Let's face it...there are times when we all go out to a restaurant. Which ones do you like to go to - one's that make it easier to stay with your plan.

Share your experiences - it might help out a friend here needing to plan a dinner at a restaurant.

(of course, I also posted the thread about that certain reataurant 'healthy' menus aren't always so healthy - but, let's share anyway.)

Well, this may seem a little overboard, but a couple months ago I went to a bunch of fast food websites and spent time reading their nutrition facts. I made a list for myself called "Best choices" that has the best food choices and how many calories are in it. So I will just post it here in case it helps someone.

Burgerville
hamburger 300
cheeseburger 350
gardenburger 450 (350 without mayo)
low fat grilled chicken sandwich 320
turkey club no mayo no cheese 300 (cheese +50, mayo +200)
3 pc halibut 320
salmon salad 440
smokey blue salad 290
grilled chicken salad 430
raspberry vinaigrette 45
fresh strawberry yocream sundae 220
blackberry/raspberry yocream sundae 240
triple berry yocream sundae 200
hot fudge yocream sundae 260
pumpkin smoothie 16oz 360


Sonic
Jr Burger 310
Jr Cheeseburger 380
Grilled chicken salad 310
Santa Fe chicken salad 380
FF Italian dressing 50
Light Ranch or southwest ranch 120
Grilled Chicken on Ciabatta with Mayo 340
Burrito Deluxe 420
Diet float 220
Jr Banana Split 200
Vanilla Cone 180
Real Fruit Slush or slush, wacky pack (12oz) 170
Lo-Cal Limeades 5-10




McDonald's
Egg McMuffin (300)
Sausage Burrito (300)
Fruit n Yogurt parfait (160)
Grilled chicken snack wraps (260-270)
Premium grilled chicken classic (420)
Hamburger (250)
Cheeseburger (300)
4 piece nuggets (170 but half fat) honey mustard sauce (70)
Salads with grilled chicken (bacon ranch 260/asian 300/southwest 320)
Dressings (LF balsamic 40/LF Italian 60/LFsesame ginger 90)
Apple dippers with caramel (105)
Vanilla cone (150)
Iced tea (0)
Iced coffee (small 16 oz- 130)
Sugar free iced coffee (sm 16oz- 60; med 22oz 90; lg 32oz 120)

Arby's
Grilled chicken filet sandwich (414)
Grilled chicken cordon bleu sandwich (488)
Grilled chicken bacon swiss sandwich (461)
Arbys melt (303)
Ham n swiss (275)
Regular roast beef (320)
Medium roast beef (416)
Sourdough ham/beef melts (380/356)
Marthas Vineyard salad (276) Viniagrette (194) light ranch (112)
Side of cheese (30)

KFC
Roasted BLT salad (200)
Side salad (15)
Dressing (FF ranch 35/Light italian 45) croutons (60)
Honey BBQ sandwich (280)
Tender roast sandwich no sauce (300)
Original breast, no skin (140)
Drumstick (OR 130/EC 160)
Green beans (50)
3" corn (70)
mashed potatoes and gravy (140)

Wendy's
Mandarin chicken salad (360)
Chicken ceaser salad (250)
Chicken BLT salad (400)
Dressings (RF ranch 90/LF honey mustard 100/FF french 70)
Side salad (35)
Mandarin orange cup (80)
SC and chives baked potato (320)
LF strawberry yogurt- no granola (140)
Frosty junior (150-160)
Jr Hamburger (280)
Jr Cheeseburger (320)
Ham n cheese/turkey n cheese in kids meal (240-250)
Single w/everything (430)
Ultimate chicken grill sandwich (320)
Frescata club (430)

Subway
Best Bread (wheat 200/hearty Italian 220) wrap (70)
Veggie Delite (230)
Turkey/Turkey&Ham/Ham/Roast beef (280-290)
Roasted chicken breast (310)
Subway Club (320)
Apple Slices (35)
Minestrone soup (80)
Chicken noodle soup (80)
Tomato Rotini Soup (90)
Sauce (FF Honey Mustard-30/Light mayo 1T-50/brown mustard-5/FF red wine vin-29/sweet onion sauce-40)
Cheese (american-40/pepperjack, provoline, swiss-50)

Orange Julius
16 oz orange or strawberry julius (220) raspberry (240)
16 oz Tropical (290/3g fiber)
16 oz Pina Colada (330/3g fiber)
20 oz Blueberrathon (350/6g fiber)
20 oz Raspberry Crush (330/3g fiber)
add Fiber Plus (5 cal/4g fiber)

Auntie Anne's Pretzels
whole wheat pretzel (370/7g fiber)
pretzel dog (290)

My mom loves Bob Evans. They have a 'senior' dinner (you really don't have to be a senior) - It's egg beaters, turkey sausage, dry toast, and fruit. I really like to get that.

We love going for Chinese in my family - I now get steamed veggie dumplings with a soy/ginger/garlic dipping sauce. I love it and it's under 400 calories.

Sometimes if I am in a hurray - I'll stop at Wendy's and get a small chili. Less than 300 calories. Sometimes I'll dump in on a half of a baked potato.

Usually, when I go to a restaurant I like to get grilled fish - I am very speciific about how they should fix. I am not shy about saying what I want - but, of course, polite.

How about you?

I don't have a favorite, but tend to like the pricier restaurants, because they seem to be more capable of making a dish to my preference compared to some of the chains. I also LOVE any place with a salad bar. I think with a little creativity you can come up with a good choice almost anywhere!!

Lyn -- Awesome list -- thanks!!

Did anyone see Good Morning America today? One of the affliates did a story on the "healther" choices on some of the chain rest. menus. They took the food to an independent lab and found out that the rest. were underreporting the calories. Here the link if you want to read about it:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/s...4909235&page=1

Well, a couple of months ago, Hubby and I decided to go out for an impromptu restaurant meal. We looked up the calorie information for some of our favorite menu items at our favorite restaurants and we were blown away. The calories were just crazy! The one restaurant with the most reasonable selections turned out to be Applebees. Applebees has never been a favorite of ours, but we have found ourselves eating there more often now.

I find that the book "Eat this NOT That" helps me when eating out. It has a lot of chain resturants and gives you the 3 best choices and 3 worst choices when eating at these places.

Chilli's-Chicken Fajita Pita-400cal :-)

If I choose I pick Applebees or Culver's.

I LOVE Culvers grilled chicken cashew salad. I order it without cheese ( I am not a big fan of cheese in the first place) It has enough other stuff on that I don't put any dressing on it.

I am not sure if Applebee's is accurate on their posted calories on the weight watcher menu items. But I take them at their word and have decided it is better than than the trio with cheese bugers, buffalo wings, and dynamite shrimp followed by a blondie sundae like I used to eat in "the old days".

I've found that at just about any restaurant you can ask for a plain grilled chicken breast and steamed veggies or a plain baked potato.

However, for me, I don't see the point of going out to eat to pay a lot of money (cause you usually have to pay regular entree prices) to get something that I can make at home. I figure if I'm going to eat at a restaurant, then I'm going to splurge a little and just make it up elsewhere.

That's just me, though. YMMV and all that jazz.

.

When we're on the go and need something quick I like Subway - or I like Outback - Their Ahi Tuna appetizer is excellent and so low cal! I also like their chopped blue cheese salad.

have seen some of the info found in "Eat This not That" on GMA or the Today Show, I don't remember which one. I am going to have to buy a copy of that book.

Subway is another family favorite.

If I find myself stuck at Cracker Barrel, this is what I get, though I substitute the toast for a low-fat apple muffin. I forget what they call it, but it's about the only safe thing on the Cracker Barrel menu!

It drives me crazy that the grilled chicken at McD's has so many calories; it's that huge roll they serve it on that's the culprit. But you can order it on a regular bun and cut the calories (or, of course, just take off the top of the roll).

Whenever we out to eat...I always see if I can find the menu online for that particular restaurant. If it's a local non-chain restaurant or a big chain - it helps just to see the menu. It helps to know in advance what will be available. Sometimes - the nutritional information is available.

DH LOVES to go out to eat. I've learned to make it work. We bought one of those "entertainment" books from the middle schoolers selling them for a fund raiser. It's where you buy one entree and get the second one free. I am not a huge salad fan - but, it's worked out anyway.