Help for eating out!

you could skip the cheese and chips and eat your enchiladas (maybe two instead of three?)

If you're going to a chain, check their website to see if they have nutrition information available. When I go to a local restaurant, I try to find a chain with a similar menu to get an idea of what the best choices would be. For Mexican, try looking at the NI for somewhere like Chevy's to get ideas.

Find something without cheese or sour cream - it might be hard, and you may need to ask them to modify the dish (eg, extra salsa/beans instead of cheese). mmmm...thinking about enchiladas with beans and veggies...

Look online for nutrition info and if there isn't any, use your best judgement.

If I go out for Mexican, I skip the chips/dip and try to get something I can split with someone, or something for myself that seems to be the best option. Grilled chicken and veggies is good, or sometimes I will go ahead and get my favorite dish, only eat half, and either leave the other half or save the rest for later.

Remember, can't have a lifestyle change without your favorites!

I am considering eating before I go, something healthy. Then only eating a chicken taco with no cheese. That way maybe I won't go overboard and want to eat all the chips!

Look up the foods you like on MFP or any other website. And check to see if the restaurant you are going to has nutritional values on their website.

Use rule of thumb when ordering...allow a chip with cheese, allow salsa and chip or 2 or 10. The key to the lifestyle change is very easy...If you are NEVER going to eat something again, never eat it now. If you are going to eat it, find a way to fit it in.

And here's what I do, I research every out to eat experience so that I know now what I should have known 24 years ago...MODERATION and PAY UP FRONT.

Eat what you like, in moderation and exercise for it--endorphines released by exercise makes you feel good and the better you feel when you go to dinner, the less you will feel the need for empty calories. Really you can do this! I have every faith in you!

I have a suggestion.
Eat what you'd normally eat, and forget trying to be a good dieter.
Call this a once per week "free day meal" or to be more scientific, "Re-Feed Therapy".
I do this weekly, and have reached all my initial weight goals.
I have a weekly day where I eat about twice my daily goal, and a monthly food orgy where I eat like a man going to the electric chair for 24 hours.
LOVE IT!
It's nice knowing I am never more than 7 days from eating anything I desire in whatever quantity I want.
I'd go nuts otherwise.
So, have fun with your friends. Eat well, and just ENJOY!:flowerforyou:

I went to nandos yesterday and then had a heavy night drinking. I have lost weight a year ago and then maintained for a year and now I am back.
So my idea Could you do an extra wokout build some more calories in the bank. I had an extra 2 hours on the wii yesterday to get some cals in the bank. I then logged what I was going to eat and drink before I went out and I knew what I was allowed when I got to the reastraunt I changed my mind and desided rice and chips were too much for me and I would just have the pitta and chips so I then had more calories for drink. I know I won't be able to go the rest of my life with out Nandos or acohol so I made sure I knew how much I was allowed and if I had gone over I would just have had another session exercising today instead of the rest day(from exercise) I had planned in. This changing your eatting habbits doesn't have to be a chore for you! Just try and work round it so you get what you want and just think do I really need that extra rice???

Good luck and try not to think too much you need to be happy too!

I can usually find a grilled chicken dish wherever I go. I just ask for whatever comes on top of it to be put on the side. Or you could get chicken fajitas and eat the chicken and the veggies. Maybe ask to just have them give you the veggies that come with it raw instead of frying them up? Finding a soup is usually not too terrible, but you have to watch out because some of them put cheese and masa in the soup which really ups the calories.

The hidden calories in restaurant food are ridiculous. I've looked stuff up after the fact and thought (i.e. screamed with rage inside my head), "How can that have that many calories?!" because when I make it at home it is about a 1/3 of their version. My rule of thumb for logging food when I have eaten out at a place that doesn't publish nutrition content is to find the worst (nutritional) version on MFP and just assume that is what I ate.

My easy meal for our local Mexican restaurant is Bistec A La Mexicana with rice, refried beans and a small guacamole salad.which comes to about 500 calories....this is without the tortilla wraps. I never get the tortilla wraps because of the calories they have.
Depending on my workout I also can add a serving of chips and salsa.

As for the different rices...I always selected the item with the highest calories....this way no matter what I never under-estimate my calories for the meal.

As was suggested...this could be your free day...mine is usually Saturday night when we have friends over for card/movie night. I do not worry about what I eat for the evening because of the little things I do over the week e.g., over estimate calories, burn extra in exercise, etc.

I went out a couple of weeks ago for mexican and debated forever what I would eat.

I ended up ordering a la carte - 2 grilled shrimp crunchy tacos, cooked in no oil, lettuce only. An order of refried beans, no cheese and I only ate half. A side of pico de gallo to go along with the salsa I added to my tacos. Also, I'd eaten light the rest of the day just in case. I was pleasantly suprised at how full I was.