Restaurants and Calorie Counting

Options
bmalone62
bmalone62 Posts: 57 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Is it even possible??? Do any of you count calories at restaurants or do you take your best guess?

Replies

  • tigerlily8045
    tigerlily8045 Posts: 415 Member
    Options
    Depends on the resturant. We go out to Ruby Tuesday often and I usually choose something labeled the F&T. (fit and trim) They list the calories on the menu for those items.

    If we go to the local bar/resturant I try to pick out healthier things and then come on here and estimate high..lol

    If it is a chain a lot of them have their nutritional info online. Check before you go!
  • snowgrrl83
    snowgrrl83 Posts: 242 Member
    Options
    Depends on the resturant. We go out to Ruby Tuesday often and I usually choose something labeled the F&T. (fit and trim) They list the calories on the menu for those items.

    If we go to the local bar/resturant I try to pick out healthier things and then come on here and estimate high..lol

    If it is a chain a lot of them have their nutritional info online. Check before you go!

    ^^ I pretty much do the exact same thing.
  • Kylieikerd
    Kylieikerd Posts: 82
    Options
    Always count everything you eat. Take your best guess, and always choose the highest calorie option just to be safe. You'll learn to make better choices everytime you go out.
  • celticmuse
    celticmuse Posts: 492 Member
    Options
    I do the best I can, but it really is winging it, because you have no idea how much butter or oil is used in the dish. I try to log the main ingredients or the things that are highest in calories. Sometimes you can find a similar dish in the database. It really is more of an art than a science.
  • ready2tryagain42
    ready2tryagain42 Posts: 202
    Options
    There is an app out there for iPhone that has calories for certain restaurants. And you can sometimes look up their menus online ahead of time and plan what you eat. Good luck!
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    Options
    There is an app out there for iPhone that has calories for certain restaurants. And you can sometimes look up their menus online ahead of time and plan what you eat. Good luck!

    MFP's app for both iPhone and Android does the same thing, as does the database on this web site.

    When I know I'm going out, I'll look at the restaurant's choices in the food database here and try to choose and log a meal to make sure it fits into my daily calories.

    If it's a local restaurant I know, I'll pre-plan based on ingredients and do my best.

    If it's a new restaurant and I don't have my smartphone with me or it's a situation when it's not appropriate to start reviewing a menu smartphone in hand, I choose veggies over white meat, white meat over red meat, raw over steamed, steamed over baked, baked over sauteed, sauteed over fried, fried over battered-and-fried. But I'll ALWAYS order something I know I'll enjoy.
  • devonette
    devonette Posts: 263 Member
    Options
    Most restaurant servings are huge, so I eat approximately half of everything, bring the rest home in a "doggie bag/box", and weigh and measure it as best I can, finding foods or recipes that seem close to get calorie estimates for sauces, marinades, etc.
  • Montegue42
    Montegue42 Posts: 98
    Options
    Depends on the resturant. We go out to Ruby Tuesday often and I usually choose something labeled the F&T. (fit and trim) They list the calories on the menu for those items.

    If we go to the local bar/resturant I try to pick out healthier things and then come on here and estimate high..lol

    If it is a chain a lot of them have their nutritional info online. Check before you go!

    This is what I do. My fiance and I like to eat at smaller restaurants or local restaurants and I just try to guess and eat especially well for the rest of the day.
  • cmayfield3
    cmayfield3 Posts: 176 Member
    Options
    I hate to say it but I try to order whatever will be easiest to calculate the calories of. So:

    Order stir-fries steamed instead of fried, with the sauce on the side, so I know there isn't a lot of hidden oil.

    At breakfast, I order eggs hard-boiled so I know there's no oil... dry toast, side of fruit, that kind of thing. Easy to count.

    Salad with, again, dressing on the side so I can control how much and know how much to count.

    Sometimes it's still not possible to know exactly so I try to estimate on the high side. Restaurants use a LOT of oil.
  • senyosmom
    senyosmom Posts: 613 Member
    Options
    First, I see if the menu gives you calories. If not, I see if their website has nutritional info. If not, I see if I can find the meal from that establishment on MFP or another calories counting website. Still no, I put the individual foods into MFP and try my best to match it (example, steamed veggies or sweet potatoe fries, etc).

    All else fails I guess high and do a quick calorie entry and hope I came in lower then what I log.
  • yogi29511
    yogi29511 Posts: 3
    Options
    ask most of them have a nutritional fact sheet or a website that you can access to get that info
  • Package02
    Package02 Posts: 97
    Options
    I heard that California has a law where chain restaurants have to post the calories on their menus. I wish we had that over here. Would be nice to know what we're consuming. I'm sure many people would be surprised by how many calories their favorite meals actually are. I saw a plate of onion rings from my local IHOP was over 900 calories :noway: Wont be getting those again

Categories