Is anyone else terrified of restaurants?

When I can't prepare everything I put into my body I get downright b!tchy because I'm so stressed out. I've eaten out 3 times since May 30th which was the first time since I started my new lifestyle in January. Here's how I deal:
Get easy stuff you can add the individual items if the restaurant doesn't have nutrition information.
Ask for your veggies steamed, or better yet no oil/butter used on the meal entirely.
Stick to lean meats/fish and veggies only
Ask for any dressing or condiments on the side.
Worse comes to worse, calculate your maintenance calories and stick to that, then start over the next day.
I've found it's easiest for me to get egg beaters when eating out. I can get a lot and people don't think of me as dieting, cause I'm eating about the same quantity as everyone else.
I've also in the past gotten kids or senior meals at restaurants, the portion size is is more suitable to me.
Another person on here gave me the advice to ask them to bring a box when the meal comes, and put half of the meal in the box before you start eating, that will help you keep your portions normal.

Good Luck, keep in shape!

Through this process I've really gotten a handle on my eating. I'm no longer baking a batch of cookies because I just polished off a pan of brownies.
The one thing I can't wrap my head around is eating out. The salt, the fat, the sugar, the trans fat. I feel totally out of control.
I'm going away for 12 days to visit family for a wedding, and I've just been informed that 10 out of the 12 evenings will be spent eating out, even though we have full access to a kitchen. Everything is planned, and I don't even have control of where we will eat. I'm really dreading it.
I'm just about to transition to maintenance calories and am nervous about that. I don't need this eating out to derail me. I'm going to up my exercise. Any advice?


try to avoid alcohol at all costs and just drink water to try to keep the sodium washed out of your system, and just make your best judgement with your foods and you will be ok.....and exercise as much as u can!! good luck and congrats on ur hard work!!!
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

I have worked at many restaurants and it is common and totally fine for you to ask questions. Like ie Is that cooked in butter? (my restaurant would cook items in white wine if you didn't want butter) Can you grill it instead of fry it? Can you bring me a to-go box with my plate (then put half the plate away before starting to eat)

Try to eat balanced meals with normal portions and you should be fine

One of the biggest things is going to be portion control. It might help that you'll be in England; I don't think they are as in love with huge portions at restaurants as we Americans are! But my strategy at a restaurant is to drink plenty of water and only eat 1/2 the food. I generally take the other half home to eat later, but as you will be eating out daily this may not work (although some of it could potentially be a reasonable lunch the next day). Don't feel bad if sometimes part of your meal ends up thrown away. Better to "go to waste" than to go to your waist!

Avoid fried stuff - some English food is very deep fried! Salad is a good option, request dressing on the side and you can control how much of it you get. Clear broth soups are good for filling up with fewer calories, cream soups tend to have more. And if it's an option, order veggies instead of fries ("chips").

I know exactly what you mean!

But you've been given a heads up which is good. A lot of restaurants will have their menus up online, so study them and plan what you're going to eat in advance! If necessary, call the restaurant to get some clarifications on items on the menu (what kind of sauces, portion size, etc)

I'm a musician who tours a lot. Believe me, I spend countless nights at restaurants/fast food/diners/bars and have to eat there, because that's just where the band stopped. You often have no control over where you eat, but always have control over what you eat! Here's some tips I've learned over the years.

You never have to order off the menu. The menu is just suggestions. Decide what you want and just order it. They'll figure out how to charge you later, but you can tell them up to the single ingredient what you want in a salad for example. It feels weird at first, but the more you get used to it - you're paying them to prepare your food how you want it! Ask for it that way!

You can always throw parts of your meal away. Eat the parts you want, toss the rest.

Fast food options:
McDonalds/Wendys/BK/burger joints. - the worst part really is the exttras. Skip the fries and BREAD on the burgers. The meat and chicken is actually not too bad. I'll regularly have several dollar burgers from the cheap menu, no bread and just a knife and fork. It tastes good and your skipping the junk empty calories and still getting some protein and fat.

(as a side note - fat is good and will neither kill you, nor make you fat. - the only fat to avoid is transfat and even that is getting harder to find as companies slowly eliminate it.)

I'm kind of a pain in the butt to eat with because I'll always ask tons of questions. I want to know what the food is made in, what sauce is put on it, what the ingredients are - etc. Ask questions! It won't hurt and maybe will even educate your family and friends a bit to help them take care of themselves

The biggest thing is - make the right choice 90% of the time, and don't kill yourself for the other 10%. It won't set your progress back on vacation. You've done great work and will continue to do it when you get back, don't worry too much - the extra cortisol will do more harm than the couple crappy food choices you'll make while abroad!

Have fun and best of luck!

this is an interesting piece of advice on this topic that i came across through cosmo that has really helped me out.

sometimes ordering the plainest and healthiest dish on the menu is still seriously taking you off track because of the portion sizes. especially is you're with people its easier to get distracted and its harder to miss when you're full, and you are more likely to eat everything thats on your plate, so ask the waiter to doggie bag half before it even reaches the table.

I've heard a number of people suggest the "doggie bag half of it before you eat" idea.
Do restaurants get funny about this, or do they just accept it?
Here in Australia there are a number of places that won't let you take stuff home because of concerns that it won't be stored/reheated correctly and could make you ill.
Has anyone done this outside of the US?