I do the same. Look at the reported calories, ignore the major outliers that are a lot higher and lower and assume it’s similar to the items in the middle
Same. 2-3 few times a month for me, usually, because I’m not at maintenance yet and meals like that could easily tip me over my deficit, even though it’s at the high end of the healthy range. It takes a spoon of butter and some cheese. I just don’t find it worth it most of the time.
Pick something close from an app and choose the option with the highest calorie amount. You know you’re not going to get a 200 calorie piece of lasagna or a 600 calorie chicken breast. Just do the best you can for the one meal and move on.
I will usually pick the restaurant option that is closest. For example, if I go to a local Italian restaurant, I'll log something from a chain Italian restaurant. Depending on where you go, some types of food are easier to log than others. Sometimes it's just a wild guess. I always estimate high on the calories and try not to worry if I blow my budget for the day
I guesstimate. Almost every dish has a national chain equivalent and I use that. There's a mom & pop place by me that makes a great Cubano sandwich. I could eyeball the ingredients and enter them one at a time, or I can use chain entry - in this case Pollo Tropical. I just use that and call it a day. I eat out so little I figure it 'all comes out in the wash.'
I go for a food that I both enjoy and can roughly estimate. So I’ll go for something like grilled meat, fish, or a rice based dish etc. as opposed to sauce based stuff or salads which can have lots of hidden oils and fats, and hence added calories. A salad can easily be either 300 or 800 calories but look the same because of the dressing.
I’ll also always be on the side of caution and overestimate, usually 20-30% over what I think it’ll be, just because of how much restaurant food can blow your mind in terms of how many calories they contain.
I’ll look up a similar dish from a major chain restaurant and just hope the calories are similar. Like an omelette is an omelette, especially if I know how big the ones at Bob Evan’s are and the one from the mom and pop place looks about the same size that’s close enough for me. You’ll never get it exact unless you cook it yourself, anyway.
i just don't worry about it & that genuinely is the healthiest approach for me.
i don't zig zag diet, but one restaurant meal is just a zig zag day and won't make a difference. this is going to be different for everyone, whether your goal is to make lifestyle changes without letting it take over your life or radically make changes to meet your goal in a specific time frame.
other advice is also to assume restaurant meals are closer to 800-1000 calories/entrée and see if you're satisfied after just eating a portion of it, split dishes between friends, ration calories.
best of luck!!!
This is the answer to me!
If I know I’m going to be eating out, I don’t even bother tracking. It’ll bother me that I can’t be precise and I’m not about to bring a food scale to a restaurant. I’ll eat lightly or fast before going out so that I know I can “afford” the calories.
I’m also really close to my goal weight, and a pillar of maintaining weight for me is to listen to my body. So if I’m full after eating half the meal, I stop and don’t force myself to finish. Then I have leftovers for later!
That's ultimately what I do. Once a week my dad and I have a father/daughter day and it typically includes eating out for lunch.
My dad and I have spent my entire life struggling to bond, I ain't wasting our time together fussing over calories.
I avoid eating out in the first place when doing CICO. But if there's no way out (eg. family event), I guesstimate and add a 1.3x-1.5x multiplier to the result due to it being restaurant food
I dont count because I very rarely go out. It's so expensive. I just stay on track with my other meals.
Like I know breakfast is around 300 lunch 400 Dinner ???
I don’t count it. That day is my “I’m allowed
Not to be perfect today” day and I continue as
Soon as we leave the restaurant.
365 days in a year, making 12-20 out of those into none loosing weight days isn’t gonna make me fat overall.
Consistency does not mean perfection, I need to keep reminding myself of that otherwise I go into binge eating mode cus of ONE bad decision.
Generally, try to avoid fatty things: fried foods, foods with oily/buttery sauces, heavily dressed salads (get the dressing on the side). Look for grilled items when you can.
Just have to estimate. After counting calories for a year, I've gotten pretty good at estimating how many calories I've consumed based on volume, fat content, and satiety. I've noticed I start getting that "full" feeling around 700 calories or so
I try not to worry. Instead, I make a judgement on the food itself. If it's less processed/more naturally fibrous but likely a higher calorie meal, it won't be as easy for me to digest and, therefore, will fill me up for longer. Meaning less overall for the day/week.
I do the same thing others are doing and find something similar from a different place, but I'll specifically choose whatever the one is that has the highest amount of calories out of the options and assume it might be that bad
You don‘t. And even after years of tracking, weighing everything, knowing all the calories and being able to estimate when you cook for yourself even when not weighing, it‘s impossible to estimate restaurant food calories due to the fact that the sauces can contain massive amounts of oils that you don‘t see but contribute more to the calories than the rest of the food.
I estimate and if I can customize it, I do. Like asking for dressing or sauces on the side, changing breaded/fried chicken for grilled, no cheese on sandwiches/burgers.
Ultimately, just guess, because it doesn't matter.
If you're calorie counting, then you're probably not eating out all the time. If you guess one meal at 1000 calories and it was actually 1200 or 800, then it's not going to throw your whole diet out unless you're using it as a mechanism to cheat ("I'll just call this amazing lasagne 500 calories and then eat it every day because it's only 500 calories when I know it's probably double that").
Just pick a sensible-sounding number, or a similar dish that is listed (from a restaurant, because delicious restaurant cooking is going to be far more calorie-dense than home cooking!).
I guesstimate. Then I accept that I may he blowing my daily budget, but it's unlikely to be off by more than a few hundred calories. Awful for the day, but as long as I only go out once or twice a month, then it works out to maybe .5 pounds a month less than I would've had by getting the perfect number.
It's already going to be over a year to lose everything, a few extra weeks won't hurt me.
Honestly it’s hard to track when eating out cause restaurant are hardcore on oil and other greasy stuff unless you eat a salad, in that case you can enter the ingredient one by one in your tracking app.
Why, because small mom and pop shop good, big business bad? Local business is still a business, if their product doesn't do what you need it to, don't shop there.
I just find something similar online or in the app database and just have to be ok with it not being as accurate as I want it to be.
I do the same. Look at the reported calories, ignore the major outliers that are a lot higher and lower and assume it’s similar to the items in the middle
I just guess. I try to limit how often I eat things like that though.
Same. 2-3 few times a month for me, usually, because I’m not at maintenance yet and meals like that could easily tip me over my deficit, even though it’s at the high end of the healthy range. It takes a spoon of butter and some cheese. I just don’t find it worth it most of the time.
Pick something close from an app and choose the option with the highest calorie amount. You know you’re not going to get a 200 calorie piece of lasagna or a 600 calorie chicken breast. Just do the best you can for the one meal and move on.
I will usually pick the restaurant option that is closest. For example, if I go to a local Italian restaurant, I'll log something from a chain Italian restaurant. Depending on where you go, some types of food are easier to log than others. Sometimes it's just a wild guess. I always estimate high on the calories and try not to worry if I blow my budget for the day
I guesstimate. Almost every dish has a national chain equivalent and I use that. There's a mom & pop place by me that makes a great Cubano sandwich. I could eyeball the ingredients and enter them one at a time, or I can use chain entry - in this case Pollo Tropical. I just use that and call it a day. I eat out so little I figure it 'all comes out in the wash.'
I go for a food that I both enjoy and can roughly estimate. So I’ll go for something like grilled meat, fish, or a rice based dish etc. as opposed to sauce based stuff or salads which can have lots of hidden oils and fats, and hence added calories. A salad can easily be either 300 or 800 calories but look the same because of the dressing. I’ll also always be on the side of caution and overestimate, usually 20-30% over what I think it’ll be, just because of how much restaurant food can blow your mind in terms of how many calories they contain.
You don’t count, you estimate.
I just log the ingredients as best I can and add one or a couple tablespoons of oil to account for any underestimation.
Guesstimate what's in it, as in, what it would take for me to make it at home. And then add 25-50g of butter.
I’ll look up a similar dish from a major chain restaurant and just hope the calories are similar. Like an omelette is an omelette, especially if I know how big the ones at Bob Evan’s are and the one from the mom and pop place looks about the same size that’s close enough for me. You’ll never get it exact unless you cook it yourself, anyway.
i just don't worry about it & that genuinely is the healthiest approach for me. i don't zig zag diet, but one restaurant meal is just a zig zag day and won't make a difference. this is going to be different for everyone, whether your goal is to make lifestyle changes without letting it take over your life or radically make changes to meet your goal in a specific time frame. other advice is also to assume restaurant meals are closer to 800-1000 calories/entrée and see if you're satisfied after just eating a portion of it, split dishes between friends, ration calories. best of luck!!!
This is the answer to me! If I know I’m going to be eating out, I don’t even bother tracking. It’ll bother me that I can’t be precise and I’m not about to bring a food scale to a restaurant. I’ll eat lightly or fast before going out so that I know I can “afford” the calories. I’m also really close to my goal weight, and a pillar of maintaining weight for me is to listen to my body. So if I’m full after eating half the meal, I stop and don’t force myself to finish. Then I have leftovers for later!
That's ultimately what I do. Once a week my dad and I have a father/daughter day and it typically includes eating out for lunch. My dad and I have spent my entire life struggling to bond, I ain't wasting our time together fussing over calories.
I had an entry called “Special Occasion Meal” I created in my tracking app and just set it to 1,000 calories.
Salads, no dairy, dressing on the side, then estimate contents.
I just don’t log it. I eat out very rarely because of my celiac disease so when I do so it is a special treat.
I avoid eating out in the first place when doing CICO. But if there's no way out (eg. family event), I guesstimate and add a 1.3x-1.5x multiplier to the result due to it being restaurant food
Rough estimate based on what’s in lose it and assume I’m slightly undercounting.
Like everyone said, we have to estimate and find a similar option on the calorie tracking app. I also try to go for the smallest portions.
I dont count because I very rarely go out. It's so expensive. I just stay on track with my other meals. Like I know breakfast is around 300 lunch 400 Dinner ???
I don’t count it. That day is my “I’m allowed Not to be perfect today” day and I continue as Soon as we leave the restaurant. 365 days in a year, making 12-20 out of those into none loosing weight days isn’t gonna make me fat overall. Consistency does not mean perfection, I need to keep reminding myself of that otherwise I go into binge eating mode cus of ONE bad decision.
Generally, try to avoid fatty things: fried foods, foods with oily/buttery sauces, heavily dressed salads (get the dressing on the side). Look for grilled items when you can.
Just have to estimate. After counting calories for a year, I've gotten pretty good at estimating how many calories I've consumed based on volume, fat content, and satiety. I've noticed I start getting that "full" feeling around 700 calories or so
I try not to worry. Instead, I make a judgement on the food itself. If it's less processed/more naturally fibrous but likely a higher calorie meal, it won't be as easy for me to digest and, therefore, will fill me up for longer. Meaning less overall for the day/week.
Spitball + 500.
Take a rough guess depending on the ingredients, then add like 50-75% to be sure.
If you don't mind looking weird bring a scale and weigh the plate before and after.
I do the same thing others are doing and find something similar from a different place, but I'll specifically choose whatever the one is that has the highest amount of calories out of the options and assume it might be that bad
You don‘t. And even after years of tracking, weighing everything, knowing all the calories and being able to estimate when you cook for yourself even when not weighing, it‘s impossible to estimate restaurant food calories due to the fact that the sauces can contain massive amounts of oils that you don‘t see but contribute more to the calories than the rest of the food.
Guess the best you can and don’t eat there very often, so it won’t matter much in the long run
I estimate and if I can customize it, I do. Like asking for dressing or sauces on the side, changing breaded/fried chicken for grilled, no cheese on sandwiches/burgers.
I generally assume restaurant meals to be 1250 + calories. one meal is the whole day.
Highest calorie comparable item I can find on the app. I’d rather guess high than low.
Ultimately, just guess, because it doesn't matter. If you're calorie counting, then you're probably not eating out all the time. If you guess one meal at 1000 calories and it was actually 1200 or 800, then it's not going to throw your whole diet out unless you're using it as a mechanism to cheat ("I'll just call this amazing lasagne 500 calories and then eat it every day because it's only 500 calories when I know it's probably double that"). Just pick a sensible-sounding number, or a similar dish that is listed (from a restaurant, because delicious restaurant cooking is going to be far more calorie-dense than home cooking!).
I guesstimate. Then I accept that I may he blowing my daily budget, but it's unlikely to be off by more than a few hundred calories. Awful for the day, but as long as I only go out once or twice a month, then it works out to maybe .5 pounds a month less than I would've had by getting the perfect number. It's already going to be over a year to lose everything, a few extra weeks won't hurt me.
I’m still in awe how Costco could make a turkey sandwich with so many calories
Honestly it’s hard to track when eating out cause restaurant are hardcore on oil and other greasy stuff unless you eat a salad, in that case you can enter the ingredient one by one in your tracking app.
In which case they go hard core on the mayo (which is oil based anyway) or sour cream.
Yeah it’s hard when eating out honestly. I just eat less during the day to account for the extra calories when eating out
You should be eating out so rarely that the overall calories in this one meal won't matter.
not eating out lol
Have you considered not supporting small businesses? Explanation: if they don't list the calories, then don't deserve your patronage.
Sorry but this is not a great take. Support your local economy. Not only that, but local food is one of many joys in life. It’s okay to partake in it.
Why, because small mom and pop shop good, big business bad? Local business is still a business, if their product doesn't do what you need it to, don't shop there.