How do YOU log restaurant foods?
mtaratoot
Posts: 13,162 Member
Howdy,
So I'm pretty good with my tracking. I bought a food scale a couple months ago, and initially it opened my eyes about portions. Pretty neat. I've sort of calibrated my eye so that when I'm away from home I can generally get a good idea of portion size. I plan to continue using the scale to keep my calibration up to date.
I don't always prepare my own food. Sometimes there's an entry in the databse that fits exactly what I'm eating. Sometimes I can make a reasonable guess to something that's close. An example is I sometimes get food for lunch from the hot bar/salad bar at a natural foods grocery. If I get multiple items, I can put the box on a scale between items and get an actual weight, and I write that down to enter later. Then, I can often find something CLOSE in the database even if it's from a different vendor. As an example, if I get some sun-dried tomato and spinach frittata, I can find something similar. I figure it's relatively close. It's harder for things like fried rice; who knows how much oil goes into it. In those cases, I will sometimes choose an entry that I ~KNOW~ is on the high side for calories relative to what I am eating just to keep my intake below my allowance. I am still in weight loss mode for a few more weeks, but I'm pretty close to my goal, so I'm going slowly.
Then there's times that I have no dog damned idea how to log my meal. As an example, we went out for Thai last night at a place we love. I tried something new -- Ruam mit talay. It's a stir fry with lots of delicious vegetables, squid, shrimp, mussels, scallops, and basil. And some kind of garlic sauce. Search though I may, I don't find anything that I think is an appropriate match. I could just roll a die or flip a coin or draw a number from a hat and pick one. I also would be guessing at portion size. So instead I just made a SWAG and did a quick add calories. I did the same today when I ate the leftovers. Of course that means I don't have any track of macros. Yeah. I know. And there's no way to even enter a wild guess about those unless I pay MFP some money every month.
So, how do YOU enter foods on your log when you really have no clue what is in the recipe?
So I'm pretty good with my tracking. I bought a food scale a couple months ago, and initially it opened my eyes about portions. Pretty neat. I've sort of calibrated my eye so that when I'm away from home I can generally get a good idea of portion size. I plan to continue using the scale to keep my calibration up to date.
I don't always prepare my own food. Sometimes there's an entry in the databse that fits exactly what I'm eating. Sometimes I can make a reasonable guess to something that's close. An example is I sometimes get food for lunch from the hot bar/salad bar at a natural foods grocery. If I get multiple items, I can put the box on a scale between items and get an actual weight, and I write that down to enter later. Then, I can often find something CLOSE in the database even if it's from a different vendor. As an example, if I get some sun-dried tomato and spinach frittata, I can find something similar. I figure it's relatively close. It's harder for things like fried rice; who knows how much oil goes into it. In those cases, I will sometimes choose an entry that I ~KNOW~ is on the high side for calories relative to what I am eating just to keep my intake below my allowance. I am still in weight loss mode for a few more weeks, but I'm pretty close to my goal, so I'm going slowly.
Then there's times that I have no dog damned idea how to log my meal. As an example, we went out for Thai last night at a place we love. I tried something new -- Ruam mit talay. It's a stir fry with lots of delicious vegetables, squid, shrimp, mussels, scallops, and basil. And some kind of garlic sauce. Search though I may, I don't find anything that I think is an appropriate match. I could just roll a die or flip a coin or draw a number from a hat and pick one. I also would be guessing at portion size. So instead I just made a SWAG and did a quick add calories. I did the same today when I ate the leftovers. Of course that means I don't have any track of macros. Yeah. I know. And there's no way to even enter a wild guess about those unless I pay MFP some money every month.
So, how do YOU enter foods on your log when you really have no clue what is in the recipe?
2
Replies
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I used to try and guess at all of the ingredients & portions and log that way, but now I just skip it and start fresh the next day. Because I am a bit of a perfectionist, this does bug me (even though I am maintaining my loss rather than losing at this time). If anything it just motivates me to dine out less, so that I can "control" what I am eating. I still enjoy dining out but limit it to 1-2 times per week usually.
Ruam mit talay sounds amazing btw!
Most of the time, I do what you described and choose entries for other restaurants. My mom makes a lot of smallish pies with meringue or whipped topping over cooked pudding and I'll enter a slice of Sodexo chocolate pie, thinking cafeteria pie is a closer match to hers than some very rich & large slice of pie from a proper restaurant. I also tend to choose chain calorie counts for local places, like I have logged "1/2 order Red Robin fries" a dozen times but have never even eaten Red Robin fries. I just know they look VERY similar to the fries from a local place and have similar serving size.4 -
Any time it’s a scratch kitchen, it’s going to be a guess (moreso than otherwise). Even getting the same dish at the same restaurant could be different based on the amount of oil they use, how much of any sauce they add, etc. I just try to guess about how many calories it is, then add about 200 (and like you, I do it by finding a similar entry, then I just change the # of servings to match my number - usually 2-3)0
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Most chain restaurants list their cals on line; just type in the name of the restaurant. Non-chain, I would use my best guess based on what I ate and MFPs listings. Good luck,0
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I find something similar. If I can't find a restaurant entry at all I might find a recipe to log.
I order things that will be easier to log. I prelog so generally think about my choice before we get to the restaurant.
I'd be more concerned about it if I ate out more often but it is once a week. If it is a reasonable portion it probably won't throw my whole week off.0 -
i rarely eat at chains, but when i eat out, i will find a chain entry for something similar.
its all a best guess, anyways.2 -
Me too I do quick add if I can't find similar entries but I think I can guess the calories. Or I don't add at all, it is not going to change the fact that I ate it, and if it's dinner, it doesn't change the amount of cals I ate that day...0
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Take the meal apart and log items separately. It's painstaking and annoying. but if you want/need to keep track of certain macros/micros, I'd do that.1
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Any time it’s a scratch kitchen, it’s going to be a guess (moreso than otherwise). Even getting the same dish at the same restaurant could be different based on the amount of oil they use, how much of any sauce they add, etc. I just try to guess about how many calories it is, then add about 200 (and like you, I do it by finding a similar entry, then I just change the # of servings to match my number - usually 2-3)
Good point. Every cook is different. And any cook varies. It's a bit of a craps shoot. Using the expert system (past logging) to come up with a guess may be the best option. It still means I have to mentally track protein; I can do that!0 -
I think that's a noodle dish.0 -
Take the meal apart and log items separately. It's painstaking and annoying. but if you want/need to keep track of certain macros/micros, I'd do that.
Essentially that's what I tried to do when I gazed deeply into the menu and the plate of food and thought about what was in there. With the sauce; it's a total guess. It was delicious, and I may order it again. I've got lots of things in the journal that are close (or not) approximations of what I actually ate. I'm generally ok with that. I just don't like simply adding calories without also guessing at macros. I suppose I could pay some cash for that. Second thought; it's not that important.
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Take the meal apart and log items separately. It's painstaking and annoying. but if you want/need to keep track of certain macros/micros, I'd do that.
Essentially that's what I tried to do when I gazed deeply into the menu and the plate of food and thought about what was in there. With the sauce; it's a total guess. It was delicious, and I may order it again. I've got lots of things in the journal that are close (or not) approximations of what I actually ate. I'm generally ok with that. I just don't like simply adding calories without also guessing at macros. I suppose I could pay some cash for that. Second thought; it's not that important.
Me too - and it's really annoying - I don't eat out a lot but do have cafeteria (Sodexo) lunch at work. Stews and casseroles are the hardest!0 -
It never fails to amaze me how many things there are on the database. I know they're not always accurate but once in a while I don't think that's a biggie. I even found an entry once for some Hungarian doughnuts (which are made with cottage cheese and are delicious) that I had at a Christmas Market0
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Yeah, I guess I was really asking for the moon. I mean this is a huge database, and while it does have some errors, it makes tracking so many things really easy. Definitely a first-world problem that I can't enter my dog damn lunch on MFP.2
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I eat my lunch in the work restaurant every day, and I often eat out at weekends. I’ve been successfully maintaining my weight for a year now. I have to estimate my food a lot, but I’ve clearly learned to do it well enough. It doesn’t matter whether you are right or wrong for any individual food item, it really only matters whether you are right or wrong on average.
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Try googling what you are eating and ask for nutritional values. I do that all the time when I can't figure something out or it doesn't look right. It might not be exact but who could guess that sauce.0
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Eat this, Not that! Is my first go-to source for healthier options at chain restaurants. I prelog food, look it up, then make a judgement call on cutting my portion down. Since most restaurant servings are actually 2-4 times what an serving size is, I tend to always box half (if not more) than half my meal BEFORE I take a single bite.0
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I check their websites to see if they have nutrition info. If not, I pick a similar meal from another restaurant, log it, and move on.2
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Log it the best you can, accounting for cooking oils, etc. Then I add on 20% or 33% more of “fake restaurant overage calories” that are set to my current macro goals. These are food entries I made and adjust as needed, set in 50cal servings so you can get just about any number you need to add. I use 20% overage for things I can quantify easily such as eggs, 33% for things I can’t estimate as accurately like curries.
I travel and eat out a lot, this method has served me well when I’m on the road for a month or more at a time. I’ve read that people usually underestimate what they eat in a restaurant by 25-40%, so adding in extra “fake” calories makes sense if you’re eating out a lot.0 -
I just find something similar or that is likely in the ball park. I log everything always, even if I am wrong about calories and macros sometimes. It seems to work out in the long run; lost the weight (63 pounds) and so far keeping it off okay. It's not getting a dish wrong here and there that gets you - it's getting into the habit of not logging, knowingly under logging or often blowing past calorie goal that will do you in.0
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