Eating @ Restaurants?

dejablues76
dejablues76 Posts: 5
edited September 19 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey Guys,

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I am curious if any of you have the same issues. It seems like keeping on the diet is no problem, while I am cooking at home, or bringing my lunch to work.

However if my wife and I goto a diner or order food in -- no matter how much I try to calculate it into my daily calories (breaking down what I ordered and entering it item by item) -- it seems to be a guarantee that if we go out to eat, I gain weight. It's not a HUGE amount, but seeing the scale go up EVERY time prompted me to ask.

Could it be that I am grossly under calculating what I am having? I am curious if anyone else has these issues.

- Brian

Replies

  • dejablues76
    dejablues76 Posts: 5
    Hey Guys,

    I hope everyone had a great weekend! I am curious if any of you have the same issues. It seems like keeping on the diet is no problem, while I am cooking at home, or bringing my lunch to work.

    However if my wife and I goto a diner or order food in -- no matter how much I try to calculate it into my daily calories (breaking down what I ordered and entering it item by item) -- it seems to be a guarantee that if we go out to eat, I gain weight. It's not a HUGE amount, but seeing the scale go up EVERY time prompted me to ask.

    Could it be that I am grossly under calculating what I am having? I am curious if anyone else has these issues.

    - Brian
  • Shadowpaws
    Shadowpaws Posts: 109
    I usually try to stick to the Weight Watchers menu even though I'm not on the diet. Those tend to be pretty safe to eat. :smile: Not extremely... but better than the other stuff.
  • ness13hill
    ness13hill Posts: 114
    Eating at Restaurants KILLS me. I didn't go out to eat Saturday or Sunday and i lost a little weight over the weekend (which normally I would have gone out maybe once). I'm with ya, it doesn't matter what I do it always catches up with me...so your not alone by any means!
  • thejarviclan
    thejarviclan Posts: 465 Member
    You may be over-calculating but if the pounds go up by the next morning, most likely there's a lot sodium in the restaurant food and the weight gain you see is water retention.

    Restaurant portions are huge, so I always only eat half of my food there, and save the rest for lunch the next day. :smile:

    ETA~ A lot of restaurant foods are in the MFP menu. Do you look them up? Or are you guessing according to what you think was in the recipe?
  • Losing_It
    Losing_It Posts: 3,271 Member
    Calorieking.com has most restaurants listed. I also bought the book for like 7$ at Wal-Mart. It's handy to keep in the car.

    I'm betting it's all the sodium in the take-out/fastfood that makes you gain the next morning.

    Good luck to you!:flowerforyou:
  • newbaby90908
    newbaby90908 Posts: 33 Member
    I agree - Eating out kills my diet. I was just logging my calories and the Denny's French Toast Slam is 1168 calories :-( Luckily I didn't eat all of it (only half) :smile:

    There should be a law against a meal that is 1100 calories all by itself. sheeze :angry:
  • sonjavon
    sonjavon Posts: 1,019 Member
    We are a pretty "evening active" family - meaning we're out of the house many evenings out of the week. I normally try to have something planned for dinner - but there are times when we simply opt to eat out of order in.

    Many of our local places to eat have "nutritional info" on their websites... I am in the process of going through some of our favorite restaurant choices and seeing what the nutritional info is for different meals at those places. I'm going to put them all on a piece of paper and keep it in my purse so that I can pull it out and at a glance know where we can go for the number of calories that I have left in the day.

    I agree that sodium is a problem with most restaurants.... if you eat out, try drinking an extra cup or two of water that day.
  • dejablues76
    dejablues76 Posts: 5
    We live in an area known for local "diners" -- these aren't chain restaurants that I can simply look up the calorie content online. So, the bad news is, you have NO IDEA how they're preparing the food.

    The portions are also a huge factor -- but say if we go for lunch -- we can have a chicken wrap -- hold the dressing -- and replace french fries with a fruit cup.

    If I were to make that meal at home, I'm looking at 300 - 350 calories. In the diner, who knows?!

    Good point on the sodium levels -- that could be a huge factor all together.
  • jmw7
    jmw7 Posts: 27
    Same problem. I agree about the sodium. When I go out, I try to eat the grilled chicken and avoid all the fried stuff. If I order a sandwich, I don't eat the bread. Seems to help a little.

    The other thing I do is hit the restaurant's website before I go. Most of the chains have their nutrition information online. I decide what I'm going to eat before I leave the house. Saves me from drooling all over the menu when I get there, and it's eye-popping to see how many calories are in some of the meals (even the "healthy" ones).

    Good luck!!
  • mkwood10
    mkwood10 Posts: 428
    Eating out is the hardest thing for me. My husband and I are "empty nesters", finally, and it's so easy to get distracted and suddenly it's late and there's nothing in the fridge to fix! I make it a point to eat half or less of the meal and I'm getting better at finding things in the MFP food section that are close to what I had, so I can estimate the calories. I usually stick with a grilled chicken meal or a salad - haven't had anything fried except stealing the occasional french fry off the hubby's plate in what seems like forever...........

    I'm hoping to avoid the restaurant meals for the next month; the hubby's away at a school, so I can go home and NOT eat whatever I want! I want to be several pounds lighter by the time he gets back. :tongue:
  • chipper15173
    chipper15173 Posts: 3,981 Member
    yup ......sodium..... does it to ya every time.......
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