Anxiety when eating out

You don't have to take your scale and look "mental." Here are some rough "measures."

1/2 c. cooked cup rice ---- tennis ball
1 pancake (1 ounce or 5") ---- compact disc diameter (CD)
1 piece of cornbread (2 ounces) ---- bar of soap
1 slice of sandwich bread = 1 ounce, larger loaves = 1-1/4 oz.
1 cup of pasta/spaghetti (2 ounces) ---- a fist (not pro-wrestler)
1 cup of cereal flakes (1 ounce) ---- a fist

Vegetables
1 cup green salad ---- baseball or a fist
1 medium baked potato (1 cup) ---- baseball
1/2 cup cooked broccoli ---- tennis ball
These are a 1/2 cup serving ---- 6 asparagus spears; 7 or 8 baby carrots; 1 ear of corn on the cob

Fruits
1/2 cup of grapes (15 grapes) ---- tennis ball
1/2 cup of fresh fruit ---- tennis ball
1 medium size fruit ---- tennis ball
1 cup of cut-up fruit ---- baseball
1/4 cup raisins ---- large egg

The Milk Group
1 1/2 ounces hard cheese ---- 9-volt battery or your index and middle fingers
1 ounce of processed cheese ---- your thumb
1 cup of ice cream ---- baseball

Meat and Beans
2 tablespoons peanut butter (= 2 oz. meat) ---- ping-pong ball
1 teaspoon peanut butter (= 1/3 oz. meat) ---- fingertip
1 tablespoon peanut butter (= 1 oz. meat) ---- thumb tip
3 ounces grilled/baked fish or chicken ---- checkbook
3 ounces cooked meat, fish, poultry ---- your palm, a deck of cards

Fats, Sugars and Sodium
teaspoon butter, margarine ---- stamp, the thickness of your finger or knuckle to thumb tip
tablespoons regular salad dressing -- ping-pong ball

Snack Foods
1 ounce of nuts or small candies ---- one handful
1 ounce of pretzels ---- two handfuls
1/2 cup of popcorn ---- one man's handful
1/3 cup of popcorn ---- one woman's handful

Serving Dishes/Utensils used by restaurants
1/2 cup ---- custard cup or mashed potato scoop
1 1/2 cups ---- large cereal/soup bowl
1 1/2 cups of pasta, noodles ---- dinner plate, not heaped
1/2 cup of pasta, noodles ---- custard cup or mashed potato scoop

People telling you to relax isn't going to make your anxiety any less.

I'll give you a couple of strategies that worked for me on my way to losing 17.2 lbs since January 9th. I too was afraid to eat out because I thought after all that effort, I would gain the weight back. So here is what I decided to to (bold move but it paid off)

1. I decided to have a "free" meal which meant that I could eat anything I wanted guilt free.

Did I gain weight? Yes.
Did it bother me? At first yes, then something great happened. 3 days later, I was back at the same weight as prior to that "free" meal. Lesson, eating out was no big deal becasue I felt that I could lose it again. This gave me a great sense of feeling like I could eat anything and I would be ok.

If you don't feel confident to try this yet, then consider ordering grilled chicken, tomato slices and grilled or steamed veggies. Eat a small portion of fruit (berries) for desert if you're craving something sweet.

The thing about the free meal is you literally most of the time even though you gained weight on the scale actually gained any weight. Most of it is glycogen stores getting refilled and then just pure waste weight that you'll excrete later. The free meal is a spiking method that some of us do on a weekly basis. It keeps the metabolism high, refills your glycogen stores in your muscles, and allows you for a monster work out the day after.