Do you eat at places that don’t have their menus on MyFitnessPal?

diannethegeek wrote: »

I pre-plan, leave lots of calories in my day for the meal, and log something similar in the MFP database. I know it won't be exactly right, but as long as I don't do it too often everything works out

+1, this is what I do as well.

I have no choice. Toronto's few kosher restaurants neither list their calories (only mandatory for chains with more than a certain number of locations), nor are any in the database. I do tend to order dishes that ARE in the database under different restaurants. I figure a large cheese slice from Slice 'N Bites is comparable to a large cheese slice from Pizza Pizza; shakshuka with two eggs from Hummus Kitchen is comparable to the same dish from Aish Tanoor. If I opt to splurge and get it in a bread bowl, I add the bread bowl entry from Panera. It's never going to be exact, but it seems to be close enough and I don't eat out more than once a month or so, so it's no big deal if I'm way off once in a while.

I guesstimate using other entries. I generally have an idea of what the portion looks like and what the calories should be, so I can find close enough options to log.

I prefer not to eat at chains.

bbell1985 wrote: »

I avoid chains. I live in NYC. Not wasting my time on then when I'm surrounded by amazing food. I've been logging and weighing my food long enough that I can pick apart a meal and log ingredients separately by the oz and gram.

Or I quick add 1500 and call it a day.

Exactly this, except Chicago, not NYC.

I very often estimate a round number (not always so large as 1500, 1000 is more common), and just leave room in my diary for error. I did this (both the trying to log and the estimate method) while losing and it never seemed to affect my loss rate -- I did it about once a week and lost as MFP predicted.

I tend to eat at places that don't have menus in MFP, but I look at what the entries look like for those that do and find a consensus on the calorie estimates, generally going for the higher ones. Tonight for dinner I ordered Chinese, so I looked for my Hot & Sour Soup (went with an estimate of 100 calories per cup, although estimates ranged from 40 to 100), beef teriyaki (again went with the estimate of 100 calories per stick, although there was a range), and sugar donuts (consistently listed at 120 calories each). I'm being very deliberate about choosing foods carefully and before I might have had the soup and teriyaki in addition to other menu items, but tonight I logged it and if I'm off by a few calories it isn't going to be a huge deal. I like food, and I want to be able to eat it sensibly, so this is a tool for me, not a race. If at some point it doesn't work as well I'll rethink my strategy.

I try to order the food as "clean" as possible so I can log it by what it is. So I always have to get dressings and sauces on the side and just try to log the individual components of the meal. I really prefer to home cook;

PS - are food chain calories reliable to you think? I don't know. I am not sure how much I would trust that.

Sure. I eat at places that are not in the database sometimes. I just find something similar in the database.
I eat out 1 meal a week. Even if I am off it doesn't have a big impact.