Let me preface this by saying I'm extremely Type A, very detailed-oriented, and a complete perfectionist.
I've been counting calories, and this works really well when I know the exact quantity of everything I eat. But DH and I go out to restaurants often, and this is not something that I want/plan to change. I am *finally* learning how to make good decisions at restaurants, and I enjoy dining out.
But for many of the restaurants we frequent, no nutritional information is available. (And I have searched high and low!)
When I can't find a calorie count, I get frustrated, proclaim that calorie counting is not for me, and am just generally annoyed.
On the plus side, I have finally learned NOT to turn one of these "uncountable" meals into permission to eat whatever I'd like for the rest of the day.
It's impossible to know the exact calorie content of the food you eat. Even if you know an apple is 80 calories, what if you eat a great big apple, or a teeny tiny apple?
Ideally, I would prefer to know the exact calorie count of every single thing that I eat. I have accepted this is not possible and obsessing over it would make me a crazy person. I accept that all my diligent calorie counting is at best an estimate (+/- at least 100) each day.
Relaxing a little and accepting calorie counting as an estimate worked for me. My goal was to eat 1400-1600 calories a day while I was losing weight. I tracked everything I ate (even if I didn't know the exact calorie count, it was still recorded and I was accountable for it) and gave my personal best estimate (if I can't find lasagna at Olive Garden, what is a serving of lasagna at Macaroni Grill?).
Even estimating calories, I still lost weight. Even without knowing the exact calorie counts of everything I eat, I still have maintained my weight loss for over 2 years. Like you, one of my biggest lessons learned was not letting an "offplan" meal turn into an "offplan" day. I get right back on track at the next meal.
If calorie counting makes you unhappy and discouraged, maybe it's not for you. For me, the key was finding something sustainable (weight loss + maintenance = rest of my life) so it had to be something that I could stick with.
Hi Poppins3,
I've had the same feelings about restaurants! It's so annoying. Wouldn't it be nice if nutritional information was on each menu? Ok, back to reality.
I like to think about what I want at a restaurant and then google to get something equivalent. I know this method is FAR from perfect, but it gives me an idea and helps me plan ahead. Often when I don't have access to a computer because I'm traveling or it's a busy weekend, I just work on eating only when hungry and then until just satisfied. If I don't get overly full on the weekends, I usually consider it a success. That method is even less precise, but it's worked for me.
There is help.......for restauraunt meals go to www.calorie-count.com for info online. , I also have book I carry in my purse, you can order it online and I have seen it at Curves and my HMO pharmacy, Kaiser.www.calorieking.com
they both have hundreds of restaurants and fast food places listed.
I feel your pain poppin. My DH and I eat out often and I also enjoy it very much. At first it made me really paranoid about the calorie count. But I learned to guesstimate. I go on fitday and find something comparable and at least I can get a feel of the calorie count for what I'm eating. That's pretty much all you can do.
I am in this for life so I need to learn to eat right in any situation. If I tend to over do it at a restaurant, I try to make it up the rest of the week.
poppin - I just make my best guess. If nothing else, that makes me really LOOK at the food on my plate instead of just shoveling it in. Was that a 3 x 3 piece of lasagne or a 4 x 4 etc. If I can find it at a "similar" restaurant I use that, otherwise I estimate the ingredients and add more oil because restaurants are always higher than I think they would be.
I have found a lot of resturaunts that actually put their nutritional information on their web sites. Applebee's, TGI Fridays, and Olive Garden all have lower caloried meals, as do a few others. It has come in extremely handy for me.
I completely understand where you are coming from. I can't do it without help, so I use FitDay PC. I splurged and bought the program because my satellite internet is just too slow to wait on pages to load, especially when entering food info.
Anyway, this program has helped me keep better track of my calorie intake as well as fat, carbs, protiens, and vitamins etc...
As far as eating out goes, I usually keep a list of what I eat, then come home and do a google search for the items or ingredients. I guesstimate if I don't know. But generally I can find it when I search. There is always someone out there that has counted the calories.
If a restaurant doesn't give the count, then I would ask them how they cook their food and in what brand of oils, margarines or butter etc. That is the clincher. Because that is what we don't see in the foods we eat at restaurants.
I got some food from Boston Market one time here recently and was surprised at the sheet the woman showed me on their nutrition. It was great and helped me order. But when I got home and actually ate it, I was so skeptical. The food tasted much greasier than I imagined. Albeit the turkey and gravy was great, the dill potatoes tasted very oily. So I am not so sure I believe their "low fat" label on that, so I will avoid it in the future.
Another trick I use, if I am not sure the calorie content, is to only take a small handful serving, and pile up on other stuff that I know is lower in calorie. That way I don't go hungry, but still get all the good eats. KWIM?
I hope this helps you. I have been on this diet or new way of eating for about 3 and a half weeks now and have lost 11 pounds. My calorie intake is set to 1750 and my fat at about 50 grams per day. It is working great for me so far! And I don't exercise! Except chasing two kids around.
Let me preface this by saying I'm extremely Type A, very detailed-oriented, and a complete perfectionist.
I've been counting calories, and this works really well when I know the exact quantity of everything I eat. But DH and I go out to restaurants often, and this is not something that I want/plan to change. I am *finally* learning how to make good decisions at restaurants, and I enjoy dining out.
But for many of the restaurants we frequent, no nutritional information is available. (And I have searched high and low!)
When I can't find a calorie count, I get frustrated, proclaim that calorie counting is not for me, and am just generally annoyed.
On the plus side, I have finally learned NOT to turn one of these "uncountable" meals into permission to eat whatever I'd like for the rest of the day.
Is that the best I can hope for?
Does anyone else experience similar frustration?
I too am Type A lol and I get very frustrated by this. I swore I would never eat at Fuddruckers ( who has a killer veggie burger) again because they HIDE their nutritional values. Seriously.. if they dont have their content listed, I will not eat there if its a casual run of the mill restaurant. Now my favorites.. that I only eat at ONCE in a while, I almost dont really want to know the cal contents because I dont want it to be ruined... good thing they are a sushi resturant and a seafood restaurant chain that I used to work for so Im pretty knowledgeable about what is in the food. I just wanted to say that I SOOO feel your pain. I am the girl that will make a receipe from scratch calculate the whole meal calories split it into equal portions and then divide. My fiancee who ALSO counts calories * because he is bodybuilding and never eats enough* finds me very efficient lol
I have this problem as well. Most of the restaurants my husband and I dine at are not chain restaurants, so there's no way of knowing the exact calorie count. Since I plan on continuing to go out to eat, I've made some adjustments:
1) I zigzag calories so that I have a good amount of calories for when I go out. Believe it or not, some of my restaurant meals can be 2000-2500 calories (I'm embarrassed to type that, but it's true). The reason for this is the richness of the dishes (lobster bisque, fish in butter sauces, risotto, wine, and, of course, dessert). On the day I go out to eat, I eat very little during the day and save most of my calories for dinner.
2) I cut out where I can in the meal without sacrificing the experience/pleasure of the meal. For instance, unless the bread is really good, I don't eat it. Also, I try to nurse my wine so that I have one (definitely no more than two) glasses. If I have a fattening appetizer, I might cut something from my entree (e.g., mashed potatoes). In other words, I make some painless choices.
3) As some others here have noted, I just estimate calories. Even though I don't frequent chain restaurants, I'll usually use their calorie counts to find something comparable to what I've eaten. Sometimes, I'll find the calories for a comparable dish at a few (2-3) different restaurants, and I'll use the one with the highest calories.
So frustrated when I can't count!
