disaster. Then you can either throw the rest away, give it to someone else, or have another non-disasterous 600 calorie meal later.

I regularly eat turkey reubens from my local pub, but only half. Then I eat the other half the next day. Quite manageable in terms of calories that way.

CT

mallieh

Hey guys, thank you SO MUCH for all the great responses! I am definitely going to plan it out before I go, and work on my portion control if i can't find any nutritional info and I am definitely going to cut back on going out to eat (i usually end up going after classes because it seems like a waste of gas to drive twenty minutes back home) by just bringing healthier food with me.

You all were loads of help, thank you SO MUCH !!