How do you cope with lack of nutritional Info???

Sorry if this is the wrong forum...(in advance)

 I eat out kind of often and have a lot of chefs in my family and family friend circle. At least twice a week I eat a gigantic dinner at a place where I truly cannot achieve nutritional information or have any idea of portioning, and I love food so I certainly can't refuse it (as well as this would be incredibly rude.)

I guess what I'm asking is, am I alone on this? What do you guys do in situations like this? Sometimes I just don't log on these evenings because every time I've attempted it's been extremely discouraging and probably hugely innaccurate as everything is a guess. I really don't know how much I'm eating or precisely what's in it and it's making things seem like I ruin so much of my progress and good eating habits I've exercised all week.

Obviously I skimp on dips and sauces as much as I can without being rude, and take the smallest dessert I can, etc... 

But On top of this, CC really doesn't have a lot of options to even choose things with similar ingredients....like how do I look up a chocolate custard cream puff cake? Lol, seriously though! 

How can you measure what you are eating in a restaurant or as a guest? Should we just not worry about it? What are your opinions? 

If you're only eating out occasionally on special occasions then it doesn't pay to worry.  But if you're eating out regularly then you have to have a set strategy and stick to it.  There's no practical way of counting the calories in a restaurant or when you're at a friend's house  so my personal strategy is as follows.

1.   Load up on as many vegetables as possible.  Simple vegetable soup or green salad for starters.  Vegetables with the main course.  Vegetables IN the main course.  Ask for veg to be cooked without butter and salads to be un-dressed. 

2.  Don't eat dessert at all.  It's not rude to refuse.  If you're at a friend's house you compliment them on the main course and say that you're too full for more.

3.  When it comes to meat/fish dishes try to judge a 4oz portion.  Leave the rest.  It's not rude to leave food on your plate

4.   Equally, judge a 4oz portion of cooked rice or pasta and again, leave the rest.  It's OK to not clear your plate.

5.   Alternate a couple of bites of food with a sip or two of water.  This slows down the eating process and means you feel fuller, quicker. Don't touch alcohol because it boosts your appetite and weakens your resolve at the same time.

6.  Tell friends in advance that you're trying to lose weight.  That way they can think of a lighter menu and they won't be offended if you don't eat everything.

I estimate from my knowledge of food.

From measuring regularly, I can eyeball a portion.

From cooking regularly, I know what ingredients are generally used and can estimate from cookbooks that do supply nutritional info.

Is it accurate? Of course not, but I feel it's better than not having an estimate at all.

At some restaurants, you can get nutritional info online. I try to look online prior to eating in the restaurant so I can know what the best choices will be. You can't always tell. The salad may have worse nutrition than the chicken fingers.

Maybe I should clarify a lil':

I'm from Ann Arbor Michigan(incase any of you know about the place...) it's known for it's wide variety of hole-in-wall delicious ethnic food places, so no chain restaurants. And for further clarification, on of the family friend chefs I was speaking of that Ivisit at least weekly is most often my boyfriends Chilean family. I couldn't ask to change ingredients, as that would be rude unfortunately!

I think I was looking for help with maybe...visualizing? Like for instance---what does 4oz of rice look like? Or meat? Is all meat similar weight? I eat a lotta fish...is that totally different ball game here? Any tips/ advice really would be nice, as I see maybe it IS infact better to log something other than nothing as this is a few times a week.

Oh and thanks for the veggie tip gijane ...we usually do d'oevres so I try to take my picking! And the alcohol thing, I had no idea. very useful, indeed, as it is somewhat a tradition to shower me with fancy beers and pisco sours

 

 I assume restaurant food is fried when I log it - I'd rather overestimate than underestimate calories (specially since I'm almost always a bit over my recommended calorie count). I'd say 4oz of fish is a bit bigger than the palm of your hand, and 1cm thick. For rice, try cooking a single portion of 4oz, dish it up onto a plate, and then try to remember its size. My estimates are usually optimistic, so I add an oz or so to what I think I ate.

Judging food starts with weighing it...  Weigh out 4oz of cooked rice and see what it looks like.  Then try 'eye-balling' 4oz of cooked rice the next day and checking how close you got.  It's all down to practice. 

I have Czech friends whose national dishes seem to involve a lot of deep-fried cheese and dumplings.   With your Chilean friends just ask for a smaller helping and don't feel you have to clear your plate.  I think it's more offensive to push food on people that don't want it than to refuse food you don't want.

You could always try limiting your trips to the delicious ethnic food places to once a month rather than every week.  When you want to be slimmer & healthier, sometimes you have to accept that certain things are 'nice' but essentially a bad habit.  Whether it's delicious or not, we have to cut back if we want to lose the flab!

haha...yeh, well, I know so and I have really cut back, believe it or not! Being a college student when the parents come to visit and wanna check out the restaurants is what makes me feel bad I guess : /

maybe try to stick to like...mediteranean??? I danno...I try to keep italian out for sure though! I always end up ucky after that...

It all comes down to motivation.    Free meal with parents or.... something slightly less butt-expanding cooked at home?   I think the WW motto is 'nothing tastes as good as slim feels' :-)  

my great grandmother always had a magnet on her fridge that said just that in German! I always thought it was so cute, and true... thanks for your input I appreciate it so much!

You are corresponding with a former eat-out junkie :-) I understand too well the lure of exciting ethnic food living in a part of London particularly well-served by good international restaurants.   My solution was to (literally) shred all the menus, get out the cook-books and try to recreate some of my old favourites in the comfort of my own kitchen.  I didn't dine out for about 6 months....   When I finally went back to one of my old haunts, 50lbs lighter, and ordered 'the usual' I couldn't believe how greasy and revolting it really was.  

Your german  great grandmother was  a smart lady.  Keep smiling.  I'm sure you'll find your own solution.

I love all the good advice - I would also make it clear that you're on a journey to a healthier life.  If would either find the closest item in the CC Food Database or balance out the day with lower-calorie, high-fiber choices.  I really love the idea of re-creating healthier versions of faves.  When our loved ones know we are working toward a goal, most will try to help.  Just ignore the ones who don't.  Also, small portions can help a whole, whole lot.

I do a lot of guestimating.  I search the data base for similar foods and usually pick the ones with the worse grades or highest calories.  I guess its better to over than under estimate.

Guess, guess, and guess some more... and try to keep your portions small if you think it might be something high-calorie.

If I can't find something on here sometimes I will try to look it up at www.thedailyplate.com sometimes they have dishes that this site doesn't.

 I also try to breakdown the meals into ingredients and log them separately if I can figure out what was in it.

It is all guess work and estimating, but it keeps you making better choices, and thinking about how big portions are and what you are eating.

At your friends that are chefs houses , If you can get away with it, try using a smaller plate than the big dinner plates. It will keep the portion sizes in check, and still look like you have a full plate of food. If they have salad or vegetable dishes fill up on those first and don't feel you have to finish the servings of higher calorie foods, just eat half or so and say your full even if your not.

I've done this:

When at a restaurant, immediately cut your food right down the middle and only eat one of the halves.  Take the other half home for later (or for someone else).

A serving of meat should be the size of a deck of card (believe it or not) and starches should be about 1/2 cup (enough to fill your cupped hand).  Veggie portions can be large as long as they aren't cooked with oil or butter. 

Dessert: go for the fuits and have a cup of tea

On Oprah, a chef said that they use so much butter, almost a whole stick per plate.  So, I avoid eating out - but life happens and you do need to live so you just have to make smart choices.