Dining Out

krystal_coulombe
krystal_coulombe Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, looking for advice i am going out to a non chain restaurant dinner tonight for my grandmothers birthday so i am not able to get the nutritional facts for the meals, im an anal tracker so its bugging me, what do you all do in this type of situation? what do you order? im so nervous i dont want to mess up

Replies

  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    find something comparable from a similar restaurant, log that and enjoy your grandmother's birthday!!
  • sharlenepiper
    sharlenepiper Posts: 1 Member
    I find something similar and use that. There has been times that I list all ingredients seperately. I usually select grilled chicken or something high in protein. You can never go wrong with a side salad and a side of vegetables. DIning out is one of the hardest things to track.
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    Echoing what others have said - find something similar by a chain restaurant, log it and be sure to enjoy yourself! I tend to stick to grilled meat with a veggie side. If I have the wiggle room I add in a piece of bread or potato.
  • krystal_coulombe
    krystal_coulombe Posts: 7 Member
    what is all of your throughts on chicken fajitas ? im worried about the oil usage
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    krystal_coulombe wrote: »
    what is all of your throughts on chicken fajitas ? im worried about the oil usage

    It's my go to when I am out at a Mexican restaurant! I eat the meat and veggies and leave the tortillas. I also eat the guacamole if I get it and just half the beans and rice.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    krystal_coulombe wrote: »
    what is all of your throughts on chicken fajitas ? im worried about the oil usage

    The oil is a valid concern. It can be wildly inconsistent from one restaurant to the next. I have gotten vegetable fajitas swimming in oil before. As a result I learned to always ask for "light oil" now.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    krystal_coulombe wrote: »
    Hello, looking for advice i am going out to a non chain restaurant dinner tonight for my grandmothers birthday so i am not able to get the nutritional facts for the meals, im an anal tracker so its bugging me, what do you all do in this type of situation? what do you order? im so nervous i dont want to mess up

    You find something similar in the database and use that. None of this is an exact science and you can't let perfect be the enemy of good or good enough.

    When I was logging I would have either done that, or just skipped logging it. Eating out isn't something I did or do often, so it was/is usually a one off that is immaterial to the big picture.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,096 Member
    krystal_coulombe wrote: »
    what is all of your throughts on chicken fajitas ? im worried about the oil usage

    Since the ingredients in properly prepared fajitas are grilled, there should not be significant oil added, if any.
  • krystal_coulombe
    krystal_coulombe Posts: 7 Member
    And what about cake wahhhhh lol
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    edited August 2019
    krystal_coulombe wrote: »
    And what about cake wahhhhh lol

    Yeah cake is a big problem. If only it was a tradition to serve the much superior dessert pie at birthdays.

    My advice... eat a small slice of cake and pretend it is pie. But you should probably log it as cake.

  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,464 Member
    This is what I call a “cheat” or “treat” meal. To me, that means don’t sweat it. I have done the best I can eating well and logging accurately all week. If I mess up in logging this one meal, I still have an “A” average. It doesn’t mean I can eat everything. Order the best you can, then forget it, it’s over. When the food comes, if anything looks way higher calorie than you imagined, don’t eat that, but eat everything you want of everything else. Have a small slice of 🎂. Go home and log it without any guilt. You did the best you could.
    Make sure you get right back to it tomorrow. If it helps, pre-log tomorrow before you go out tonight.
    HAVE FUN!!!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    krystal_coulombe wrote: »
    And what about cake wahhhhh lol

    Log cake. Eat cake. Enjoy!
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,023 Member
    edited August 2019
    Enjoy the time and celebration with your Grandma. Life is short. like others say, find comparable chain and use their calorie info. I just went out to Mexican restaurant and had carne asada and swapped the rice and refried beans for black beans and didn't eat the tortilla or the endless basket of chips they serve... It was delicious and filling! Fajitas are a good choice too without the tortilla or eat just one of them. Enjoy and Happy Birthday Grandma!
  • sheloves89
    sheloves89 Posts: 88 Member
    Connerjd92 wrote: »
    I also have struggled with this issue! It's not going to be perfect, but as a general rule I scan the menu for chicken or fish and nix the seemingly endless parade of breads and starches that tend to inexplicably populate the table. That being said, I also like to remember that my primary purpose in eating right is to ultimately live a happier life, and sometimes that means stepping out of bounds and into a plate of clam linguine with a calorie count too horrific to even attempt to calculate. If you are consistently eating right outside of a special occasion here or there, you're going to be fine.

    I love this! What a great outlook to have. =)

    Regarding the cake - when I was losin' weight, I skipped cakes (this included at events like the 4th of July and birthday parties and whatnot) - unless they were home-baked expressly for that purpose, in which case I'd ask for half the size slice that everyone else was having. For me, it was easier to stay in the habit of not eating super calorie dense sweets like that than to give myself an excuse to break that habit and then try to get back in to it again. Inertia, and all - keep doing what you're doing and it's easier to do it, haha. Plus, 0 calories is easier to log than trying to find a ballpark! But at the same time, I know how much love goes into baking cakes and I wouldn't have wanted to insult anyone by not partaking - life is all about balance! You'll just have to find what it is that works for you... and a rough estimate in the database. =)

    Good luck, and try not to stress about it too much - one celebration isn't going to ruin everything!
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
    I just bank a few hundred extra cals to be sure then log individual ingredients to the best of my ability and double the oil
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    Best guess and overestimate to be on the safe side. But mostly, rest assured that one individual meal is utterly insignificant in the overall scheme of things so don't stress about it.

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