Eating Out - Top Tips please

Whenever I go out to a nice restaurant I plan ahead. I look up their menu online and make not of calories or points (I also follow WW)I make sure if I'm having an appetizer to have a broth based soup, or a garden salad with fat free or calorie wise dressing on the side. I don't eat the dinner rolls at all. As for the main course I try and stick to fish or chicken (non breaded). As for desert if it comes with the meal, for example cheesecake I only eat one or two small forkfulls.

It's a challenge for sure but planning ahead makes it fairly easy and less time deciding on the menu choices

Ask for a to go box and put ½ of everything in it.

^^^What they said. And avoid sauces. The fewer ingredients in a dish, the less likely it is to carry all kinds of hidden calories, so keep it simple and delicious.

Plan ahead, then don't even look at the rest of the menu when you get there. Just enjoy your evening!

It depends. If you eat at Michelin starred restaurants regularly then do the usual 'avoid fried foods/creamy sauces etc.', but if it was me that might be the only time in my entire life I get to eat food that good. So I'd just go, eat what I wanted, hopefully enjoy it, and maybe rein it in for a day or two afterwards. :drinker:

Plan some extra exercise, avoid sauces and get salad dressing on the side - and most of all enjoy yourself!

Anything grilled. Get extra veggies rather than a carb like potatoes or pasta. Try to get lean meats like chicken or fish.

I was about to offer my opinion here since I travel on business extensively and eat many meals at restaurants. But most of the suggestions offer good advice - start with a healthy soup or salad - that fills you up - and stay away from sauces and anything made out of white flour. It takes about 20 minutes before the brain gets the message from the stomach that it is full - so start healthy, eat slow and when you feel full - stop. I will only share a desert - and maybe only one or two bites.

If I was going to a Michelin Star restaurant, I would just 100% enjoy every moment of it!

I agree, enjoy the night and return to your regime the next morning.

Anything grilled. Get extra veggies rather than a carb like potatoes or pasta. Try to get lean meats like chicken or fish.

Again, if this is a regular thing then fair enough, but eating this way at a Michelin starred restaurant kind of seems like a waste of money to me. If you're not going to enjoy the whole experience, what's the point in going?

carbs are not the enemy....if you want carbs then have them in moderation and make sure they are the healthy type. If you want any kind of sauce, ask for it on the side if they allow that and if not...then don't get it. Get grilled chicken or fish, veggies that are not soaked in butter or sauces and if you want dessert, split it with someone or more than one other person. Ask for a doggy bag for left overs and save it for another night at home.

If I was going to a Michelin Star restaurant, I would just 100% enjoy every moment of it!

My thoughts exactly!

If its Michelin starred enjoy the treat and do more exercise next week. This is a great treat so it would be a shame not to let yourself enjoy it. Have a fab time xx

We do this ^. We eat out somewhere particularly nice (often Michelin-rated or starred) a couple times a month. Avoiding carbs, creams, sauces, etc. defeats the purpose. You're not going there to sample their lo-cal offerings; you're going there to have the best of what a great restaurant has to offer. So, goes my thinking anyway.

Also, I'm one of those who enjoys the experience of reviewing the menu in the restaurant, listening to the specials, etc., so I rarely review the menu in advance or otherwise plan ahead beyond the reservation. Instead, we just go and get whatever we ordinarily would have without giving a second thought to MFP (or, more often, consciously trying to suppress the "I wonder how many calories this has" thought out of my brain) -- this is shockingly liberating. Then, I just make a mental note of what I ate (I do this anyway for our restaurant diary; note that the itemized bill if often handy for this), and assess the MFP damage after-the-fact (always estimating on the high side). Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, sometimes I'm unpleasantly surprised, but in both cases, I've had another memorable worry-free dining experience in the books and I can spend the next week "accounting" for it by adjusting calorie consumption and exercise frequency to "absorb" the meal into the rolling average (over the course of a week, this easier than it sounds).

Bon appetit!

--Matt

I once heard when going out to eat - bread basket, wine or dessert - choose one. I still struggle with this. I want all 3! I'm too much of an all or nothing person.

Enjoy your dinner!

Honestly? Just be mindful of what you eat the rest of the day and enjoy whatever you want at the restaurant. Order whatever you want, regardless of how "healthy" it is and enjoy the experience.

Another tip is to not waste calories on things like the bread basket (if there is one) or multiple drinks. Stick to 1-2 drinks and forgo the bread. Chances are, unless there is a really unique kind of bread in the basket, you know what it tastes like.

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