What to do about regular business travel

If you know where you are going ahead of time, look in the database for the restaurant or a chain that might have similar items. Morton’s is in the database, if not, Ruth’s Chris or Fleming’s or Outback. If going to an Italian place, log a similar dish from Olive Garden or Carrabas. I always try to get an estimate of the calorie hit of the things I am considering before I order them.

It can be challenging at work dinners since people tend to order more food than if they were paying the bill. I try to prioritize what I really want to eat and skip what just seems meh. If I’m going to a steak place I will get steak and have a nice glass of wine, but skip appetizers, bread, etc. If a place has a great dessert menu I may just get an appetizer or a side salad and then order dessert. If you are traveling with the same people on a regular basis then there’s nothing wrong with saying you are going to sit one out and get some work done back at the hotel - so that you can pick up something more calorie friendly and/or get an extra workout in.

I often rely on local grocery stores to pick up a prepared salad and take it back to my hotel room to catch up on emails when I’m traveling for work. No one seems to mind if I’m not at every dinner, people tend to get tired of the work niceties after a day or two and just want some alone time if they are away from family.

Try to look for items that are grilled/steamed/baked and ask to substitute fries with baked potatoes/vegetables/salad. Raw options like sushi, tuna/steak tartar or beef carpaccio are great to get some protein in. Sides are always a good add-in option if you feel whatever lean plate you ordered is not enough.

If the dish comes with sauce (steak, salad fish..), tell them to bring it in a little bowl so you can pour over however much you want (or spoon it out and this way you can accurately log in the quantity) instead of having it served on top already. If it's a salad, another option is to substitute the heavier dressing for olive oil and vinegar which you can portion out for yourself.

As other users said, skip the bread and appetizers.
I have a glass of red wine (less sugar content than white wine) and a tea instead of dessert. If you feel like dessert, order fruit and/or yoghurt.

Guesstimate calories by ingredients and assume portion sizes then add 300 calories to any given entree to account for 'hidden' butter and oil.

I eat out quite often for both personal and business. As a very general rule of thumb, I've found that barring any obviously high or low calorie preparations (for example, fried food, cheese sauces, steamed diet offerings, etc.), most restaurant entrees seem to contain something in the range of 1000 calories give or take. Appetizers tend to fall into the 500-600 range and desserts between 500 and 1000, depending on if it's meant to be shared.

Assuming an appetizer and dessert split two ways and one entree, a full fancy restaurant meal easily runs between 1500 and 2000 calories. You can cut that by half or more by skipping the app and/or dessert, by making a smart choice on your entree selection, and by watching out for portion sizes.

Steakhouses are tough because portion sizes tend to be massive and they drench their meat in butter. On the plus side, Morton's and the like will usually offer some kind of raw/rare tuna appetizer and/or entree. If you skip the high calorie sides and watch portions on the tuna you should be able to get out with a very reasonable amount of calories. Likewise, raw bar items tend to be relatively low calories. Steak is absolutely fine, but watch portion sizes and be aware that they will be finished with copious amounts butter.

One tip - if you are traveling often for business with others and the dinners aren't for clients, etc. then it's OK to beg off a fancy dinner every night. I do this not only for diet reasons but also for my own sanity. It's fine to need time away from your work colleagues. When I travel on longer trips, I try to limit extended dinners out with colleagues to once every three or four days or so (basically two per week, tops). The rest of my dinners are either room service, something quick by myself, or something very casual and quick with anybody else who wants to do something low key.

Finally - bring your own snacks or load up upon arrival for your hotel room. This gives you the freedom to skip or skimp on a couple of arranged dinners.

Sounds a little crazy but I will buy a salad/fruit and keep in hotel room frig. If I have a business dinner, I will eat in the room before dinner so I'm not very hungry going into the restaurant. I then try to just eat a little protein at dinner and only one glass of wine. People rarely notice what's left on yr plate.

Grilled, no sauce, ask for veggies to be steamed or cooked without oil, if you get a salad be aware of the ingredients and get dressing on the side or ask for balsamic vinegar (or oil and vinegar and use the oil sparingly). Avoid or eat things like rice/potatoes in smaller amounts.

Steak or salmon or chicken grilled without sauce will generally be fine.

I travel either once a month for a week, or twice for 2-3 days at a time. I pack portion controlled baggies of nuts, nut butters, jerky, seaweed, and other things I eat regularly and use those for snacks. I order an egg white or egg omelet with veggies and turkey (I am on a keto diet) from the hotel, and for lunches and dinners, I stick to: grilled chicken or fish over a salad with no dressing and all non-vegetable ingredients on the side. Then I use the spoon at my place setting to portion out nuts, cheeses and any other salad items so that I know what I am eating. I ask for lemon juice and olive oil and use all the lemon juice and a spoon (probably a TBSP if it's a soup spoon) of the olive oil. I allow myself one glass of wine per trip and work out at the gym as much as my schedule allows. I don't eat bread, dessert, appetizers and really try to stick to the salad/protein approach as much as I can.

Even with all of these efforts I usually maintain or lose less than .5 lbs on these trips. Restaurant food is SO caloric. But before I took these measures, I had very slowly over a year gained about 7 lbs, and I am sure my increased travel schedule (when I was not as rigorous) had a lot to do with it.

When I’m on the road or eating out a lot, I add fake “restaurant overage calories” to the meal. I created a food entry that has the ratio of carbs, fats, and protein that match my goals, with 50cal per serving.

I log the restaurant meal as accurately as I can including cooking oils, then multiply the total for that meal by 20% if it’s something I can count or weigh or estimate very accurately (eggs for instance), or by 33% if it’s something harder to estimate (most restaurant foods). I add in that 20-33% as my “restaurant overage” entry.

From what I’ve heard, people underestimate the calories in meals out by about 40%, and restaurant reported calories in a given meal are usually off by 25-50%. I figure my 20% and 33% are low-ball figures, but so far it’s been working well for me, leaves a few calories at the end of the day, but also keeps me cognizant and honest in my goal to track accurately when I’m on the road.

Considering restaurants have no interest in weight loss and can even make a grilled shrimp skewer 300ish calories you can kind of count on your entrée being on the 800ish side even for a lean meat. As mentioned look for steamed vegetable side, sweet potatoes and regular potatoes where you control the butter.

The one thing I have noticed that is generally safe is soup. Unless it is a loaded baked potato soup, most of them match up in the ballpark of a db entry. I am sure there will be exceptions to that rule but if I don't know for sure I would bet on soup first.

My best restaurant trick is for salads. To cut down on dressing without sacrificing taste you should ask for 3 or 4 lemon wedges depending on the size of the salad and squeeze them over and then season with salt and pepper. This will bring out more of the natural flavors of the vegetables. I can usually get by with half the dressing with this trick.