Need Restaurant Help

jlav3
jlav3 Posts: 17
edited September 26 in Food and Nutrition
Hi all! I'm pretty new to this and absolutely love the site. It's giving me such a realistic snapshot of my goals and how to accomplish them. What I'm having trouble with is that there is no nutritional information for many nice restaurants on here or on bing or on the restaurants' webpages. They all say "due to the made from scratch methods we use, nutritional information is not available." On top of that, I'm highly frustrated that what I thought was good choices hogs my calories for the day. The places I can find information show some of the highest calorie contents in the salads and "good choices". What are some suggestions on 1.) how to make good choices when at restraunts without nutritional information available and 2.) how to make educated guesses on entries in my food journal. I have my food diary open and today we went to a Texas Roadhouse and I ordered the single chop grilled pork chops with a baked potato and a house salad. I used pepper and the juices from the meat to flavor the potato and about a teaspoon (no joke) of the light ranch dressing. If I calculated that right, it was almost 800 calories!!!!

Replies

  • iheartralphie
    iheartralphie Posts: 104 Member
    yeah, unfortunately even the healthier choices at restaurants add up to alot. Mainly because they give you the equivalent of about 2 servings. Even if nutrition facts are listed, it is usually "per serving" an an entree is a lot of times 2 servings! I just started eating half of what they bring. Even if I have to ask for a box as soon as the food arrives so I can box up half so I don't eat it.
  • youngs
    youngs Posts: 250 Member
    I use the site www.dietfacts.com/fastfood.asp it has alot of restaurant on it and I have found it to be very very helpful..Hope it helps you!
  • ekicinsk
    ekicinsk Posts: 92 Member
    try eating more fruits and vegetables and less processed food/fast food all together.

    also, they coat nearly everything (potatoes and meat included) in butter before and after cooking. Its notorious for being one of those places where it is virtually impossible to get something healthy
  • CrystalRules
    CrystalRules Posts: 18 Member
    I am usually surprised by the amount of calories in food. Either it's way more or way less than I think it should be lol. I guess I never really thought about it. A lot of times, you can Google the name of the restaurant and use the nutritional information they post on their website. If you can't find that, then just use the data base. Even if it doesn't have the specific restaurant, you can usually find your food in there. Good luck!
  • MyNameIsNotBob
    MyNameIsNotBob Posts: 565 Member
    If I'm looking for info that isn't available, I'll search for a similar item and just use an average entry. So, there might not be info. about a certain restaurant's steak, but if I see that the ranges for other steaks are 220-520 calories, I'll pick one that's about 370. To offset the uncertainty, I just try to be really careful about logging the rest of my calories.
  • jlav3
    jlav3 Posts: 17
    Yikes!! I don't even want to think about my 800 calorie lunch being 1600!! I think going out to eat is going to have to halt while I'm working so hard on this and then occationally only when I'm at the point of maintaining. Thank you :)
  • iheartralphie
    iheartralphie Posts: 104 Member
    I got a "healthy" veggie wrap and steamed veggies for lunch one day, and felt good about it because I looked up the info on their website before hand, then when I looked it up again I realized it said "entree equals 2 servings". My "healthy" wrap ened up being abut 1000 calories and 25 grams of fat :(
  • jllipson
    jllipson Posts: 646
    Ask first if they cook in butter, if so, ask them not to, I did that my last visit to Texas Roadhouse and thought it actually tasted better. Since most places are cooked to order, they can accomodate you. That is a main thing with places like steak places- even the broccoli is cooked in butter. Your best bet at places like those is actually the small sirloin steak, or another type of steak. Their chicken dishes tend to be prepared in ways that add lots of calories too. That was my first thought at Outback - love the Alice Springs Chicken - then I found out the calories - don't remember right now, just know I ordered the steak and steamed veggies, minus the butter. Even adding a caesar salad was fewer calories than most chicken dishes.
  • mrsgalle
    mrsgalle Posts: 1
    I'm having similar problems. I get discouraged when I have to estimate and feel like I could be over or under shooting. But what I can offer is1.) take the time to see what modifications you can make ( egg whites, no sides, cheese, steak butter). And 2.) Eat simple so that you are confident you can match up what you're eating more accurately.
  • jlav3
    jlav3 Posts: 17
    Those tips about asking for my food being prepared without certian calorie hogging products that you guys posted are going to certianly come in handy! I never even thought about that. I was encouraged again tho because even after my restraunt mishap, my weigh in today went very well so it didn't hurt me too much :)
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
    Try going to http://eatthis.menshealth.com/home before you go to a restaurant. They have a lot of places on file for you to see what your best choices are.

    I also like to split meals with my husband. That way we save money and calories at the same time! This weekend I went to IHOP (huge calorie offender) and managed a filling 847 cal dinner. If I hadn't gotten those mozzarella sticks, it would only have been 399! Don't get the mozzarella sticks!
  • monkeybelle83
    monkeybelle83 Posts: 141 Member
    I have started this thing where if I can't find the nutritional information, then I won't go there. I dislike when restaurants don't provide the information for the food they are serving. I think it's sort of shady. There are plenty of places who do provide the info, and make food from scratch as well.
  • kacarter1017
    kacarter1017 Posts: 651 Member
    Go for a chicken breast that isn't smothered in anything as a first choice. If that isn't possible, a steak is quite safe. Remember though that a serving is about the size of a deck of cards for meat- so quite small.

    As far as a potato, a serving is one medium. So if you're served a large potato, eat 1/2 or slightly more.

    I use the "fork dip" method for my dressing- dip my fork in the dressing (dip not scoop) and then stab some salad. Skip the bread with the salad. Take off the croutons as well.

    If you use this method, you should be able to keep it under 500 calories.
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