What’s a foodie to do?

I just consider those situations splurge days. I try to burn an extra 2000-3000 calories throughout the week to make up for splurge day.

MikePTY wrote: »

There really is only so much you can do. On days you eat at those type of restaurants, it is not really going to be possible to have any sort of accurate log.

You can only try to use common sense to make good choices, because ultimately your body counts the calories for you even if you can't log them. That means keeping your portions moderate and trying to pick foods that by the descriptions seem lower calories: trying to stear clear of breaded, fried, creamy, etc.

The truth is that regularly dining out at restaurants where you and your family order a bunch of things to eat family style may not lend itself as the best lifestlye for successful weight loss. It doesn't mean you can never do that, but if it is a regular occurance it could make moderating and tracking calories pretty challenging.

This. And even if you are not doing family style regular visits to a restaurant can make things less consistent. That includes eating at places where the calories are listed because they can be off or the food inconsistently prepared compared to what was submitted for calorie testing.

It doesn't mean restaurants have to be avoided. It just means that if your weight loss slows down or stops you may need different strategies if you are going to eat out more often. I like to log my restaurant food as 1.1 or 1.2 servings or I purposefully do not finish a dish and still log it as a full serving when I eat out more. If a week goes by and all I get is a single pizza I log it normally.

I don’t really eat out much, but love to cook and bake and try new recipes.
I would look up recipes for the foods I choose and plug it in the recipe builder. It wouldn’t be exact, but close enough. Plus you can make it for your family if it’s something you really liked.

I eat out a lot. Looking up recipes is a good strategy. But in all honesty if you are paying attention to what you are eating at all times you should get a feel for what is rich and fatty, what is lighter, what is full of carbs and so forth. Particularly if you are conscious of your own body's reaction to food and how it makes you feel. I can't eat a lot of very rich, fatty food any more because it makes me reach satiety very quickly. Restaurants will usually tell you if something is grilled or fried so you can use that information to make your choices, too.

Or just enjoy (with some care) and don't sweat it.

Either, I don't log at all. Or, if I'm wanting to be consistent with my logging, I search the database for the name of the dish and pick something somewhere in the middle (calorie-wise).

I don't eat out a whole lot so it's not as much of an issue for me. If this is something you do regularly, you might have trouble losing weight unfortunately. There's no way to be accurate at a restaurant.

I know you’ve said you don’t like to cook, but I can’t help feeling that the problem lies right there!

I’m definitely a foodie (if that out of date term is still meaningful) and I couldn’t be if I relied on eating out whilst trying to lose weight.

I’m in the U.K. so I fully understand that our culture is not as eating-out-centric as you are in the US...but, if you’re really interested in different cuisines and new food experiences and still want to control your intake then I’m fairly sure you would be better served by cooking at home.

I research, read recipes, and get slightly fixated on cuisines, ingredients and combinations of ingredients and come up with ways I can experience those new flavours, textures and experiences and still stay within my calorie goals. Some of this research actually helps me indulge my foodie tendencies without actually consuming the calories I’m sure, but if you can’t log your indulgence, over time and without control of the contents of your meals you’re likely to struggle. Restaurant foods are likely way higher in fat and high fat dairy than similar foods prepared at home, with mindfulness!

I realize others have said this already, but my way of handling it is to only dine out 1-2 times per week. That way I don't worry about it so much. And I do steer clear of very heavy sauces, extra bread, etc...except when it's something that is really the focus of the meal, and then I just arrange my day in such a way that my other meals are a little lighter.

I estimate the weight and figure 5 cals average per gram. So 140 per ounce. Then I put my fork down...

I tend to look up something similarish, and make sure I overestimate, as restaurant food tends to be very calorific (with extra oil/butter etc etc). But then, I don't eat out that often. Maybe once or twice a month or so.