[Jennifer 3FC]

I was checking out the 2013 updated points for restaurants at Restaurant Points, and I'm always surprised.

I discovered that the Panera Bread Med Veggie Sandwich has 15 points! I would have expected it to be much lower, assuming most of the points would be in the bread. I honestly would have guessed about 8-9 points!

I'm sure glad we don't have a Macaroni Grill around here. It's frightful! I just eyeballed what I ate when on vacation last year, and I think I dropped about 70 points in one meal!!

What are your restaurant bombshells?

[lsrlosing]

Anything I ever want in a restaurant (even when I think its healthy) blows my points right out of the water so I try to steer clear of them or only eat half which is still usually too high in points for me.

[gooch100]

DH and I were just talking about this at lunch.

We were out and trying to figure what we wanted to eat. We decided to head back home to find something in our own fridge since we couldn't think of anyplace that was worth the points.

We are still struggling with eating out. But when we do, we package up 1/2 before we even start.

[Tudor Rose]

Restaurant sandwiches and burgers (and fries!) are sooooo good but always sooooo high in points. I don't really eat sandwiches at home so that's usually what I want when I go out and it's tricky.

That's a very helpful website, I'm going to have to remember it. I also noticed that the WW app has added more restaurants or updated older restaurants with more foods. Very handy.

[Koshka]

I had the quesadilla explosion salad at Chili's some years ago and was totally shocked. Let's see...yeah....37 points!!!!!

[Dixiemom]

It is crazy! We do not go out to often, but when we do I plan ahead. I try to pick what I will have before and look up the points. That way I am in control vs. just ordering and checking the points later.

[SoMuchFattitude]

Mexican Food - I just stay away now.

[kireos]

When I first joined WW, I was shocked looking through the restuarant guide and seeing my usual favorites were easily over 40-80pts! Yikes! Thankfully, I live in a small town with only a few restuarant options. I now have a plan for what to order at each restuarant with low points and always plan my eating out ahead of time to make sure I save points. Its not easy, but it works for me and keeps me on track!

[jerazeit]

I've found that the best bang for my proverbial buck is either Chipotle or Moe's. Both are burrito places, and both have salad options. I tend to go to Moe's, get a taco salad sans shell with all the grilled veggies, black beans, and tofu. I skip the dressing and use their salsa bar. It's around 10 points. I can add guacamole and come out at about 13 points.

[JuvenileNarcissist]

The thing that surprised me the most was the Outback lamb chops. 33 points for just the lamb. I imagine that includes if you eat all the fat on them too, but still, holy crap, it's not that much food. I don't have too much trouble going out. My boyfriend and I have a few places that we frequent pretty regularly. One of them is Smokey Bones (a barbeque joint). I usually order pulled pork, and I only ever eat half of it. That's 6 points. And I get broccoli with no butter and usually a loaded baked potato, and only eat half. That's 8 I think. So 14 points for total deliciousness is pretty good in my book. And speaking of Panera, their larger mac and cheese is 27 points. Ouch.