Do you dread eating out now?

I don't want to say you sound crazy, but this part in particular "I wish I could pay extra if I went to the restaurant and I was guaranteed they weighed and measured my portions and handed me a slip of paper that included all the nutritional content" has never crossed my mind.

Most of the places around me don't have nutrition info since they are mom and pop type restaurants. I couldn't imagine not eating at them for fear I may go over calories. I definitely have to give you props for your consistency - I am not that well managed.

Not any more. I enjoy my meals out. I try to make sure most days I prepare my meals at home, but when I know I'm heading out, I will look at the nutritional info/menu before I go. Drink water, stick with steak/chicken and a side salad or veggies, then I'm good to go!

Tonight we're having Dairy Queen for supper. I will have a grilled chicken wrap with lettuce and cheese (their ranch tastes a little.. off .. to me, so I don't get it), and a side of onion rings because I can.

If any of the calculations are off a little, it's not the end of the world. What matters is your week-to-week, not your day-to-day!

In the 5 months I've been dieting, I've gone out to eat maybe 10-15 times. All of which, except for 3, were at restaurants with nutritional information available. I just don't go places where I don't know. The three times I did were special occasions and I wrote them off as a day over limit and moved on. It's not a big deal as long as you know what you're eating or, if you don't know, you do it very rarely.

I go out to eat every Friday night with my wife. I always choose somewhere that has a low calorie section of the menu and I look the options up in MFP beforehand so I already know what to order.

I realize everything may not be measured exactly right, but most of the time, it is close enough and I don't let it bother me. I just enjoy it.

It hasn't hampered my weight loss so far.

I know how you feel. It is hard to go out to eat and eat something sensible. Usually, when people go out to eat it is "splurge" for them, so higher calorie regins the menu. Usually I do soup and salad or for breakfast the other day, I had oatmeal and fresh fruit.

I hate eating out. They seem to do their best to give you the grossest food, in the hugest portions, filled with as many calories and salt as possible, at moderate prices.

It's not worth it.

For me, when I am logging regularly (as I did all of last year, and as I am finally back to doing in the last week or so), I am much less worried about eating out.

We mostly go to larger chain restaurants that have nutrition info available - for those, if the resulting calories are understated by 10 or 20%, I don't sweat it. For the 4 or 5 times a month I eat dinner out, an extra hundred or so calories isn't going to blow the plan.

The real key is to be logging the other stuff. I'm back to weighing and measuring everything at home so breakfast and my packed lunch for work are pretty much dead on. The dinners we eat at home are the same.

Eating out is a "treat" but not a "cheat" for me. If the portions that come on the plate seem like they are totally off the charts, I am just starting to follow my wife's lead (she's been weighing/measuring her food for many years - well ahead of me learning to eat more healthily) and I'm not embarrassed to pull out a portable digital scale, ask for an extra small plate to use on the scale and measure out a reasonable portion. It takes a bit of nerve to do the first time, but I just tell myself that it is what I need to do to be healthy... nothing to be embarrassed about at all.

For the few local mom and pop places where we do dine, they know us and our "quirks" and there's nothing to be embarrassed about at all. One place even brings a couple of extra small plates as they set up "our" booth for us.

For a long time I did. Until my therapist pointed out that I was more stressed about eating out than anyone she'd worked with who had actual medical reasons to worry about restaurant food. Who knew that crying in a restaurant because they were out of quinoa burgers wasn't normal? (that's rhetorical!)

That was a bit of a wake up call. If this is going to be a lifestyle change for me I had to come to grips with the fact that sometimes I can't be in 100% control of my food. If my diet ruins my enjoyment of time out with friends and family then it's not sustainable for me.

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I don't dread eating out, I just avoid it. Even if I can figure out the approximate calories it's hard to determine the sodium and fat content. Usually I order a chicken breast and steamed vegetables or garden salad with balsamic vinegar. Kinda boring options and I can make this food at home for cheaper so why waste money on eating out when I can spend my money on new "skinny" clothes and workout gear instead?

When eating out, I used to jump right to the salads and find one with chicken, order it with minimal stuff on it and my dressing was always on the side and I drizzled it on, I might have only drizzled on one tbsp., if that, to make sure I was always going to be under calories. My husband and family thought I was crazy!

Of course, now that I'm pregnant, I don't think that way, but if we do go out (for any reason), 9 times out of 10 I'll order a salad with no cheese.

You can never be too cautious what or how much you are being served at a restaurant, because everyone knows here in America, our portions are always double.

NO.

I plan ahead and i tip well, Most places i go know what i want before i ask. Im not afraid to ask questions .

I was that way when i started. Got over it. Life is not enjoyable if you cant eat out with family and friends every now and then. I am going to a bbq restaurant this evening with my family and will choose healthy options and have done a workout already in preparation. Not the end of the world guys