Logging Restaurant Food

Yeah, I've seen the "you should cook your own food" posts. I try to ignore those! I probably eat out more than I should too but I stay under/at my calories and I've been losing every week. If I know pretty much all the ingredients in something I will try to recreate the food in my diary. When I went to Rainforest Cafe I couldn't find the things I ate in the food list so I added from another restaurant that I thought would be close to the calories, etc. Either way it's going to be a little off, but I think it's a good estimate/educated guess. I log everyday so I kinda know more or less if it's close. I also make a note of what I did in the note section of my food diary.

Get good at eyeballing meat, pasta, bread & rice portion sizes. You can practice when you make food at home. If you weigh food and pay attention to what the serving looks like, you'll eventually be able to guess pretty well. Make your best guess and add 1-2 oz when you log, especially with meat.

I also greatly over estimate calories when it comes to added sauces, dressings. I assume everything has butter, oil, full fat milk, etc. I try to just find an entry that matches the calories I think is in the food, even if it's from a different restaurant.

I usually try to recreate the meal using the recipe creator. Usually try a piece and you can guestimate if they use butter, or whole milk, and generally avoid words like "creamy" or "fried".
But in some cases (like pizza) I usually match it to a chain restaurant depending on likeness.

Anyways, good luck!

I typically will log a counterpart menu item at a more mainstream chain that posts their calorie counts online, airing towards overestimating rather than underestimating. Restaurant preparation often involves higher amounts of oil/butter/etc.

ditto this.

I typically will log a counterpart menu item at a more mainstream chain that posts their calorie counts online, airing towards overestimating rather than underestimating. Restaurant preparation often involves higher amounts of oil/butter/etc.

ditto this.

I agree, too. It's an imperfect method but I believe it's the closest to accurate I can get (or am willing to put forth the effort to get).

I guesstimate too by logging a similar dish from the database. Will log an extra teaspoon or two of butter or oil if the dish tastes particularly rich or greasy. If portion sizes are large will often spit off a third or a half to take some home for lunch the next day. I weigh everything I take home in a doggie bag to check if my portion size guesses are accurate.

Hey folks. I eat out. Alot. Probably way more than I should. I still try to make better choices by eating at local mom and pop joints rather than chain restaurants. Here's the thing: local places don't post their nutrients in their meal descriptions. Do you guys substitute for chain restaurants, or do you try to re-create the food in your diary?

I like to try different ethnic foods. So I hardly have the first clue what the ingredients are, let alone the proportions. I can find most dishes on AllRecipes.com. Just pick a recipes that seems closest to what you ate and use the nutrition count for that dish.

Looks like you have to click on Menu to get the nutrition, calories per serving, information. It used to be on the recipe main page.
http://allrecipes.com/

Just estimate it with a similar food stuff from the MFP database. There's no need to be OCD about calorie counting. Weight loss is about long term lifestyle changes, not precision daily calorie counting. Someone mentioned bringing a food scale to a restaurant. I think that's just absurd and is apt to generate cardio exercise from other diners in the form of eye rolling.

I only go to restaurants with a nutritional thing on a website. If they don't have one, i don't go. There are a few times however that i go to something my hubby picks out and i try to use a similar thing from other restaurants but its too much mystery for me so i wont do that very much.

bump