Eating at a restaurant

dqugrad
dqugrad Posts: 1 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
This is my first night going out to a restaurant with friends since I started logging my food. How do you figure out how many calories are in different dishes. This restaurant is higher end and does not post the calories on the menu.

Replies

  • Timelordlady85
    Timelordlady85 Posts: 797 Member
    edited August 2015
    What are you thinking of ordering? I would hold off on the extra breads they offer while waiting for my food, maybe only have a few bites of a shared appetizer (if one is ordered) and get a salad, grilled steak or chicken and veggies.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    dqugrad wrote: »
    This is my first night going out to a restaurant with friends since I started logging my food. How do you figure out how many calories are in different dishes. This restaurant is higher end and does not post the calories on the menu.
    Guess. A steak is a steak. Chicken is chicken. Etc.

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    If you've been weighing and logging your food, you can get a pretty good guess. Take a look at the pasta, does it look like one serving or two? Guess how many ounces of meat. 100 grams of cheese? 200? Log it. Many times you'll want to log a tablespoon of olive oil, depending on the order. I try to log everything separately.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    Find a place that gives nutrition info for a similar product or note the ingredients to log separately when you get home. You can get something you'll like and only eat half.
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
    I use what I think are comparable entries already in the database for the components of the dish, and I tend to over-estimate - so I steak I'm guessing is 5oz I might log as 6oz to account for size discrepancies or extra fat in the cooking process etc.
    It's not a perfect science but I was able to lose weight and keep it off doing that, because I'm much more accurate when I can be. I've also got very good at talking friends/dates/family into sharing a starter or a pudding with me, if I fancy something but I don't want the meal to total 2000+ calories.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,015 Member
    I eat out a lot. It's a bit of a guess with comparable dishes in the database. Get used to estimating weight by comparing serving sizes of meat and carbs to the size of your fist. If a dish tastes suspiciously fatty I will log an extra teaspoon or two of butter or olive oil.
  • anneeett
    anneeett Posts: 75 Member
    I usually look up similar dishes in the databasa.

    Oh, and a bonus tip: if you already know where you're going to eat, you can see if they have a website with their menu on it. You can already decide in advanve what you'll have, log it in your MFP and plan the rest of your dishes for that day accordingly :)
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    i eat out a lot. if its a chain, its in the database or online. or find a similar item and opt for a higher calorie one.

    if its not in the database, estimate (this is why accurately logging your food is so important- it makes it MUCH easier to estimate amounts of items- and the more you do it, the better you get)
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  • oh_happy_day
    oh_happy_day Posts: 1,137 Member
    arditarose wrote: »
    If you've been weighing and logging your food, you can get a pretty good guess. Take a look at the pasta, does it look like one serving or two? Guess how many ounces of meat. 100 grams of cheese? 200? Log it. Many times you'll want to log a tablespoon of olive oil, depending on the order. I try to log everything separately.

    This is what I do. I know it won't be terribly accurate because who knows what butter/oil etc they've used. I over-estimate. The portions are much bigger than what I serve myself, particularly for meat, so I just accept that I'll go over my calories and I'll make it up elsewhere in the week.
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