Does anyone else stress about unmeasured eating?

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Lookmeintheeyes135
Lookmeintheeyes135 Posts: 40
in Health and Weight Loss
Every time I have to eat over someone's house or at a restaurant, I have serious anxiety about the amount of calories and fat I eat. Even though I tend to make truly healthy choices, the fact that I don't know exactly what I'm eating makes me worry. Does anyone else feel this way? Kinda sucks..

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  • allshebe
    allshebe Posts: 423 Member
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    I take my best guess as to quantity, content and calories. I also don't do much measuring at home. It appears to be working for me (doesn't work for everybody) - possibly because I try to err on the "high" side, within reason.
  • mathjulz
    mathjulz Posts: 5,514 Member
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    I don't worry about it. It's one meal.

    Beyond that, most calorie counts are estimates anyway. IIRC, USDA regulations allow food label calorie counts to be off by something like 5% … they certainly round to the nearest 10 in most cases. And the amount of calories burned is an estimate, too.

    For me, as long as I am paying attention to serving size I don't stress over the minor inaccuracies - I use a measuring cup for cereal and most dry foods, for example. If I'm not happy with my loss, I know that's where I may need to be more careful, but so far it's worked okay. In the same vein, if I'm at a restaurant I realize that I'm probably going to be off some, and take the best estimates I can get (you can get calorie counts off most chains' websites; I know it's not going to be perfect but see above) and figure I'll probably be over for the day. If I am invited to eat at someone's house, I go by a similar rule of thumb - watch portion sizes and estimate the best I can, accepting it may be off.

    Not worth stressing over, in my book.
  • Mechanikitty
    Mechanikitty Posts: 90 Member
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    The important thing to remember when someone makes you a meal is that they probably put effort into making it super tasty. That means it's generally high-calorie. I always feel that if a friend makes me something to eat I should be grateful for it and not nit-pick over what's in it. As to eating-out, I never do it. If I have to I only feel safe with an undressed salad and since I'm vegetarian the only ususal options are tonnes of pasta and carbs.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,969 Member
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    No. You won't either after a while, it's not life-threatening.
  • catbubbles
    catbubbles Posts: 28
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    I wouldnt say it worries me, but it does annoy me and make me wonder how far off I am... fortunatly my best friend also logs so when I eat at her place she tells me exactly what to log :) I rarely eat anywhere else but when I do I just assume my calorie intake is higher.
  • Holly_Lynn81
    Holly_Lynn81 Posts: 13 Member
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    I am strict at home, but away from home I am learning to chill and eyeball my servings as best as I can. It's something we have to learn to do anyways, we can't measure everything all the time. Just make healthy choices and do the best you can when you can't measure :) It's all you can do sometimes! Good Luck to you!
  • dakitten2
    dakitten2 Posts: 888 Member
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    Yes I do but not as much as I used to do. Restaurants are pretty easy unless it's a non-chain type restaurant as the majority of the chains have their nutrition guides online and I just preplan my meal before I go. That way I don't even open the menu and can stay on point. Eating at someone's house is usually trying to just simply do the best I can do and watching portion sizes and estimating based on other items in the database.
  • avskk
    avskk Posts: 1,789 Member
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    It kind of bugs me, yeah. I don't eat out much (every couple of months, if that) and I almost never eat food I didn't prepare myself, so I don't have enough experience under my belt to handle it with grace, I guess.

    A new Thai place just opened in town yesterday; I have a colleague in from out of town, we went to dinner there on the company dime today, it was absolutely delicious and I focused on just enjoying my food and stopping when full. I was fine until I got home and tried to log it -- every calorie estimate I can find online for my dish is different from the one before! Now I'm sitting here mildly stressing over whether I logged it "right," how much damage (if any) I did, etc.

    On the other hand, it was freaking delicious and I had fun, so I'm making an effort to shut my nagging brain down. And heck yeah, I'm having the leftovers tomorrow... even if I can't log them perfectly. ;)
  • siqiniq
    siqiniq Posts: 237 Member
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    When eating out, which I often do, the first thing I do when my meal arrives is cut it in half. I eat one half, and bring the rest home for another meal. I do my best to log, but like the rest of you, I can't do it perfectly and just do the best I can. when eating at a friend's home again I take small portions and do the best I can. I don't make a big thing about not eating this or that. I eat small meals anyway because of gastric weight loss surgery many years ago. I just tell my host that I eat small meals and try some of everything they have prepared, and enjoy the meal and the company. At home I measure faithfully.
  • Lld320
    Lld320 Posts: 81
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    One meal is not going to make or break anything. Just try to keep your portion size on the smaller side if you're really worried about it, or eat less at other times that day when you can measure. It's not the end of the world.
  • red869
    red869 Posts: 59
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    I stress out so much about this; I have to measure everything before I eat it, even a single grape would have to be measured before I eat it. That is why when I go out, I just don't eat until I get home. It is annoying and I'm hoping that in time I will learn to relax a little but at the moment I cannot allow myself to eat anything that isn't weighed, unless it's pre-packaged and has the calories on it. I try to eat home-cooked food though most days.

    I stayed over at someone's house a couple of week back and I didn't eat anything at all until I got back home the next evening. As it was unplanned I hadn't prepared any meals or anything and was starving! I wish I didn't have to be so strict but that's just the way I am.
  • jc31388
    jc31388 Posts: 11
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    yeah i know exactly how you feel. I usually do all my own cooking with a smile on my face. I really don't go to restuarants that much. But when i do you better believe im stressing and assuming the worst. Soo DO NOT FEAR you're not the only one.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    Let it go.

    Do the best you can with your choices and portion sizes, and don't eat out very often, but you try to let it go mentally and enjoy yourself when you are, are occasion, out.
  • Gigsluvscw
    Gigsluvscw Posts: 139 Member
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    I used to... but over time I realized that this is also about changing my eating patterns for the rest of my life. I don't plan on measuring out everything and staying home to eat for the rest of my life, so I might as well start learning how to make adjustments/be comfortable now by going out to eat occationally. I don't want to put all of this time and hard work into losing weight eating at home/taking my food everywhere and THEN have to start all over again with learning something else like how to eat out while trying to maintain. I figure if I start learning now, I'll be ahead of the curve, by already having that skill/comfort level.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,969 Member
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    I stress out so much about this; I have to measure everything before I eat it, even a single grape would have to be measured before I eat it. That is why when I go out, I just don't eat until I get home. It is annoying and I'm hoping that in time I will learn to relax a little but at the moment I cannot allow myself to eat anything that isn't weighed, unless it's pre-packaged and has the calories on it. I try to eat home-cooked food though most days.

    I stayed over at someone's house a couple of week back and I didn't eat anything at all until I got back home the next evening. As it was unplanned I hadn't prepared any meals or anything and was starving! I wish I didn't have to be so strict but that's just the way I am.

    Oh, honey. This is a compulsion. It's not healthy. Please break yourself of this unhealthy habit, or seek therapy. :flowerforyou:
  • Lookmeintheeyes135
    Lookmeintheeyes135 Posts: 40
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    Thank you all very much for replying. The advice has been great to read, but what I love most is knowing that I'm not the only one. It is, as a few of you pointed out, a work in progress. I must learn to cope. Cheers!
  • lovelylela415
    lovelylela415 Posts: 91 Member
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    I used to... but over time I realized that this is also about changing my eating patterns for the rest of my life. I don't plan on measuring out everything and staying home to eat for the rest of my life, so I might as well start learning how to make adjustments/be comfortable now by going out to eat occationally. I don't want to put all of this time and hard work into losing weight eating at home/taking my food everywhere and THEN have to start all over again with learning something else like how to eat out while trying to maintain. I figure if I start learning now, I'll be ahead of the curve, by already having that skill/comfort level.

    this is my thinking around it, too. When i find myself stressing about meals i'm eating which i myself didn't prepare, i realize i'm in the midst of a kind of compulsion or "diet" way of thinking rather than just living a healthy life. this is part of the healthy lifestyle, in m opinion - learning how to feel good and healthy at all times which means not beating myself up for eating a lovely meal outside of my own home, even though i loooooooove cooking at home more than eating out (i really do!)

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