Lunch trouble - Advice and suggestions please

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hittrain
hittrain Posts: 38 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Good Afternoon,

My wife and I have lost 25 pounds each since Jan 1. We have used MFP to track our intake and I'm in a bind for lunch. I'd love to get suggestions from the community, I have a work lunch at a local restaurant, Panini's Bar and Grill in Cleveland. The concept is "overstuffed" sandwiches with fries inside the sandwich and other fried, terrible, but tasty goodies.

The restaurant does not have its nutritional information available. there is one sandwich on MFP, I'm not sure how much I can trust the information but, if accurate, I'd do a Pastrimi sandwich for 610 and feel ok about it.

Otherwise, I'm left guessing and I hate to do that. I would love to know how you guys would handle this situation and any advice you may have. I'm generally in the 400-600 calories for lunch range.

Thanks!

'Train

Replies

  • sakuradreamer
    sakuradreamer Posts: 7 Member
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    It's still not too accurate, but maybe try to determine calorie amounts for each component of the sandwich (i.e. bread, meats, sauces, etc) and always round a little up from what you find. That's the best suggestion I can make, other than to probably go for the ones that aren't filled with french fries :)
  • MeganWillet
    MeganWillet Posts: 29 Member
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    I always look for soups when I go to restaurants! Do they offer any soups or salads? That's what I would do.
  • Fatbuster205
    Fatbuster205 Posts: 333 Member
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    Ask them to do you something low fat, low calorie for you! They have all the ingredients! Alternatively have you considered bringing a lunch to work instead?
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    One lunch in the scheme of things is not going to hurt anything. Move more today, to make room for those extra calories. Log as close as you can (guesstimate up), be conscientious when ordering and have a good time!
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
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    Try web for similar sandwich. Take an average.
    Could be a huge difference and I know what you mean, hate to log less than it actually is but I don't think 650 would be too far off.
    Since it isn't daily it wouldn't matter too much in the large scheme of things anyway but...it's still nice to be accurate
  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
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    Slightly smaller breakfast, slightly smaller dinner, slightly longer/more intense workout. Ask the server to have the kitchen make your sandwich with the condiments on the side so you can control the amounts.


    Otherwise, just have fun and enjoy a lunch with colleagues.
  • oneloopygirl
    oneloopygirl Posts: 151 Member
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    Fatbuster205 wrote: »
    Ask them to do you something low fat, low calorie for you! They have all the ingredients! Alternatively have you considered bringing a lunch to work instead?

    He just said he has a work lunch at the place. Don't think he has that choice this time...
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    One lunch in the scheme of things is not going to hurt anything. Move more today, to make room for those extra calories. Log as close as you can (guesstimate up), be conscientious when ordering and have a good time!

    THIS!! My philosophy is one meal won't kill me or derail me. Good choices the rest of the week still leaves you in a good place.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    An option is to save 100 - 150 calories each day in advance to 'fund' this work lunch .. then try to log the individual elements in the sandwich as carefully as possible plus giving a little leeway for error

    it's fine .. these things happen and you need to learn to cope with them for long term maintenance
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    One lunch in the scheme of things is not going to hurt anything. Move more today, to make room for those extra calories. Log as close as you can (guesstimate up), be conscientious when ordering and have a good time!

    This. I wouldn't worry about it so much. If you can make room for more calories by making other meals smaller, you can do that. Depending on the size of the overstuffed sandwiches, you could try bringing half home as leftovers. You can add some cardio to even things out.

    The best way to estimate calories in non-chain restaurant foods is to look up your best guess for each individual ingredient, remembering to add several tbsp of oil for anything fried.

    Personally, I would order something else. I looked up their website and the sandwiches look kinda gross and soggy. They have wraps that look pretty tasty: http://www.paninisgrill.com/menu/soups-salads-wraps/
  • jessdunn40
    jessdunn40 Posts: 36
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    Do not over eat, if you get full stop then log the portion that you ate.
  • PositivelyFlawed
    PositivelyFlawed Posts: 316 Member
    edited February 2015
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    I face similar problems weekly. Pharmacy reps bring us lunch weekly and it's always hard to tell. Luckily for me it usually includes salad as one of the dishes so i load up on that and then have whatever meat is there and usually skip the rice. I also bring lots of low cal snacks like water veggies to snack on if i'm a lil hungry because i've had to minimize portions to stay on track. This is my strat because the lunches are weekly and it's good for my career to network and participate.

    If it's a one time thing, just do your best. Order what sounds good then maybe ask for no or less cheese, sauces on the side and extra veggie toppings if available. They also may have a vegetarian option that might be better(but not always). In this case i'd do my best to log ingredients into a recipe and try to over guesstimate a bit. One time won't hurt,just be aware !!

    ETA: Ask in person if they have nutritional info available. Many places have it as a handout, but don't publish it publicly.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    what's a water veggie?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited February 2015
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    I've been to Panini's (in Kent.) They have a grilled chicken breast dinner and the chicken is actually really good. I think it came with potatoes, which were meh but the chicken I'd order again.

    ETA: I don't see it on the menu now but I would ask about it anyway. I was just there on 10/30/14. It might have been on an additional insert.
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    An option is to save 100 - 150 calories each day in advance to 'fund' this work lunch .. then try to log the individual elements in the sandwich as carefully as possible plus giving a little leeway for error

    it's fine .. these things happen and you need to learn to cope with them for long term maintenance

    I agree with this 100%. I did this type of thing the week of Thanksgiving so I could enjoy the meal and goodies and not worry about it.
  • hittrain
    hittrain Posts: 38 Member
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    Thank you everyone. I really appreciate it! I didn't think about salads (it's not usually my cup of tea); but I think I'm going with the grilled chicken salad, no cheese or bread, all the veggies and a little oil and vinegar on the side.

    It's funny; I can do the "don't worry about it" much better when I know what I'm getting into. My friends and I do wings and beer on Friday and I'm still cutting back but I have some and "suck it up" knowing how far back I'm setting myself. It's the lack of firm knowledge that has me flustered.

    Again, thank you for all the feedback; for a first time poster, it was great to see such a strong response in a couple of hours.

    'Train

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