New to WW - Need help with points
 

Does any one have points value for Chicken Masala from an Indian Restaraunt? I've guestimated all ingredients and have come up with the following:

7 pts for 1/2 cup sauce (too yummy!)
6 pts for 2 pieces garlic naan (would this count as garlic bread?)
8 pts for 4 pcs chicken w/mint (clay pot) estimated 4 oz

Ow - if this is right I've gone through a few weekly points here!

Naan is 5 points per piece.Not sure about the others.

I don't know about those specific points but a couple of general comments about restaurants that may be helpful:

1. Where possible go to restaurants that publish nutritional info. If you can't then try to eat as plain as possible -- easier to count.
2. Go to a place like livestrong and put in a search for the food you are curious about and see what turns up for what other restaurants have. This isn't foolproof but can help. Also fatsecret and other calorie recording sites.
3. I believe that studies have shown that even for restaurants that publish nutritional info the actual can be much higher. I think it averaged maybe 20% higher. The point being estimate high.
4. If I go to a regular restaurant that has nutritional info and I really watch what I eat most meals are between 15 and 20 points. If I don't watch it that carefully but don't have an appetizer or dessert then points tend to be between 20 and 29 points.

I am Indian and do not go to Indian Resturants as they use whipped cream and lot of oil in all their curries.
If you like Indian food cook it at home, that will be much more healthy.

Originally Posted by Koshka:
I don't know about those specific points but a couple of general comments about restaurants that may be helpful:

1. Where possible go to restaurants that publish nutritional info. If you can't then try to eat as plain as possible -- easier to count.
2. Go to a place like livestrong and put in a search for the food you are curious about and see what turns up for what other restaurants have. This isn't foolproof but can help. Also fatsecret and other calorie recording sites.
3. I believe that studies have shown that even for restaurants that publish nutritional info the actual can be much higher. I think it averaged maybe 20% higher. The point being estimate high.
4. If I go to a regular restaurant that has nutritional info and I really watch what I eat most meals are between 15 and 20 points. If I don't watch it that carefully but don't have an appetizer or dessert then points tend to be between 20 and 29 points.

Wow! What restaurants are you going to? I usually make sure my meal is under 20 points if I want to use weeklies for it and until 10 points if I do.

We frequent a local Chinese restuarant often, Subway, Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees, a local sports bar and grill, Olive Garden, Pizza Hut, etc.

Ouch! I guess it was more like 30 pts???

Thank you all for answering. I'd better learn how to cook indian food at home!

Originally Posted by MrsD2008:
We frequent a local Chinese restuarant often, Subway, Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees, a local sports bar and grill, Olive Garden, Pizza Hut, etc.

I just went to Ruby Tuesday's last week for the first time in years and was pleasantly surprised with how awesome their menu is. Specifically the Fit & Trim items. Oh! And they had a lot of vegetarian options, too, which was nice for me. I was able to get a super yummy meal for around 10 pts

Originally Posted by MrsD2008:
Wow! What restaurants are you going to? I usually make sure my meal is under 20 points if I want to use weeklies for it and until 10 points if I do.

We frequent a local Chinese restuarant often, Subway, Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees, a local sports bar and grill, Olive Garden, Pizza Hut, etc.

I go to a variety of restaurants but only eat out usually once a week so I don't try to have it be the lowest points it could be.

I ate at Panera this week - 15 points. Red Lobster for a birthday celebration was 20 points. Chili's is usually 20 points but can be 25 if I eat more. The breakfast buffet is usually 20. Just depends on what I want to eat. I typically use about 15-20 weekly points each week and use most of them the day we eat out.

I lost a pound this week... Amazing - after the 50 pt Indian meal and eating leftovers for 2 days I thought I'd lose 0 or gain 1.

Thank you for the GREAT idea about using weekly points for eating out, AND for which restaurants to eat at. I AM going to lose this weight and KEEP IT OFF this time!

Is there a guide on 3fatchicks (or anywhere else) to Restaurants and points for their meals?

For Restaurants one of the most comprehensive lists I've seen is at dwlz.com

http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html

It's a little crowded and you have to scroll down a little, but it's still a lot of good information.

I find that I estimate points a lot too so I try not to use all my weekly points. In the weeks where I have a couple of heavier meals I also increase my typical hour long walks by about 15-20 minutes and that seems to keep me on track so to speak. So don't forget you can earn activity points. I have rarely had to use them for food.