I don't eat out very much, but over the last 3 weeks, I've been out of town twice, and I'm going out of town this weekend again. My experiences have made me think about how it is really possible to eat delicious, yet healthier restaurant meals.

I went to a restaurant called Stir-Crazy last night. I guess it's kind of like Mongolian BBQ, b/c you can order off the menu or pick protein/veggies and then have them stir-fry it up for you. I watched as the guy started to do my stir fry. He poured some oil in the wok, and it looked like there was at least 1/3 cup of oil in there for my one meal! I stared at it for a while, and thought, well, it's not that bad-- just one meal, but then I decided to speak up. I asked if he could make it with less oil. To my surprise, he poured ALL of the oil out of the wok, and started my stir-fry. It tasted great, and it was made like I would have made it at home.

I felt so much better about my food, and I was able to eat so much more shrimp, veggies, teriyaki sauce, and rice without wasting all those calories on unnecessary oil!

I've had some other good meals:
Last weekend, lunch was a broiled fish sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions and fruit on the side.
Dinner was broiled trout with green beans and a salad.
They were both delicious!

It depends. Do I get to pick the restaurant or am I with other people and have to compromise? I can almost always get something "healthier" than the standard restaurant offering, but it's probably never as low fat/low cal as what I make at home. I try very very hard to use the internet to figure out my order BEFORE I get there, so I'm not tempted (I don't even want to open my menu). I try very very hard to avoid munchies (chips, bread basket, fried appetizers ordered by my dinner companions). I try to box up half my meal right away (because restaurant portions are really freaking big). I looove dessert but will only split with a friend.

Good strategies, Glory! I've got a list of places that I can go to and pretty much know what I'll order at them--and that's how I do it. I try to calculate as I go--having been doing this for awhile, I'm pretty good at estimating portions, and if I haven't looked foods up ahead of time, at least I can put something in my tracker later.

But I'm horrified by some of the calorie counts in most restaurant food!

Jay

Avoid cream sauces ,cream soups, gravy, fried food and desserts.with salads order dressing on the side.

Even with a fairly nutritious meal the size makes them have too many calories. I also ask for a container and put half away before I start. Or, if offered, I order an appetizer size or even lunch size of the same thing and it's always plenty big enough.

Another thing I do is ask for no potato, rice, etc. but instead two servings of veggies.

It's a challenge but eating fairly well in restaurants can be done.

I just wanted to mention that I ALWAYS get a potatoe when I eat out. It's considered a veggie on my diet...not a starch so I get to each them whenever I want. I have these meals that aren't frozen that I get to eat and I usually take the Beef Stew one and ask the waiter to put it in the microwave for 1 min and serve it with my potatoe (plain, of course) and they ALWAYS do. Then I get a salad bar....(but I bring my own fat free dressing). I've never had trouble with my waiters/waitresses heating up my entree for me...they're always VERY intrigued.

I get stuck in a restaurant rut. I find places that I KNOW has things I'll eat, places I'm comfortable with, places where I already know the nutrition, and then I loathe change. LOL But I was going with a friend to lunch today and to a place we'd neither one been too. Maybe it was fate but they had a line out the door, so we ended up next door at Subway where I got a ham and veggie wrap.

But I generally stick with Applebees most times. Other times I do Ruby Tuesday or Bob Evans or Shoneys. Rubys and Shoneys for the salad bars. At Bob Evans, I can get a side salad for a veggie with light dressing on the side and grilled chicken or salmon...I just tell them to leave everything off and just throw it on the grill. And they have fresh fruit...makes a great low cal dessert. And Applebees simply makes it too easy with the WW menu. The portions are more in tune with the right size meal and the nutrition info is all there.

Just like my restaurants, I generally stick with the same meals when I go out. I have just 3 I choose from at Applebees, and 3 at Bob Evans. So I already have them entered into my Fiday and know the amount of calories I'll consume before I even order.

P. F. Chang's is great too, Almost Heaven, they have all their nutritional info online. They have a few very tasty, healthy options - scallops, brown rice, sauteed spinach, steamed vegetables with tofu. I also like sushi places, salmon sashimi with some seaweed salad, miso soup and hot tea is one of my favorite lunches. I also like the grilled salmon at Outback (broccoli, steamed vegetables and no butter on the salmon).

Great job asking for less oil at the Stir Crazy! I wonder if they'd do that at Mongolian Barbeque??


I find the most challenges in "ethnic"dining -- Korean, Indian, Vietnamese...

Some places have very healthy foods, others not so much. Sometimes the waitstaff at some of the places I go speak little or no English, so it's hard to find out what's in the food and have it special made...

I try to play it safe my first visit, but it can be hard. My first visit to our local Korean tofu restaurant I thought would be a breeze. Tofu! Healthy! I managed to order the only fried tofu dish on the menu!

I've since researched the kind of soup they serve there -- their speciality -- and have a sense, at least, of what's in it, how its cooked, etc. Same for the soup at the Vietnamese place I like.

I am doing this for life and won't give up trying new and different foods. But that doesn't mean that anything goes when I set foot in the door. I try to order seafood or chicken. Soups are often a good option (very few cream soups, and not too much oil in some of the cuisines)... and many places are a full meal. I try to avoid the white rice and appetizers... or the first time might order only an appetizer. I also will also often eat something beforehand so I'm not too hungry, especially if I'm not sure of the menu.

I'm not very good at boxing up half my meal (something to work on I suppose)...

Sushi! That's one of the "ethnic" cuisines I don't have much trouble with. A little miso soup, some sushi... maybe a few edamame... yum!

Yes, yes, there's white rice, but I forgive it because it's sushi!

Eating out is one of my biggest fears when first started the weight-loss, but now I've learned to make generally healthful choices. In places where I can plan, I do (e.g. lots of restaurant researching). And in cases where I can't, I try to make the most healthful choices possible (extra veggies instead of the starch, sauces on the side, etc.)

And of course, once in a great while I will allow myself to enjoy a no-bars hold gourmet meal (a few months ago, I remember a 9-course dinner with wine pairing... I'm definitely sure that's more than a pound right there -- but it was definitely worth every one of those 3,500+ calories, not to mention every saved penny for the occasion).

NINE course meal??!!!

I'm kind of surprised because TECHNICALLY thats in violation of most states health codes --thats cool they do it for you though.

Never heard of Changs so had to go look it up, they're not in this state. I love the Outback too, but I usually avoid it because I have a hard time not ordering a blooming onion. I forgot though that I have also started going to Olive Garden a few times. Their lunch portion of the linguine marinara is under 400 cals.

My SIL has celiac disease so she can't have any gluten in her meals, but she still loves to eat at restaurants. She bought this cealic's dining guide that includes little cards for each major cusine you come across in america, and each card has basic instructions for a chef and a list of ingredients she can't eat written in a few different languages. For example, the chinese food card has instructions written in engish, chinese, and spanish. The likely languages of whoever is cooking. So she give the card to the waitstaff, they take it to the kitchen, and the chef can say whether he can accomdate her or not (most can).

Why aren't there cards like this for low fat or low carb folks? My local thai place makes the best curry in the world, but I have yet to be able to successfully communicate to the chef that I'd like him to use less oil. And I've really tried, but my thai is as good as his english (we can basically say "hi" to each other and that's it).

Maybe these already exist and I don't know it...or it's a market waiting to be cornered!