This is actually a huge pet peeve of mine. People will be totally snotty about "I never eat fast food, it's so unhealthy", but "regular" restaurant food is just as bad--in fact, I think it's usually worse. At a fast food place, you can get a single item, at least, and they aren't any more fat or calorie laden than Applebees or TGIFridays or Chili's or anything like that. Give me a 360 calories chicken sandwich from McDonalds over an 800 calorie salad any day.

The bad thing about fast food is that the drive through is quick and discreet: you can go from impulse to secret eating in about 3 minutes, and if that's a pattern, it needs to be eliminated. It's also cheap and easy, so people can get in the habit of eating fast food instead of home cooked meals, and generally fast food is going to be less filling for the same calories. But if the choice is "fast food" or "sit-down restaurant food", I just can't see any reason to think of fast food as somehow the less healthy choice, and it really really irritates me when someone rolls their eyes about how unhealthy fast food is while tearing into an enchilada platter.

I agree with you to an extent. However, if I am in a situation where I have no choice but to eat out, I like to go to an actual restaurant where I can get a grilled chicken salad, no extras, with FF dressing or something equally "healthy" that I actually know is healthy and not a loaded salad. I can't find anything like that at a drive through. :o

But I do agree with what you said, doesn't matter if you choose drive through or sit down, either way you have to be conscious of whats in your food and make the best choice.

It is difficult and a sorry, sad state of affairs. We usually opt for Subway and simply bypass any sit down places because it is easier to just eat a real meal at home than to slog through the mis-information and calories to eat out.

That having been said...just because they bring it out to the table doesn't mean you have to eat it. Perhaps if more people truly wanted and ordered healthier foods, more would be offered? And we are each responsible for what we put on the fork and lift into our mouths. Not so long ago, I and a lot of other people would have just snarfed everything, gobbled the crumbs and licked the plate no matter how much food...

When ya have to eat out, I guess you just have to do the best you can with what is offered/served, and hope it isn't too often...

Barb

I took my kids (teens) out the other night. My college age son, who was always a hyper fit athlete has definitely put on the freshman ten...

The kids all ordered burgers and fries (except my one daughter who got a turkey burger wrap but it still came with fries.) But my son wanted nachos for an appetizer. When it came, it was an enormous platter, chockablock with melted cheese, fatty meat, sour cream... YIKES! The kids polished off the entire platter and then attacked the burger and fries. I mean, each of them easily put away 2000 calories+. Afterwards, I was gently explaining that the amount of food served to them was probably like eating 5 dinners that I would serve at home. None of these kids has a weight problem-- NOW-- and I don't want to be the FOOD POLICE (since I grew up in one of those homes and it had disastrous consequences...) but at the same time, I think these restaurants, by putting that much food in front of people, really train people to eat a lot more than they realize. It's all bad.

I have to admit that I'm loving living in California at the moment. A year or two back, laws were passed that any chain restaurant has to have nutritional information on the menu. I know there are similar laws in some larger cities throughout the US. It makes it really easy to find something reasonable to order for dinner (although there are still tons of places where there are only one or two items under 600 cals on the menu). Too often, grilled food is drenched in oil or butter so that it makes that lovely sizzling sound on the platter, or tons of sugar is added to the brining solutions or marinades they use. I typically prefer eating at smaller, family run places, but now I'll actually choose to go to a chain restaurant so that I actually know what I'm eating.

There were some earlier threads here that helped me realize how fattening it is to eat out. I had largely eliminated to-order food already though, simply because the portions are large, and it's pricey.

I do remember the days of ordering "Crisy Chicken Salad" at Denny's and thinking that was a healthy meal. Deep fried chicken on a salad topped with cheese and dressing. :o Hooboy.

Currently I bring my lunch about every other day. Even when I buy lunches, and it's a hot dog from a street vendor, or a slice of pizza - it least that's all it is. I don't need the fries or apple turnover treats, etc. :rolleyes:

Ugh, I ordered fajitas last night, thinking they would be a "less" bad" option. I feel so gross today. My ring, which has been nearly falling off lately, is super tight. How much salt did they put in that crap?!

This is my pet-peeve. I feel I am very good at making "healthy" choices at restaurants, but I can't do a thing about the incredible amount of sodium.

Funny that you posted this thread. I am not a calorie counter, per se, but I do want to have an idea of how many I am eating, even if it is only an estimate. Since I started this journey, I've eaten out for lunch only at Subway (salad) and Panera Bread which I LOVE and where they post all the calories. I get their broccoli cheddar soup (290 calories) with the baguette (180 calories) - so lunch is under 500 calories.

Anyway, for Xmas, DH and I got a $75 gift certificate to Applebees. As soon as we opened it, I began to feel anxiety, because I immediately was thinking how many calories their stuff must have. I haven't checked, but there must be something online where I can see if there is anything I can get that won't have a TON of calories.

Although not my favorite (flavor-wise) necessarily, Applebee's at least has about 5 or 6 dinner meals under 550 cals...and they also have skinny versions of some of my favorite bar drinks (margaritas and mojitos) that are about 100 calories. I haven't tried them, so no idea if they're any good, but the meals at least look decent :) They were also partnered with Weight Watchers for awhile and actually had points values listed on their menus for a small handful of items, but I don't know if they still do that~

Oh, and here's a link for their pdf

http://www.applebees.com/downloads/A...ional_Info.pdf

I enjoy Applebee's Weight Watcher meals. I usually add 100 calories to whatever the website/menu says. This is just to take in to account that the cooks don't really care that much about weighing or measuring. I learned that from someone last year and I feel pretty comfortable with this system.

Thanks spixiet for the info and link! Since I am a substance abuse counselor, I don't drink - ever - so at least wasted calories on alcohol is not one of my challenges!

This makes me feel a lot better about going out. Especially seeing the sirloin with shrimp - yum!

The skinny margarita tastes like salt water :no:

Good to know - thanks :D

I'm starting to have a complete phobia about eating out, because of this. The three chain restaurants that I used to love all have salads over 1000 calories. SALADS! And their more healthy salads are still 700-800 calories. :no: And, as mentioned, the sodium content in most of the main dishes are 2-3x over the daily allowance.

So, I save money and calories by eating at home. :D