What Do You Eat When You're Out To Eat?

If I want it, I fit it into my calorie goal for the day and don't feel a single bit guilty about it.

Losing weight is not about dieting.

If you don't eat out often - have the burger. Leaving off the cheese, mayo, etc helps. Then sub a salad or fruit on the side instead of fries. Almost every place offers a side salad. If you always eat out - you're going to have to find alternatives. Usually always grilled chicken on menus. Or a grilled fish or shrimp. Don't be afraid to special order things. Most places are happy to accommodate.

Went out for lunch today. Had a three-egg (white) Greek omelet and veggies instead of bread and potatoes. If I go out to dinner, I'll get salmon and extra veggies, or chicken slathered with melted cheeses, or steaks, or even burgers but without the buns. Or even ribs (without the sauce) once in a while, too. There are many options

It's all about dieting lol, it's pretty much 85% diet, and 15% workout.

not true. Depends on your goals, i guess. you could eat twigs and berries, lose weight and still be soft. I used to have a super physical job and ate 3000+ calories a day. of whatever i wanted. I lost weight eating pizza, cookies, nuts, candy bars, etc. ANYTHING i wanted. I probably didn't have the best body fat percentage at the time but, you can lose weight with a less than optimal diet.

That said, when I eat out, I'll sometimes have a steak or chicken salad, but mainly I opt for fish, shrimp, chicken or steak and veggies. I eat a lot of protein so a 12 oz steak is not a problem when I go out at all.

depends on where im eating.

but,subway?

Normally I will have a drink (alcohol of some sort), dessert first, steak, mashed potatoes, veggie, and bread. After that I feel stuffed and ready to explode. Yesterday though, was the first time I went out to eat since trying to change my mindset as far as living healthy. ;-) Soooooo, I drank 1/4th of a skinny margarita, ate about a cup of lemon shrimp, pushed the rice away and ate a salad skipping the cheese, bacon and crutons. I did have to have ranch with my salad but instead of dumping the entire serving I used my spoon and drizzled only a little. After I felt full of good, plus I was very very proud of myself. :-)

I think it helped for me to go online and check out their menu to plan ahead of time.

I'm anxious about people figuring out that I am dieting, or picking on food, or calorie counting or whatever... it's not really socially acceptable here. So I just order whatever anyone else has, try to calculate how much that is, and eat just as much from it as my calorie limit. I found that (for me personally) it is much easier to just put the spoon/fork down than worrying about getting a salad or breaking my head about the menu. This way I may have eaten a little more grease and sugar, but I am far more relaxed.

It's all about dieting lol, it's pretty much 85% diet, and 15% workout.

exactly!!!!! Thank you for saying that! However, you can't deprive yourself all the time or you'll rebel and go crazy and eat everything in sight. if you give yourself one cheat meal a week then you should be okay. BUT remember it's not a diet it's a way of living and you can't live without joy so have the burger.

with having said that let me play devil's advocate... lets say you're going out but you already had your cheat meal. this is what i do... i peruse the menu for something healthy that i have never had so i can see if i might find a new favorite that is also healthy. that is how i found my all time fave at Logan's steakhouse. it is the grilled tilapia. it is supposed to come with this creamy sauce and tortillas strips but i ordered it sans sauce / strips with two veggie skewers (minus oil) and the flavor is so "POW"... it's my new fave and i get it everytime i eat there.

one more tip... if you can choose the restaurant... even better!!! that way you can pick a place that you know has something you want to order and stay on track.

I just fit it into my calories for the day...usually means I'm eating pretty light at my other meals and probably little to no snacking. Just went out to Five Guys last weekend and had a great burger w/fries...cost me about 800 calories; I ate pretty light the rest of the day with lots of veg.

Sometimes I just eat to maintenance if it's a day that I'm going to be eating out though since I don't eat out often...like once or twice a month.

Are you eating out all the time? Otherwise, it's one meal, once in a while... Figure out how to fit what you want into your intake. That's really the only way most of us can realistically stick with this long term.

Actually, this is even more applicable if you eat out all the time. What fun is not eating what you want forever?

It's all about dieting lol, it's pretty much 85% diet, and 15% workout.

Actually, it's 100% about calories in and calories out when you're just talking weight loss/weight control. Making better decisions about what you eat is general nutrition and working out is for fitness. From a purely weight loss/weight control standpoint, a 100 calories from fruits and vegetables is no different than 100 calories from cookies....but from a nutritional standpoint, you obviously are more nutrient dense with the fruits and veg.

BTW, a little red meat once in awhile isn't "bad"...I watch my saturated fats very closely so I don't eat a lot of it, but I do have red meat once or twice per week, including burgers. Red meat and even burgers have a lot of other good nutritional properties. If you looking for better general nutrition, don't worry so much about the hamburger itself...worry about the bun and the fries on the side. A lot of times I just get a burger sans bun and a side salad instead of the fries.

I rarely eat out, but when I do I always get chicken of some sort and get water to drink.

Burgers can be part of a healthy diet. Eat up!

Like others have said, fit it into your daily calories and make up for at another meal that day or if you weren't planned on working out that day, work out. Or you can make it healthier, choose your condiments wisely. Personally, I don't really eat meat so I get a veggie burger which isn't as horrible.

if you really want a burger, get it loaded with veggies, leave off creamy toppings (ketchup, mayo, etc.) and only use half the bun