How often do you go out to eat and does it effect your weight?

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  • paulawatkins1974
    paulawatkins1974 Posts: 720 Member
    edited April 2015
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    160 calories per biscuit ETA oops already answered
  • ItalianChick90
    ItalianChick90 Posts: 34 Member
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    the menu is actually pretty reasonable, calorie wise..looks like they only have one option over 1000 cals and that is 1500 ..

    http://www.redlobster.com/health/nutrition/Nutrition_Facts.pdf

    Ooooh thank you for this! The Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia looks interesting (and only 370 calories).
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Prior to this month, I would eat out once a week.
    Just plan in advance and it'll be fine.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    If you're eating at maintenance, then you get more calories for allotment and there should be no problem. It doesn't matter what you eat, just how much.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,944 Member
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    Normally, my husband and I rarely eat out. So that possibility didn't really enter my head when I signed up here in mid-Feb. And then the unexpected happened and we went out for my birthday, we had friends from out of town visit and we went out with them, we travelled at Easter and visited friends and of course went out to dinner ...

    All of a sudden we were social butterflies! :lol:

    I kept losing weight through it all by doing the following:

    -- looking up the restaurants ahead of time. Some had nutrition data on the food choices so I made my selection in advance.

    -- selecting the vegetarian dishes. I'm not vegetarian, but when I was reading through the nutrition data of restaurant meals, I discovered that the vegetarian dishes tended to be lower calorie.

    -- selecting sides of salad and veg, without dressing, instead of chips.

    -- sharing a portion of my meal with my husband.

    -- exercising ... a lot. I'd go out for a good 3-4 hour bicycle ride before going out to dinner in the hopes of burning off whatever I ate.
  • bonneboo
    bonneboo Posts: 27 Member
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    I like the comment about getting boring grilled fish. That is the "old School" way of eating when you go out. No way - blackened sounds wonderful!! I plan for mine to be breaded and fried, its like doing my homework before I leave
  • cresyluna
    cresyluna Posts: 48 Member
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    I eat out a good bit, probably 2-3x a week for dinner for once (rarely more) a week for lunch. My husband and I go out for breakfast maybe 1-2x a month. A lot of times we eat places that don't have menus available before hand, so I try to exercise a bit more ahead of time and go for the lighter options if possible, and not infrequently take half of the meal home - a lot of portions are gigantic!
  • LessthanKris
    LessthanKris Posts: 607 Member
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    We eat out about once a week. I actually have no problem not gaining from but it does make it harder for me to lose. I have slacked a bit lately and have been maintaining the last few weeks but when I was losing I just saved up calories on other days so I could just go out and eat whatever I wanted. It also works out better for me if it is dinner since I typically eat the most calories during that meal anyway. My breakfasts and lunches are usually pretty low cal.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,659 Member
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    If you're smaller and older like I am and have a low calorie limit to even keep a deficit, I wouldn't advise eating out more than once a week. Basically, I can undo all my progress for the week in one day. Even the lower calorie options are at least 500+ calories for a meal, and of course, let's not talk about alcohol. On a 1200 calorie plan, you have to give up breakfast or lunch to eat well at night. I'm active on the days I work -- walking 6000 steps or more just on campus -- and I can't starve myself all day so I can eat out at night. I personally believe my weekly "cheat meal" out is responsible for my plateau, but I can't bear to give it up. If I eat out more than once a week, I gain. We had some birthdays over the last couple weeks, and I'm 2-3 lbs. heavier than I should be. I'm still trying to figure out what I want more -- to weigh 115 lbs. or less -- or to enjoy my life.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    We eat out way too much (4-5 times a week). It hasn't prevented me from losing a relatively high amount of weight. I just make sure to fit whatever I eat into my budget for the day. That usually means eating a light breakfast and lunch - I'm okay with that.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    For me, eating out is not a big deal so I don't usually think of it as a caloric splurge occasion. It's just another meal to me.
  • My_Butt
    My_Butt Posts: 2,300 Member
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    I eat out every Sunday and order whatever I want. I stick to my calorie deficit Monday through Friday, do insanity, and lead an active lifestyle doing construction.
    I get the feeling my weight loss is slower, but I don't feel deprived at all.
  • annette_15
    annette_15 Posts: 1,657 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    For me, eating out is not a big deal so I don't usually think of it as a caloric splurge occasion. It's just another meal to me.

    This. I skip the bread/starters/dessert (unless I steal a nibble from bf). Then I can get pretty much whatever I want as the main course (within reason ofc) and really enjoy it
  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
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    ItalianChick90 wrote: »
    My boyfriend wants to go out to eat (at Red Lobster), not today but in a day or two. He's going to treat me to it. But the thing is we went out to eat at a Thai restaurant 2 weeks ago. Is it safe to go out again or is once every two weeks too much?

    ps- I'm NOT trying to lose weight but I'm not trying to gain. I lost weight and don't want it back.

    During my active weight loss phase I ate out 2-3 times a week (a mix between fast food and sit down restaurants). Now that I'm in maintenance I continue to eat out 2-3 times a week. In fact today I had Arbys for lunch and Pizza Hut for supper ;) At the end of the day it comes down to calories and math. Eat what you like, just make it fit into your calorie goals and you're good to go :)
  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I eat out 1-6 times a week, depending.
    Crab legs are one of my fave things at red lobster and they are really low cal (I don't like mine dipped in butter so that also helps!)
  • Sophiasmomma
    Sophiasmomma Posts: 155 Member
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    I actually went to red lobster saturday for a party. Since starting on my weight loss journey I try to really limit going out to eat. I looked up the calories on red lobsters site. Ate half of my low cal meal and had cals for one cheese biscuit. As of today, three days later im still showing 2lb gain which from everything I've read here is water weight from too much sodium. I think eating out is fine as long as mentally u can accept seeing a slight gain that will go away
  • avskk
    avskk Posts: 1,789 Member
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    I see a water weight gain from eating out sometimes, but it's gone within a day or two. Like everyone else said, plan for it, make it fit, log it, and don't sweat it.

    (As an aside, I appreciate this thread because it made me look up Red Lobster information and realize how easy it would be to fit my favorite stuff there into an average day! Lobster tail or crab legs, two cheese biscuits, and creamy lobster baked potato for 700 calories? Yes thank you please immediately!)
  • jessieleah
    jessieleah Posts: 204 Member
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    I try to limit it to once a week. Lately it's been twice a week. At the beginning, I restricted it a lot and probably only went out once every 2-3 weeks. Now I just plan ahead and log the food to the best of my ability before I get there. So I always know what I'm getting before I go and that makes it easier to maintain healthier choices. I'll also eat less that day leading up to it if I know it's going to be calorie heavy. Sometimes I'll just write it off as a cheat meal, though, and eat normally for all my other meals without restricting them.
  • vixtris
    vixtris Posts: 688 Member
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    I go out to eat at LEAST once a week... sometimes 2. I'm bad like that :P However, as long as I eat within my limit, it doesn't effect my weight loss much ... Maybe slow it down for a day or 2, but it still goes down.
  • Freidon
    Freidon Posts: 169 Member
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    Like everyone else has been saying, I just look up the nutrition chart and try to make it fit my calories. I'm fortunate that most of the places we go I'm familiar enough with to have a favorite that I know is within my calorie range. Work events and spontaneous going out to eat with coworkers are the worst, though. If I don't know the place, I assume the worst about the pasta and stick to soup, chicken, fish, or if I get salad, eat it without dressing.

    It's a huge pain, though. I live in the South, so you'll get teasingly berated or even have people concerned for you if you make a show of having to look up calorie counts. So I end up eating half of my daily calories in one sitting to try and save face.

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