Eating out

To keep calories in control in Indian and Thai restaurants, I just limit what I eat from dishes that are deep fried or swimming in coconut cream, peanut sauce or ghee. Plenty of nice grilled dishes on both Indian and Thai menus. And I love the Thai salads where the dressings are oil free (plenty of sugar though).

I try to make the best choices I can and then enjoy it and not worry about ithe calories. I look at maintenance as a "for the rest of my issue. One meal, as long as it does not become a frequent occurrence, is not going to make a real difference in long term.

online menus are a godsend. It makes it so much easier to plan and be decided when you walk in..there is no impulsive temptation. When it comes to Thai food.. I'd eat fish and salad all day..work out.. then eat what I want. Indian food, I get tandoori chicken.. Raita ..and rice.

I search in the database and go for a medium entry. Like f I see 3 entires at 100, 2 at 200, 3 at 300, and one at 500 I'd go with the 300 entry.

Just got back from a week out of town where every evening meal was in a restaurant. My approach was to first enjoy the company and the food and secondly to make the best choices possible given the menu. And by "best," I mean "yummy & not fried." Except for that last night fish fry, which was exceptional. I had one cocktail on two of the seven nights out, and didn't bother with dessert.

Meals other than dinner out tended to be what I eat at home during the day - fresh fruit and Greek yogurt, and the occasional cookie. I weighed less than half a pound more when I got home. It can be done.

I eat out frequently and it's never really an issue. After 4.5 years of maintenance, I pretty much know what to do, which includes checking menus online and even photos in Yelp, whenever possible. If it's not possible, and I can't plan ahead, I do the best that I can. I am so into healthy food after all these years (7 total with MFP) that it's easy to make choices. When I am at a restaurant where there is literally nothing that I would want to eat, I make do with a Caesar salad (no croutons, dressing on the side) and grilled salmon. If that isn't possible, I make do with a side salad. It's all about the company for me, and not ever really about the food. Nothing really tempts me at this stage of the game but it something calls my name, I have it. It's usually something that I would never get at home or at another restaurant, so I enjoy and don't worry about it. As others have said on here, one meal, large calories, is not going to ruin everything. I just get back to my regular routine right after. The only thing that is different is when we are out of town for 4 months every winter. We stay in a town that has several restaurants that I love, and I eat what I want, within reason. But I am still pretty much careful about breakfast and the one other meal that day. If I gain a few pounds while gone, I rein it right back in when home.

I find the portions are too big. I tend to eat half and bring the rest home for someone in my family.

I have found that I have a limit. If I eat more than about 1500 calories in one sitting (and really, it's more like 1400) I just don't feel well. I can basically feel when I am approaching my limit. So, I bank calories throughout the week (200-300 per day) and then when I eat out on Friday (when I don't have time to exercise due to a job change that requires more hours in the office), I try not to go over what I've banked by using estimates from the database, but I also know that it's impossible for me to get too far off course because I start to feel very bloated and unwell.

On Saturday, if I have lunch out, it is usually at a chain like Panera or Jason's Deli or Zoe's Kitchen or some place similar that has calories posted online or in the store and those estimates work all right for me.