You know when you go out to eat at local non-chain places, and they don't have the nutritional information because they're not required to have it? How do you know roughly how many calories you're eating? Is there a way to estimate it?

Try to find comparable items from similar restaurants?

I usually break the meal down into different ingredients and try to guesstimate the sizes. Then I put all this into myfitnesspal and err on the side of more.

If a dish is pretty easily found in their library of foods, like a cheese quesadilla, I'll put that in as my dinner and look for one that's on the fattier side of the options to make sure I'm not underestimating my calories. Or sometimes if I can compare my quesadilla to the types eaten at other listed places then I add the known place's quesadilla into my meal on MFP.

If it's a complicated dish like chicken with blah blah blah, then I'll add the ingredients separately. Like, 3 oz of chicken plus 2 tbsp of sundried tomato sauce plus 2 red potatoes, etc.

This isn't entirely accurate, but it's the best you can do.

I try to find something comparable at another restaurant but always tend to round way up.

Restaurants add so much garbage to their food, I almost try not to go out any more so I can control the ingredients.

Did you hear the story about IHOP adding pancake batter into their omelets? Diabetics were having awful sugar reactions when they thought they were eating plain egg omelets. IHOP thought it would be nice to have fluffy omelets. Lucky no one died from sugar shock!

Also, the thought of restaurants adding butter and salt to everything turns my stomach literally.

Sorry to go off topic, restaurants just have made me nuts lately! They pretend their food is healthy and most of it is far from it!

Yeah I usually just add up ingredients or choose something comparable from a deferent restaurant. I basically get the same thing wherever I go (chicken or fish- plain or in a salad without dressing) so it's getting easier to guesstimate. The hardest part is being able to eyeball the portions- how many oz or whatever.

Sometimes the server knows exactly how big the portion is- usually I just have to guess

I miss local pizza places..I really do..

And restaurants (even the chains) are just awful at nutrition info and portion sizing..Yesterday I ordered Applebee's under 550 and when my chicken came out, it was huge!! No one could possibly say my meal was under 550 calories.

I use MFP and find something that sounds the same, but pick one of the higher calorie counts. I'd rather overestimate than underestimate!

It might not work for most but I side for caution and plan going out so that I can easy lightly all day or only have a light snack for lunch instead of a full meal so that I will have more calories for dinner. Then I try to not go over board with my choice for dinner.

I do the same Thinforme -- when I know I will be eating out, I will either fast that day or eat very lightly so I can budget a large chunk of calories (even if I overestimate).

For those times when I can't anticipate whether I'm going out (last minute invitation, change of plans etc) I try to pick very simple things on the menu that I can estimate fairly accurately -- salad with dressing on the side, baked potato, steamed veggies, etc.

I break the meal down into parts and either mark down each individually or make a recipe on livestrong. It always feels like I'm underestimating though...

Re: IHOP yes I heard about the flour in the omelets, bad for diabetics, the way we found out is my DIL can eat no wheat, she learned the hard way. When we go out to eat she asks the waiter/waitress to ask the chef what is in it, it has worked so far.
When you don't know the calories for sure , try and find a comparable food and go by that.