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Anyone have tricks and tools for when they go to Restaurants and how to resist temptation?

ChelseaSmile22
ChelseaSmile22 Posts: 31 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I learned a few tricks and tips when I had started my first attempt at dieting a few years back. Some of my go to strategies when I have to eat at a restaurant are to help resist temptation and ensure portion control. We all have that work lunch or birthday dinner to go to so how do we not let that impede our diet success?

1) I always see if I can look up the menu online and try and scope out the healthy options I can choose from before going to the restaurant. This way it is easy to resist temptation when ordering and have more time to think about your option.

2) When I go to a restaurant where I know the portion are bigger than I should be consuming, I ask for a take out box as soon as I get my food and immediatly cut my meal into reasonable portions and put the rest in the to go container and seal it. Out of sight and out of mind, this helps to stop me from mindlessly picking at my plate even when I am not hungry anymore.

What are some of your go to strategies??
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Replies

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I never thought of it as avoiding temptation. I'm ordering something that I think will taste good.
    I generally figure out what I am going to eat in advance if possible.
    I know that if a dish has very large portions, is fried, breaded, covered in cheese, cream, butter, dressings, gravy or sauces it has more calories.
    I might split a higher calorie item with someone.
    Common sense tells me that ordering a triple bacon cheeseburger, large fry and peanut butter shake are not going to fit in the same day with other food for me. A regular burger, smaller fry or side salad with vinaigrette dressing and unsweetend iced tea is pretty easy to fit in my day without changing my activity or other meals at all.
    I drink mostly water or unsweetened tea. Most places have that.
    If it is a special occasion I will probably have a maintenance calorie day.
    I might look at my weekly calorie goal.
  • admaarie
    admaarie Posts: 4,297 Member
    I practice IF usually when going out to eat, and have a higher protein low carb meal if the meal I’m eating out is later on in the day.
    Sharing appetizers/desserts
    Log ahead of time and look up the menu for what I wanna eat.
    Drink water, etc
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    A couple of the restaurants that I go to have Facebook pages. I've messaged them politely asking about lower-calorie options. They aren't chains and don't know the calories, but at least they can give me an idea of what to order. (Then I look for similar in the database.)
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,098 Member
    I know what I am going to order ahead of time If I can. I also try to have some protein before I go in.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I don't eat out all that often, so I just get whatever it is that I'm wanting from that particular restaurant. I eat out maybe 3-4 times per month at most...there's no way that 3-4 meals in a month is going to have any meaningful impact on my overall diet.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,098 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I don't eat out all that often, so I just get whatever it is that I'm wanting from that particular restaurant. I eat out maybe 3-4 times per month at most...there's no way that 3-4 meals in a month is going to have any meaningful impact on my overall diet.

    Same boat here... I make better at home. Long time no post wolf.... missed your insites.
  • xmarye
    xmarye Posts: 385 Member
    edited October 2018
    OMG so funny that I stumbled upon this post just as I was stressing about a family dinner next week at a Chinese restaurant :neutral: I googled ''chinese food healthy options'' and then searched for the menu and figured out my best option will be beef and broccoli so I pre-logged it for that day already! Done!
  • RealWorldStrengthLLC
    RealWorldStrengthLLC Posts: 552 Member
    For me it's simply the 5 minute enjoyment I get from *insert food here*, followed by 3 days of being pissef at myself for having said food vs the 5 minute pain of denying a craving but no derailing of goals.


    #2 usually wins out.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,326 Member
    I’m another one that doesn’t really see restaurants as a huge challenge. I’ve lost almost 60 pounds and I eat out easily 3-5 times a week. My biggest realization was that every meal out isn’t a special occasion worthy of 3 courses and cocktails. I stick to ordering an entrée and if an appetizer is ordered by anyone, it’s shared with the group. Appetizers are pretty rare though. I’m ambivalent about dessert, so that gets ordered even less often. I also try and stick to lower-calorie options. Things like street tacos instead of rolled tacos or souvlaki instead of moussaka.

    I generally check out menus beforehand and have a couple of reasonable options picked out. That way I’m not swayed by hunger or seeing and smelling all kinds of food going by. With very few exceptions (tasting menus, small plates, dim sum, etc.), I automatically plan on any restaurant meal to be 2-3 meals for me. I don’t ask for a takeout box right when my meal comes though. I usually just visually decide how much I can eat when the plate arrives and maybe separate the portion I plan to eat from the rest of the meal. It helps that I go out to dinner most frequently and dinner is my smallest meal of the day, so I’m not as tempted to keep eating like I would be earlier in the day.
    When I’m logging my food, I can usually find a similar entry from a chain restaurant. I’ve found those to be close enough. I just figure that there are only so many ways to add calories to say, a 1/3 pound hamburger (toppings held constant, of course). My guess is that since I’m automatically cutting the total calories into a couple of meals, that covers me if I’m off by a bit.

    For me, since I knew I wasn’t going to give up going out, I just had to make new habits. Now it’s become so automatic that I don’t think much about it all.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    I look at the menus ahead of time and have a plan of what I'm going to eat.

    Banking some calories from earlier in the week helps.

    Intermittent fasting works for me too. I'll eat lighter the rest of the day and eat what I want when I go out and still able stay near my calorie goal.

    I don't drink calories and use those calories towards the meal.

    This took me a while to learn, but I stop eating right before I get full. I no longer stuff myself or eat things because they are free (i.e. complimentary bread or nachos). I'll ask for a takeout box early on and put my food away which makes it out of sight, out of mind.

    Lastly, I no longer freak out when the scale jumps up the next day. I don't overeat and still try to stay in control of my calories so I know it's mostly water weight from the excess sodium.


  • HeyEmilio
    HeyEmilio Posts: 64 Member
    Same. I save calories beforehand and plug everything into MFP beforehand as well. Pace yourself and enjoy the meal. Make it last longer.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Don't be overly hungry when you get there.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited October 2018
    COGypsy wrote: »
    My biggest realization was that every meal out isn’t a special occasion worthy of 3 courses and cocktails.

    This is also my technique. If I'm in a new city or it's a my birthday, that's a special occasion. Regular Friday night date with my husband, it's special because I'm with him . . . but it's no reason to go all out, especially when it's a place we go to fairly often.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited October 2018
    My "go to" strategies actually kind of happened to me by circumstances. My wife can't have dairy/gluten and I eat the same. If you eliminate dairy, gluten and vegetable oils from your list, pretty easy to eat healthy out. Also, if you eat meat, you really learn which kitchen/restaurants really know how to cook and which just bury crap with cheese and butter (or deep fry it). Really hones in on food quality and taste of fresh vegetables more.

    I don't eat a ton of red meat any more but one pricy steakhouse in town we went to served my wife a horrid steak. Every steak on their menu had butter sauce or blue cheese, etc. for a reason it turns out. I've had better quality meat at a Longhorn, yet people are paying $40 or $50 for steaks that are terrible when you take all the buttery sauce of them.

    This is the main reason we like Thai as our favorite cuisine now. Amazing flavors, without deep frying, cheese or butter (or milk).
  • ChelseaSmile22
    ChelseaSmile22 Posts: 31 Member
    xmarye wrote: »
    OMG so funny that I stumbled upon this post just as I was stressing about a family dinner next week at a Chinese restaurant :neutral: I googled ''chinese food healthy options'' and then searched for the menu and figured out my best option will be beef and broccoli so I pre-logged it for that day already! Done!

    It is great you were able to find some strategies to help. Chinese food is often a hard one for me to decipher whats healthiest. Beef and Broccoli is always my go to aswell. Drink lots of water too because there is a ton of salt usually. :smiley:
  • ChelseaSmile22
    ChelseaSmile22 Posts: 31 Member
    rsclause wrote: »
    Don't let them place the bread on the table.

    This is so smart. Never thought of this but honestly my self-control when it comes to hot bread serveed with butter is very limited lol. I can just ask th waiter to take it away and then I wont be tempted to have another bread roll. Will definitly be using this trick. Thanks.
  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
    1. Plan ahead. If the place has a menu online, look for better choices.
    2. Split a meal. Most choices are enough food for two, so split with your spouse.
    3. Make smart substitutions. I have to limit my carb intake due to T2D, so I ask for slaw instead of fries or a green veggie like green bean, Brussels Sprouts or Asparagus instead of a potato or pasta.
    4. Get a to-go box and put half the meal in there before you start eating it. You really don't need to eat everything on your plate and if you need to stash it away beforehand, do so.
    5. Fruit for dessert or as a side. Nothing wrong with a bowl of fresh fruit as a dessert.

    For example, went to Cracker Barrel last week while on a last minute trip to a customer site. Lunch on the road at Cracker Barrel was the grilled trout, green beans, carrots (yeah a few more carbs) and the fresh fruit. Had them keep the biscuits and corn bread off the table.

    I saw so much fried food around me, and everyone eating it looked the part.

    The trout was really well done, and no guilt. I'm pretty sure the whole lunch was less than 600 calories with coffee as my drink.

    My wife and I just did a 4 day weekend in LA and we used many of the strategies above.

    That way, no guilt when we did the obligatory visit to Randy's Donuts for dessert after a meal.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    If I can't find the menu online then I order a grilled chicken breast and a vegetable side. You usually can't go wrong with that.

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