Restaurant people

You can say no bread, no chips. This really depends on what diet your following/what your nutritional needs are, so here's what I do.

I've ordered appetizers and asked for vegetables instead of tortilla chips, usually they have celery, broccoli or carrots they will give you.

Lettuce wrap burgers, omelettes (no pancake batter) with bacon, sausage, and veggies are options depending on the meal. Plenty of places offer steaks or baked chicken and will sub veggies for a side, or you can have a baked potato with it. Cobb salads are nice too.

A tip though, salads can be higher in calories and fat than the normal items. Before you order, look at the menu, pick something and pull it up into MFP. For example, the salads at old spaghetti factory are far worse carb and calorie wise than eating an entire large plate of their broccoli/mascarpone cheese dish.

I pre-log after picking out what I'm going to order. This will come off as mean, but I exercise some self-control and don't eat what I haven't logged. Yes, it's hard to sit there with friends/family eating whatever, but I do it.

I work in a restaurant too and every day is a struggle! Obviously eating at home or bringing food to work would be ideal....but our meals are free so realistically I know that's never going to happen. Instead, I sat down and made a list of all the "healthy" items I would allow myself to eat off our menu. Fortunately our BOH is very willing to make modifications for staff meals so I have lots of options available to me. I also usually try to plan what I'm going to have as my shift meal before I start. That way, when it's finally time to eat and I'm ravenous and hangry I already know what I'm getting and am less tempted by my favorite comfort foods. It also helps if you have a coworker who's into healthy eating too! Then you can help hold each other accountable and vent about all the delicious food you're not eating. Every now and then I allow myself a work cheat meal, just to keep myself sane, but even then I still try to switch things out so that's is the healthiest version.

Good luck! It's definitely a huge challenge but it is doable!