Logging Restaurant Food

roanokejoe49
roanokejoe49 Posts: 820 Member
in Food and Nutrition
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?

Now, to eliminate the snark, I don't want to hear anything like "you should cook your own food." Well, duh, but sometimes that isn't possible with my work/travel schedule.

Replies

  • amberj32
    amberj32 Posts: 663 Member
    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.
  • fit_rox
    fit_rox Posts: 83
    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.
  • levitateme
    levitateme Posts: 999 Member
    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.
  • SomeNights246
    SomeNights246 Posts: 807 Member
    I guess by the average. I try not to stress about whether it's exactly right or not, it seems to work. The more you log, the better you get at guessing. Certain dishes have an average. A slice of pizza tends to average around 200-300, so I will usually log it as 300 to be safe if I'm not sure - for example.
  • luffins
    luffins Posts: 12 Member
    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!
  • frodoschmodo
    frodoschmodo Posts: 9 Member
    According to my diary, I only ever eat out at the Winking Lizard. A home-made cheeseburger is like 400 calories, and at winking lizard the same thing is 780 so that's what I use as my metric for any restaurant food.
  • Pirate_chick
    Pirate_chick Posts: 1,216 Member
    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.
  • Kanuenue
    Kanuenue Posts: 253 Member
    Do what you can, when you can. I agree with logging as close as possible with a similar restaurant item and I "round up". I don't pick the lowest cal item in the list or what would be similar if I made it at home. Restaurants add fat and other caloric items for reasons such as flavor to preventing sticking so I am generous with my estimations.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    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).
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    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.

    I go this route also
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,950 Member
    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.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    If possible and if I think they are likely to be comparable I do the counterpart restaurant thing. But for some reason I seem to go to lots of restaurants where that doesn't work, so I log the ingredients I am aware of, estimating size, and add in some extra butter (or oil, depending) and then just try to leave a little room in my day (or week). I've been going out at least once a week since I started this and have continued to lose at or above the projected rate, so restaurants can definitely be worked into a plan.
  • culo97
    culo97 Posts: 256 Member
    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/
  • curlygirl513
    curlygirl513 Posts: 199 Member
    I'm going to eat Vietnamese food next week. There is a vermicelli noodle dish that is not fried that I always get. I may even bring a scale and a container dish to weight the portion. I really don't want to be off by a lot. I am awful at this sort of going for ball park when I have a plate of food to measure.

    The best picture a lot like what I order is http://foodforfour.com/2012/11/bun-bo-xao-vietnamese-stir-fry-beef-with-vermicelli-noodles/
    except the place I go has way less protein in it, no matter whether Tofu, Shrimp, or Chicken.

    Bringing a scale and a container is not for every body. I just plan to dump it in a small plastic container all at once and weigh the whole thing. Or maybe just the protein separate. That sounds like a plan.
  • timmfp
    timmfp Posts: 4 Member
    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.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    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 tend to agree with you here. I really cannot imagine doing that in a social situation or even on a date with my husband who is also an MFP user.

    I would be more likely to just order an a la carte item or cup of tea and sit and socialize (eating before or after at home), if I felt that level of precision was necessary.

    Although -- the PP did make a disclaimer that her solution is not for everyone :-)
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  • FindingAmy77
    FindingAmy77 Posts: 1,268 Member
    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.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    I typically eat at chain restaurants when I go out but eye balling things (after measuring for a while works for me also).

    Also, with things like soup dishes you can see if there is a higher fat content by the little bubbles of oil that are on the surface or left in the bottom of bowl so I add extra oils when I see these.
  • calelirory
    calelirory Posts: 5
    bump
    :wink:
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    New here so apologies if it's a faux pas to post in an old thread... but I have the same issue as the OP. I eat in restaurants a lot, and usually I'm eating food that I couldn't even begin to guess the ingredients or prep methods of. I'm talking about local bistros where the day's specials are written on a chalkboard, that sort of thing. Montreal's kind of a foodie city, so asking the waiter about ingredients or portion sizes would be rude and really, really awkward. Not to mention, no restaurants here publish nutritional information for their menus.

    In the past when I've tried to use MFP, restaurants have always been my downfall. It just got too cumbersome trying to make wild guesses to estimate what I ate, and I would get discouraged and quit, figuring the count wasn't anywhere near accurate anyway so why bother?

    This time I'd like to make it stick. So, are there any tips and tricks that people use when they're trying to estimate restaurant food?

    (I know I could just stay home and cook my own food all the time, but then I'd have to give up my entire social life, and that's not gonna happen.)

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