How does everyone cope with eating out here in the UK? I find most restaurants don't offer 'light items' on their menus. I know Pizza Express has those pizza/salad dishes for approximately 500 calories (which is great), but tonight I'm going to Browns in Windsor. I looked at their menue online and even their salads look like they're about 800+ calories each.

What shall I do?

Order the salad and take half of it home in a box.

Thank you. That is the sensible thing to do.

I just get so frustrated with restaurants here. I guess I'm just use to the way things are done back home in California. Quite a few restaurants here refuse to box/bagged left over food for their customers claiming it's a health and safety risk. And the one time I did ask for it I got strange looks from the waiter, then he dissapeared to talk to the boss and said they don't do that, but because the people I was there with were regulars he said he could do it that one time. I was left feeling embarrased. People just don't do that here. Maybe there needs to be a whole movement here on that as there is so much food wastage because restaurants don't let people take left overs.

Maybe my bf will share my salad with me as he's having steak frites... he's lucky he's a bean pole.

You're right, Taurie, it's not something we do here. I've always wondered why anyone would want to eat heated-up restaurant food! And I think there is a clear health (or food hygiene) angle.

You could order a salad and only eat half. Ask the waiter to take your plate away. Don't have bread. Or alcohol (lowers the resistance). Oh, Browns, did you say? Do Not Have the creme brulee!!

Hey, just relax and don't eat too much. Have a good time. Concentrate on the company.

Hello and welcome to the British dining experience!

The first thing that you need to do is to think of the menu as a guide rather than being set in stone and to order what you really want. Personally, I don't want half of an 800 calorie salad today and the other half tomorrow, it would be limp and mushy, so I'd tell the waiter what bits of the salad (or anything else) I did want, what I didn't and what I wanted on the side.

However, if you do want to take some home with you, bring your own container and decant your leftovers into it. I don't think anyone would mention what you were doing but if they do, tell them that you have dogs, British people love dogs and are used to seeing dog owners behaving eccentrically.

I think the best choices are the sea bream, roast pepper salad and the chargrilled chicken salad. If you're worries about extra calories in the sauce, ask to have it on the side so that you're in control! I usually go for baked/grilled fish because it's filling and relatively low in calories.

you're right! left over salad doen't sound very nice, but I love left over pasta dishes, pizza and curries.

I've been eyeing the chargrilled chicken salad and was thinking about ordering it without nuts,seeds or dressing, but then I had a look at the childrens menu. It has a simple chargrilled chicken breast with a mixed salad. That's really what I want, but don't know if they'll let me order off the kids menu.

I love creme brulee too! But, I decided no dessert or alcohol.

I tend to get around these things by lying shamelessly, I'd phone them up before hand, tell them that I had a Serious Health Problem, I wouldn't be specific about what and say that I needed to eat off the kids menu. When they agree and they will agree because they will be too frightened that you will start to go into details about your Serious Health Problem, get the name of the person you speak to and tell the waiter that you have already had it agreed by them.

If they bring up the cover charge, tell them that your party is celebrating something and will be drinking lots of wine.

Remember that you have a massive advantage in a British restaurant, they will hear your accent they will expect you to tip like Rockafella and in comparison to their British customers you will be tipping like Rocafella, so they will bend over backwards for you.

Thanks Trudiha. I'm a terrible liar, but I'll give it a go. I'll call them now. I'm actually celebrating a friends 30th bday their tonight, so it won't be a complete lie... and boy can they drink!!!!!

Yay! I just called. They said it wouldn't be a problem for me to order off the kids menu : )

I only said that I was concerned about the menu and the only thing I could eat was the chicken salad off the kids menu. She said it was fine; no problem.

Thank you!

SHP - brilliant. Trudiha's suggestion about being a dog owner is also excellent. Eccentric but not certifiable can take you a long way here.

Stuck to plan and I'm down a pound!!

Good work!

What you can do is to eat super healthy and low calorie foods in the week and exercise hard and then consider your restaurant food as your cheat meal and have anything you want without worrying about the calories or fat content.

These ideas were pretty good. I went out for a meal today, and unfortunatley let myself go a bit, but instead I'm just gonna take it as a bad day and make up for it the rest of the week. I just think of eating out as if can eat healthy do, and if you can't don't worry about it