Eating Out?

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danalopez52
danalopez52 Posts: 7 Member
in Recipes
What do you order at the various (name them) restaurants you dine at? Not all places have 'light' menus...

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  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    Food. Sometimes alcohol.... Thread title makes me giggle.
  • crystal8208
    crystal8208 Posts: 284 Member
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    LOL. I order something that I can finish if possible. So I will order off the light menu. Me and leftovers rarely happen when I eat out. Usually, if I know I'm eating out I will try to plan for a monster dinner. My favorites:

    Applebee's - Pepper chicken alfredo
  • crystal8208
    crystal8208 Posts: 284 Member
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    Or the mushroom steak
  • dfranch
    dfranch Posts: 207 Member
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    Steak, baked/broiled fish, grilled chicken. Sometimes I save up calories for a week so I can really go to town and splurge.
  • bulbadoof
    bulbadoof Posts: 1,058 Member
    edited March 2015
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    if they don't have a light menu, i'll work around it. if they sell burgers, i won't eat the bun. if they do boneless wings (my ex used to love buffalo wild wings), i'll pick off the breading. (chili's) make-your-own fajitas are the jackpot, imo - it's just chicken, peppers, onions, and as much or as little of the toppings as you can calorically afford. just eat em on the little plate they provide and don't touch the tortillas. there's also the option of getting salad dressing on the side, and most places do simple steak and veggies. at wendy's, i always get a side caesar salad and a plain baked potato, then take the cheese out of my salad and melt it in the potato so the potato isn't sad and bland.

    or, if you only go out once in a blue moon, you could just order what you actually want and allot the calories accordingly. if i want a baconator, i'm having a baconator - i'll make it fit.
  • rayneface
    rayneface Posts: 219 Member
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    Normally if I am eating out it is as a treat so I don't stress too much about a light menu. Being vegetarian I tend to have limited options anyway - salad is always a good go to but can get boring.

    Back in my meat eating days I found the "lightest" item on a menu was almost always the steak sandwich, even beating out salads- that was my "safe" food for a long time.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
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    If I really have no idea the calorie content of a meal, I just cut it immediately in half and put one half in a to go box to have for another meal.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    For me, eating out is pretty rare...it's a maybe twice per month kind of thing when I'm cutting and maybe 4 or 5 times per month in maintenance. Being that it's so rare, I usually just get whatever I'm feeling like. If I'm out more often than usual, I will often just eat half and box the rest up for later.

    If I'm on vacation or something where I'll be eating out frequently, I just try to make overall good nutritional decisions...like grilled meats, poultry, or fish..salads with dressing on the side...lots of veg, etc. My wife and I have also been known to split entrees. We generally skip appetizers and deserts...but usually order win or beer...'cuz vacation.
  • littlebee55
    littlebee55 Posts: 71 Member
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    CrabNebula wrote: »
    If I really have no idea the calorie content of a meal, I just cut it immediately in half and put one half in a to go box to have for another meal.

    I started doing this, too. I really like doing it because it's like getting a double treat.

    I also check out the menu before I go if I can find one. I did that tonight for Tijuana Flats. I already had it loaded in MFP before I left the house. I had 2 fish tacos on whole wheat tortillas and a side of refried beans. 448 calories and it was so good :-)
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    food…drinks…etc
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    randomtai wrote: »
    Food. Sometimes alcohol.... Thread title makes me giggle.

    oh really????
  • lee_c1002
    lee_c1002 Posts: 2 Member
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    My go to is grilled chicken. Usually restaurants pair that with some sort of rice pilaf or veggies.
  • kimw91
    kimw91 Posts: 355 Member
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    I always look for grilled protein. At Greek restaurants I go for souvlaki. At other places, grilled chicken, lean steak, fish. If there aren't any lean proteins, I try to find a tomato based pasta dish, such as puttanesca.
  • copermen1
    copermen1 Posts: 31 Member
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    I eat out as a treat so I order what I want and cut the proportion down to the size I should be eating. I have an 18yo son at home so leftovers are rarely left over. Example, I have been doing really well so I took the wife out to our favorite restaraunt and ordered chicken scalopini. This dish fully loaded is 1600+ calories! I ate one bite of the fetucinni alfredo and I asked for a seperate plate and pulled one of the chicken breasts and all the fixings off onto a clean not sauce filled plate and ate that. Figured I had cut that meal down to 650ish calories.. I did go over on my fat macros but it was a treat and I made up for it big time doing the P90x yoga earlier in the evening
  • jlewisrn74
    jlewisrn74 Posts: 94 Member
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    I usually decide what I'm going to order a head of time my looking in MFP. If it's high calorie I order and ask for a to go box. I box up 1/2 of it right away. Out of site out of mind...
  • hampsterblade
    hampsterblade Posts: 6 Member
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    Due to the nature of my job its not uncommon for me to eat out 3 days or more a week. I try to stick to restaraunts I know are safe. A little bowl at hot head weighs in at about 400 if you go without cheese and sour cream. A 6 inch grilled chicken sub at subway, grilled fish and Cole slaw at long john silvers. Asian cashew salad at Wendys is aldo really good, doesnt even need thr dressing, only 45 calories thiugh. Like others say, look for grilled lean protein and vegetable based foods. And remember that fried foods and breads are going to be the enemies.
  • Azexas
    Azexas Posts: 4,334 Member
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    If it is a chain restaurant they will most likely have a nutritional menu online. Even if they don't have light options you can most likely piece together a meal that will suite your calorie and macro goals for the day.

    You can always get a meal and then take half home.

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