going out to eat?

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rebecca916
rebecca916 Posts: 45
in Food and Nutrition
I went out to eat at a mexican restaurant for my brother's birthday earlier this evening.
I ate 1/2 of a jumbo chicken burrito. It was very yummy (: I haven't gone out to eat in a while.
I just had a hard time estimating the calorie count.

Does anyone else have trouble counting calories when they are at restaurants and there is no nutritional information given to you?
Any advice?

Replies

  • T0RIEELIZABETH
    T0RIEELIZABETH Posts: 376
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    I try and figure out where I'm going beforehand, and look online at the calorie count and figure out what I'm going to eat before I leave my apartment. I know smart phones have a myfitnesspal app that you can use at the restaurant to look up nutrition info.
  • nurse_chris
    nurse_chris Posts: 189
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    this is tough, i used to ask about the nutritional info but this made my friends mock me. So now i just keep a mental note and then look for it here or compare to something similar....
  • fuhrmeister
    fuhrmeister Posts: 1,796 Member
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    I try to find the info online if I can. If I can't i just try to estimate with ingredents in teh data base. I try to be honset with myself about how much cheese is actually on stuff and I don't pick teh lowest calorie tortilla, or ground beef b/c i'm sure teh resarunt didn't. Just do the best you can to estimate so you won't go over with snacks later in the day. Good Luck!
  • ashley085
    ashley085 Posts: 22
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    I am having the same problem. Looking it up on the app doesnt always help either cause we all live in different areas and may not have the same restaraunts and sometimes I look up my food and its not in there at all and so I have to find something close to it and I dont feel like I get an accurate calorie count :( I would enter nutrition information for others to use if I knew what it was. Ive actually gone to a place before and asked if they had something with nutrition information for their menu items before I ordered and all I got was blank stares and laughs....It sucks sometimes!
  • eeeekie
    eeeekie Posts: 1,011 Member
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    If you can't get the info...just break a part the burrito ingredient by ingredient and put it into MFP that way. You can call the restaurant and ask for what's in it. They might give it too you?

    Always check online before I go out
  • bachooka
    bachooka Posts: 719 Member
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    I take my iPhone with me... It is crazy good to be able to take it with me. You can ask them for the nutritional chart. If that doesn't seem doable... the internet should have it!
  • bodzio4062
    bodzio4062 Posts: 11
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    In California all restaurants must provide calorie count, by law.
    If you dine in a major chain, their dish is probably already in the MFP database. As the host about this information - nothing to be ashamed of. :)
  • happy_vegan
    happy_vegan Posts: 200 Member
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    this is why i hate going out to eat.
    i almost never go to chain restaurants so it makes it even harder. the way you prepare things or the exact ingredients in a sauce, the type of bread... can be the difference of up to 400, 500 calories.
    i always guess that the meal was 1000 calories if it is something that i dont know exactly what it is they used to cook it(i.e. everything but a salad) then i just work out and hope for the best. probably not the answer you want to hear.
  • eeeekie
    eeeekie Posts: 1,011 Member
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    In California all restaurants must provide calorie count, by law.

    This is incorrect. In California a chain with more than 25 chains must provide one. Franchises do not as they are privately owned.

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