Oh my god! Chili's calories *faint*

Whatever it is, it's not fine dining.

been thinking about it: I guess it's something cultural. Where I come from, there are fastfood restaurants, dining rooms (not posh but good quality, simple food) and good restaurants. Everything that serves burgers and the unhealthy kind of food Chili's is serving is considered to be a fastfood restaurant, where fastfood refers not to fast serving but rather to poor nutritional value or quality of produce. Something like Chilis doesn't really exist in my home country, nor in any of the other countries I've lived in before, but would be called fastfood there.

Around here, restaurants are classed as:

Fast food (counter service, drive through, not much variety on the menu, child friendly with play areas for kids),

Casual dining (table service, more menu items, still child friendly but they don't provide entertainment for kids except maybe crayons and a placemat. Examples:Chili's, Applebees, Olive Garden, Denny's, locally owned "family" restaurants)

Fine Dining (tablecloths, professional chefs, wine list, not child friendly)

I wonder if the word you are looking for is chain restaurant instead of fast food restaurant. Lots of chain restaurants have pre-packaged, frozen foods that they heat up in the "kitchen".

If you split your meal in half when you get it, that would probably help out as well. Just ask the server to bring the "to go" box with your meal, and do it right then and there. Or split meals with your friends.

Grilled meats and veggies are going to be your best bets calorie wise, but watch the sauces, and be prepared for some bloat the next couple of days from the very high sodium counts.

Most of all, enjoy the company of your friends, because that is what truly matters.

1. Share an appetizer or split a meal.
2. Order something that has the lesser calories on the menu.
3. Order a salad, get the dressing on the side and maybe omit some of the items that are on it.
Or
4. Don't eat the entire meal.

There are plenty of ways to NOT consume that many calories when you go out to eat. What do you do when you go out to eat at a restaurant that doesn't post their menu items and calories some place? :huh: Yes you can find a "healthy" restaurant but the calories, fat, sodium can still be very high depending on what you get. Fancy =/= Healthier. You're deceiving yourself if you think so.

Last time I was at Chili's, they had a Mango-chile Tilapia that was actually pretty tasty, and had excellent macros. Roughly 600 calorlies. Or you could split a burger and fries with someone -- 1400 divided by two isn't bad. Just don't bother with appetizers (or the dreaded chips and salsa) and don't drink your calories.

next time you go there, choose fajitas and ask for corn tortillas or just skip the tortillas altogether and have a "salad" . you will still feel satisfied and it will be yummy but lower cal. we do this occasionally. ask for extra lettuce too.

Normally this is awesome advice that I use, too...but seriously, something NUTS is up with Chili's...I ordered spicy shrimp tacos with a black bean side, ate less than one of the 3 tortillas, and logging it my sodium was STILL through the roof and insane, calories were crazy too. Usually I think I can go for a healthier option but at Chili's I am not even sure that's possible unfortunately.

We're meeting friends tonight at Chili's (no idea why they always chose fastfood outlets) and I just looked at the nutritional values of their food. OMG! How can it not be a crime to serve something like that? An appetizer with 1900kcal and 135 grams of fat and more salt than I eat in three days? O.o A salad containing nearly as much calories as I eat on a whole day!

Appetizers aren't meant to be eaten all by yourself. They're meant to be shared by everyone at the table, and are just supposed to hold you over until the main course arrives. It's not a whole meal all by itself. So yes, if you're eating an entire appetizer all by yourself, you're going to blow your diet - pretty much no matter what that diet might be. For example, you're only supposed to be having 1 or 2 mozzarrella sticks: not the whole plate!

And that "salad" is meant to be an entire meal - not combined with an appetizer on top of it.

Remember that nothing obligates you to eating the entire thing just because they set it down in front of you. Whether you're at Chili's or a friend's house, it's always your job to control your portions. Check out the nutritional infomation beforehand. If you see that scrumptous meal that you have your eye on is double the amount of calories you have available, just eat half and put the rest in a doggie bag for tomorrow. BOOM! Two meals. No diet breakdown. Problem solved.

We're meeting friends tonight at Chili's (no idea why they always chose fastfood outlets) and I just looked at the nutritional values of their food. OMG! How can it not be a crime to serve something like that? An appetizer with 1900kcal and 135 grams of fat and more salt than I eat in three days? O.o A salad containing nearly as much calories as I eat on a whole day!

Appetizers aren't meant to be eaten all by yourself. They're meant to be shared by everyone at the table, and are just supposed to hold you over until the main course arrives. It's not a whole meal all by itself. So yes, if you're eating an entire appetizer all by yourself, you're going to blow your diet - pretty much no matter what that diet might be. For example, you're only supposed to be having 1 or 2 mozzarrella sticks: not the whole plate!

And that "salad" is meant to be an entire meal - not combined with an appetizer on top of it.

Remember that nothing obligates you to eating the entire thing just because they set it down in front of you. Whether you're at Chili's or a friend's house, it's always your job to control your portions. Check out the nutritional infomation beforehand. If you see that scrumptous meal that you have your eye on is double the amount of calories you have available, just eat half and put the rest in a doggie bag for tomorrow. BOOM! Two meals. No diet breakdown. Problem solved.

No offense, but kinda conflicty there. Appetizers are meant to be shared and tie you over until the food comes (yes), but entrées aren't meant to be combined with appetizers? But you just said those are meant to be shared until the food comes.

And I'm adding: just like at home, there's no law that says you have to eat the whole thing. If you live in a country where take away is common, take half home.

They do have some "lighter choices" available. The sodium is still going to be through the roof but the calorie counts are more "reasonable" or resemble something reasonable. Not what I would call flavorful options though... *shrugs* I just have a bowl of soup and call it a day.

LOL I used to work there and ate there all the time because it was free and they didn't pay much, but I am still 3 years later working off those calories!!!!!!!