What do you do when you eat out

brittneyalley wrote: »

Do you save calories that day? At maintenance, my calories per day will be about 1200-1300. Most meals in restaurants are about that or more.

Would it be okay if I just ate a meal out and that's all I ate for that day? What do you all do? Thanks

It depends on what you eat when you're out. You can choose where to go and what items to order from the menu.

It isn't realistic to eat only one meal in a whole day, so you have to find a way to moderate that eating out experience. Otherwise you will feel hungry at your other mealtimes.

brittneyalley wrote: »

Do you save calories that day? At maintenance, my calories per day will be about 1200-1300. Most meals in restaurants are about that or more.

Would it be okay if I just ate a meal out and that's all I ate for that day? What do you all do? Thanks

Is this the amount of calories you eat to lose weight?

brittneyalley wrote: »

Right now I'm eating around 1200 a day to lose, but as I lose my maintenance calories also decrease. I got that number from online calculators.

How much are you losing a week on 1200? How much have you lost and what period of time?

I ran your stats (presuming late 20s for an age) through Scooby's calculator, and you're probably right.

So, I guess it would depend on whether you want to keep eating that low and be sedentary, or rather you'd want to try some exercise in order to get more calories to play with.

middlehaitch wrote: »

Just a word from the wise- well someone else petite with a low maintenance and maintained for 7+yr.

If you are planning to eat out and that includes a drink or 2, don't go without food earlier in the day- you will slide under the table not too gracefully.

Truth. I continue to be shocked -- because apparently I'm a slow learner -- every time I try to bank calories for a couple of cocktails, and thus don't eat (or, skip on carbs), and end up totally buzzed after just two drinks.

It's up to you, but I'd rather eat half my meal and have the other half wrapped up to go and be able to eat the rest of the day. You can even ask them to pre-box it if you're concerned about sticking to your plan when the food is in front of you.

I have more calories than you, but I don't feel so well when I go too long without eating. I find eating lightly>>>>skipping meals.

Hi OP -

I'm also short, I'm closer to your starting weight (current 155, I started at 164). Right now i'm losing at an average of 1500-1700 per week (losing about a pound a week). I use the TDEE method, so I don't eat back my exercise calories, just aim for 1500-1700 each day depending on my hunger. My goal is closer to where you are now - I was around 130 for most of my adult life and felt very comfortable there. My goal is 125 but I'll assess when I get closer. I get about 6000-7000 steps on weekdays and 12000-15000 on weekends. I do a 30 minute circuit training video (think light weights, abs, burpees, etc.) 3 times a week.

I understand our maintenance is just lower, but you can open up a lot more food by just walking more. I increase my steps by doing things like parking at the edge of my work garage, taking the steps (I work on the 4th floor so it's possible, but even if you work way up high you can get off a few floors early and go for it), or taking a 20 minute walk outside if I need a pick-me-up during the work day.

You also might not be able to maintain 100 pounds, since the eating level is too low. If you want to be really really thin, you might have to get used to eating very little for the rest of your life. You can't have it all, you know? Maybe you could find happiness at a weight like 115 and work on strength training to boost your metabolism, and then you can enjoy 1600-1800 calories on maintenance. There's a reason very low weights are difficult to reach and maintain, and part of it is, well, you don't really get to eat a lot.

To answer your original question, when I go to restaurants I decide how I'm gonna handle it based on a few things:
Is it a special occassion or really great restaurant where I'm going to reallllly enjoy my meal or is it just a convenience thing (i.e. stopping somewhere close by on travel, or we haven't gone grocery shopping in a while and are grabbing a bite). If it's the former, I eat what I want in reason and try to estimate cals and allow myself to go up to maintenance that day but if it's the latter I employ a lot of the MFP tricks to cut the cals such as:
- Modifications to the food. I find eating the starch that comes with these meals usually adds a lot of calories, so even something like taking the bun off a chicken sandwich can easily shed 300 calories
- No cheese or sauce on the side
- No fries, steamed veggies or salad on the side only
- Only eat half, get a takeaway box right away and pack up half your meal

Eating a 1200-1300 meal and only doing one meal a day doesn't work for me, but fasting definitely does work for other people. It's really up to you, there's nothing wrong with it as long as it works for you.

OP if you are losing a pound a week now on 1200 cals that is a 500 calorie deficit, then your maintenance is higher than what the calculators are giving you. This is without purposeful exercise.

I predict the very fast weight loss you enured over the past 90-100 days is slowing.. and you will bottom out at the 1200 calories and you don't want to go lower than this to continue weight loss.

I would recommend a diet break at some point.. the thread link I provided is very helpful for explaining this. Also increasing your activity and adding in purposeful exercise will help you with being able to eat more calories as well.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

Whenever I plan to eat out I get an idea of what's on the menu in advance. (Thank you internet.) Then I make a preliminary choice and fit it into my calories for the day, or close. I never skip meals to save up for the meal out because my body doesn't like that and, as other posters mentioned, adding alcohol to the mix is a recipe for ending up with a serious buzz. For me that results in a headache the next day. Ugh.

Actually, most restaurants have healthy low-calorie options. Fish or chicken with veggies and a little rice - not so different than how I eat at home. You don't have to go for the high fat, high carb options unless you really want to.

Most often I plan to bring half of it home to have for lunch the next day, unless the husband is extra hungry and finished his meal and the other half of mine.