Eating Out

[iamkaki]

My mom and sister are coming to town and we are to meet for lunch.  We decided on Don Pablo (had I looked at the calorie content of their menu I would have suggested some where else).  So, now I am looking at their menu from Calorie King's website.  Yikes! So many dishes over 1000 calories!! I told my son to be sure to smack my hands if I so dare as reach for a chip before my food arrives! I made sure I went fo a good walk this morning to bring my steps over 6,000 before we go.  I decided on the chicken chili which is under 300 calories...buy my heart is on 3 fish tacos with all the fixings 🙂 

Eating out is hard....but if I can plan ahead I may win the game for the day! 🙂 

[Odyssey13]

@iamkaki  It's not always easy eating out, but looking at the menu before you go can be a big help. Of course, asking someone to smack your hand works, too. Hope your son didn't have to resort to doing that.

A thousand calories for one meal is a lot, but it depends on how many calories you're allowing yourself the whole day. Maybe next time get those fish tacos and take part of them home with you.

You can do this!

Welcome to the forums.

[iamkaki]

Yes that is a lot of calories for me since I am only alotted 1500.  So that would leave me with amost no calories for dinner!

Anyhow I did well and found something in the 300 calorie range and since they were so slow to serve I managed to drink 3 glasses of water! Oh, and no slapping was nessesary at the lunch table 🙂 

Eating out and making good choices will always be a struggle.  I am happy that some restaurants are now putting the calorie count right there on the menu!

Thanks @Odyssey13 !

[PaleoCrossfit]

Fantastic job. I truly believe that planning ahead is the key to success.

[HelenaFitbit]

That is a great NSV @iamkaki ! Planning ahead is really what counts the most on this journey. 

Hope to see you around the Forums! 

[VivisFitbit]

Planning will always let you be one steps ahead, 

[nfarrow91]

you have more will power than I do, something I definently have to work on. My little town has 3 fast food places, one mexican, and one diner. Not a whole lot of healthy options 😞 Just gonna have to look ahead and walk more to make up for it!

[EdsonFitbit]

Great idea checking the calories information online and burning some of them before eating out. Thanks for the tip. 

[LCHFmom]

I also look at menus ... and sometimes even the healthiest choices are so high in calories its discouraging! 

I love @iamkaki's example of fish tacos.  For me, the worst part is the tortilla.  So, if  I order a 2- taco plate, I will eat one with the tortilla, and the innards of the other.   I will look up the avg calories for a tortilla that size and deduct that from my total count for that meal... I will take anything I can to shave off calories and still get the flavor! 

[Perivates]

My biggest vice is my love for Chipotle. I've had to come to the compromise of getting the sofritas burrito bowl instead of the sofritas burrito. Saves 300 calories! I do the same thing at other restaurants, skipping the tortilla when I order veggie fajitas, or skipping the pancake wrap when I get moo shu vegetables.

The biggest help, I find, is loading up on salad so that I'm somewhat full by the time my entree arrives. It's usually pasta, so I can just take half of it home for leftovers!

[Raviv]

Three things to keep in mind when you're eating out:

1.  You don't have to eat everything they give you.  If you want, take half of it home and have it for lunch the next day.  Or just don't eat it all.

2.  Especially when it comes to mexican food, you can usually order individual items (like 1 beef taco and one chicken taco) instead of the numbered platters, which will have the same tacos plus rice and beans.

3.  Check out the appetizer menu.  Sometimes the servings are big enough for a light meal.

[reazin]

I get your frustration, there is a new resturaunt called Maggie Mcflys I tried out the other day. It was awful tring to find something that would be under 400 calories. So I go for salads normally.

[reazin]

I never thought to check online good tip

[awood08]

If I see a meal has over 800 calories I try to stay away. But ideally between 600-800 calories I will get it, only eat half and save the rest for dinner or another meal the next day! I religiously eat 6 meals a day so I like to spread my calories out evenly throughout each meal. It's been working great for me personally but everyone is different.

[DavidC2]

Order anything you want.  It is the size of the order that is a huge problem.  Find the calories in what you want to order and eat a proportionate amount.  Order the fish tacos remove half the food to a separate plate and take it home for another meal.  Almost all meals at restaurants/diners have the caloric load of 2 meals.

[HelenaFitbit]

That is a great idea @DavidC2! We usually have our minds set to finish everything in our plate instead of taking out the left overs, I will start doing this 

[SunsetRunner]

Eating out can be challenging, but not impossible. We tend to stay away from chain restaurants. Yes, they may post their calorie counts online, but I have been fooled into thinking something might be healthy and finding it still too salty, greasy (with unknown oils and fats), or sweet (sugar is hidden in a lot of chain and processed foods).

We like good local restaurants. Often their menus are also online. While they may not post calorie counts, we have found that because the quality of the ingredients is better (real butter, real olive oil), then the actual nutritional value is more predictable. Also, they are more flexible about adding or subtracting ingredients: more veggies on the side, hold the hash browns, skip the rolls and butter, can I have the steak grilled without additional fat, etc. Even when I ask for these changes in a chain restaurant, if their meat has been marinated ahead of time, then the cooks and servers can't very well remove salt or sugar from that steak or chicken. 

[TRS81]

way to plan ahead and stick to your guns. that's definitely the hardest thing to do. 

[Crank]

I've noticed thats a bad habit alot of people have is having the mindset they have to eat everything on thier plate. Getting in the habit of taking home leftovers is wise. If it goes bad? so what. The concept of not letting food go to waste definitelty interferes with peoples judgement of when they are actually full. One other thing to keep in mind, more often than not, people subconsciously mistake thirst for hunger.

[MRose]

You guys hit the nail on the head! As a kiddo, I was never allowed to leave the table until I had finished everything on my plate (which is fine when you're eating broccoli!), but as an adult, I feel like there's a malnourished child somewhere who goes hungry if I don't eat the entire meal (which, for the record, is almost always malnourishment).

When changing that habit, the most helpful things were,

1) order off of the kids menu when possible! I have never had someone refuse that request (even if it says 12 and younger), although once they added $1; and,

2) if the kiddie plates just won't work that day, I ask for a leftover container when I place the food order. It actually adds self-accountability -- if I eat the whole darn plate and leave the container on the table or try to give it back, I would be really embarrassed, so half (or sometimes more) goes into the container before you've had a single bite! And almost always, you don't even want the other half by the time it's relevant.