What should I eat at restaurants/ fast food?

I mainly will go with a single burger. No cheese or mayo. Grilled Chicken works to, might want to skip the sauce. Salads but see what is on there that you can take off.

Kids meals work too.

I travel a lot and I was going to write a blog on this.

Portion size is your FRIEND. Eat small.
Drink water, coffee, or tea. Save calories for food.
Fill up on things like salad, fruit, and soup.

1) Pick the one food you really want to eat that will taste great and have a small helping of it. That's why you're going out, right?
2) Eat soup (avoid cream soups, but anything with a clear broth like chicken or beef is great). It's really filling.
3) Salad. Ask for dressing on the SIDE.
4) Lots of places have fresh fruit.
5) Any meat without sauces will not be that bad.

Avoid bread, rice, pasta, etc. etc. Lots of calories really fast.
Avoid sauces - any cream sauce has a lot of fat and a lot of calories - all cream and butter. That's why they taste good.
If you do get a sauce, go for tomato.

I just got back from a weekend in New Orleans (I'm in Chile right now). I stayed under my calorie limit, ate beignets and excellent food, and lost 2 pounds (broke a plateau).

Salads with meat (and dressing). Meats without the carbs (no bread, no potatoes, etc) but with all the other accompaniments (like veggies, cheese, etc)
Salads are my mainstay for going out. Just make sure you have some fat and protein with them or you'll starve and be grumpy!

I use the MFP app on my phone to find the calories and make a decision. You would be surprised how many calories is hiding in mayo, fries and soda. If you go with a chicken sandwich, look for grilled. You can eat just about anywhere and be just fine. Just be choosy about what you eat.

I always stick to the kids meals. The portion sizes are more the size I think are appropriate, and they usually offer healthier options (i.e. apples as a side). I have a huge weak spot for burrito places...so I get the burrito bowls in the kids size.

If possible - check out the restaurants menu before going so you have an idea what to order before you get there. Here are some of my favorite go tos:
*Grilled Chicken Salad - no cheese or croutons. I also get low fat dressing on the side
*Chicken Taco Salad - no cheese and do not eat the shell. Use the salsa as a delicious dressing!
*Chicken or shrimp fajitas - just skip the wrap.
*Burger - no bun, cheese, or sauces. Add a touch of ketchup (its loaded with sugar), some mustard, and load up with lettuce,
tomato and onion
*Baked fish (no breading) - if it comes with a potato option I will swap it with my hubby for his veggies.
*Salad bar - Pizza Hut (for example) has an "unlimited salad bar" option for like $5 or $6. I'll go up there 2-3 times and load my
plate up!
*I also look at the "healthy options" menu that are available at most big chain restaurants (like Olive Garden, Applebees,
Panera, Chili's)

*Avoid alcohol and deep fried appetizers!

Nothing. Make good habits by not eating out. For any reason.

Lol.


The only unhealthy food is one eaten in excess. Live and enjoy life. One meal isn't going to undo what you've done the rest of the week.

Eat whatever you want, stay within your calorie goals and you'll be fine.

Gonna have to QFT

Edited to add: and even if you go over your calorie goals once in a while, it's not a big deal in grand scheme of things. An occasional night out, blowing past your calorie goals won't derail any true effort and hard work you put in.

Eat whatever you want, stay within your calorie goals and you'll be fine.

Gonna have to QFT

Edited to add: and even if you go over your calorie goals once in a while, it's not a big deal in grand scheme of things. An occasional night out, blowing past your calorie goals won't derail and true effort and hard work you put in.

Gonna have to QFT :bigsmile:

you can still go out and enjoy meals with friends at restaurants.
No need to bring tupper wear and be weird and sacrifice your social life.
Just know what you are eating, and how much you are eating.
If anything, bring food scale haha. I do.

I usually share meals when I go out to medium-poor restaurants. Typical US portion is enough for two people. Or just split the burger/omelette/whatever in half and box it up.

At BK you can get a kids meal or you can opt for the veggie burger it's 300 calories. Then have whatever for the sides like a small fry or side salad (with dressing probably about the same cal or more than the fries), or have some apple slices if you are on a fairly low calorie diet (that means less than I eat), and a diet soda. The whole meal comes in under 500 calories so it's pretty easy to fit that in any diet. I usually have 2 veggie burgers and no sides, unless I am really hungry then I might have a small order of onion rings.

One thing that I did at Applebees was get a shrimp dish, I don't think it was Grilled Jalapeno Lime Shrimp but it could have been. Anyway, I asked them if they could nix the side of rice and just cook it with double the veggies. They were very accommodating and I enjoyed it very much. I don't know how many restaurants will make adjustment like this but it's worth a try. Enjoy!

When I go out with friends to a restaurant and they have absolutely no healthy items on the menu, what do I settle for? : (

I don't want to throw all my hard work off track but I can't avoid going out with people either because they take offence.

I'd pack my own food from home to be honest but that's not awkward for the person i'd be going out with, haha.

Thanks for the suggestions.

If you REALLY have to go out - Learn the "bad" words: crispy or crunchy usually means fried, battered, buttery, breaded - not good. Loaded is, well full of something - cheese, bread crumbs, butter.

I think your definition of bad differs from mine.