I'm the kind of person who when I go out to eat will get anything that sounds good. What I've started doing is going online and searching (google or citysearch.com) for the restaurant. If I can find it, I see if they have a menu online and then decide before I even go what I'm going to get. This way, since it's already decided, I won't just decide on hunger impulse and get something bad.

I hope if someone has the same problem that this will help!

yup yup .. also some of the restaurants have their nutrition info posted and if not calorieking.com or dietfacts.com can help in making your choice too

Now me, I go in knowing what I want, then start browsing the menu thinking of trying something else, but end up ordering what I initially considered by the time the come take my order. Being indecisive is such a curse.

If I'm unsure I'll always order chicken (grilled) and lots of veggies.

That is a good tip!
I'm trying to get past the "treating myself" mentality of going out to eat. I feel like if I'm paying more money then I should be eating something really, really good. Restaraunt food just has so many hidden calories that even things I think are moderately healthy are way over what I would normally eat in a meal.
I can't decide if I should just cut down the number of times I eat out, or if I should set my mind to eating things I don't usually like (ie healthy food) so that I can enjoy the outting.

Great tip! Thanks for sharing.

Wastedthermos--I know what you mean! I have been going out to eat way too much recently and so I'm definitely over thinking it's "treating myself," so I do try to eat healthy when I go out, but sometimes my stomach gets the best of me. I wish I could get back to thinking its treating myself, but maybe if I did I wouldn't be eating as healthy. All I know is I need to do less going out to eat and more low-fat cottage cheese!

Oh and wastedthermos, I love your quote, I wrote it down and put it on a sticky note on my computer. Maybe it'll help me when I try to make excuses not to go work out!

Haleys-

I love it too! Bob Greene has a way of writing things that just make sense to me, and that statement hit close to home for me in just about all aspects of my life.

I've often heard it suggested that you ask the waiter to put half of your meal in a to-go box before ever serving you. The portions at restaurants are SO huge. I figured out a while back (before seriously starting in on my diet) that my favorite pasta dish at my favorite restaurant is almost 5 cups of pasta! That's 5 servings. Next time we go there I plan to ask them to put half in a to-go box before serving the meal, and then I'll only eat half of what I'm served. It's still a lot of food but the portion sizes at most restaurants are just out of control.