I am new here but I am loving the forums!
Few weeks ago, I've begun exercising and counting calories. One night, my husband and I went out to a Japanese Steakhouse (where they cook in front of you) for dinner. I thought it would be harmless to my diet to get something veggie. I had saved calories prior to going out and I was pretty hungry. We sat down and ordered our dinner. I was shocked how much butter and oil they used to cook the rice, noodles and veggies! Normally, I'd think it would be a healthy choice but of course, you don't watch them cook the food in most restaurants. They put the rice and noodles on my plate and it took forever for them to finally put the vegetables on my plate. I was so hungry but I didn't want to touch the rice or noodles. I did allow myself have 1 small bites of each. I had a hard time eating the vegetables, knowing how much butter and oil the chef had used.
The couple seated next to us had ordered steak, salmon, shrimp, chicken and veggies on top of the noodles and rice! I can't even imagine how many calories they had consumed that night. It was really an eye opening experience for us!
Yesterday, we took our kids out to a local "healthy" restaurant. We ordered veggie wraps, thankfully, I asked for a copy of the nutrition facts before we ate our dinner. I was shocked to see that our veggie wrap contained 600 calories! And they came with air baked fries that contained about 300 calories! After seeing that, I ate half my wrap and few fries very slowly and I was satsified. But, oh boy!
I think we'll be eating out a lot less now! On the bright side of all this, now, I can see how we gained weight--every calorie counts and restaurants really do pile up on calories.