Don't be afraid to eat out. Just track it!
One of the greatest challenges to someone trying to lose weight is eating out at restaurants. A calorie counter can make this a little easier by providing a comprehensive database of food that you can use to try and find the calorie content of the meals offered when you are eating at a restaurant. This can prove helpful when making a choice, but since there are differences in the way every cook prepares a meal, there will be some variation in the nutrient makeup of the dish. If you can’t avoid eating out while you are trying to lose weight, there are some things that you can do to reduce the calorie load of the meals at restaurants.
You can reduce the amount of calories that you are entering into your calorie tracker by reducing the portion size that you consume. Many restaurants serve two and three times a standard portion in a single meal, which is part of the reason that restaurant foods are so heavy on the calories. You can reduce what you eat by splitting a meal with a friend or by asking for a to-go container with your meal and immediately putting away a third to one half of the portion offered to you. Not only do you consume fewer calories this way, but you also have leftovers for another meal.
Another strategy is to use the food database to find healthier options. You can look up the restaurant and see if the menu is available in the database and use that to choose meals with lower calorie content. If the menu is not available, you can find approximations to get an idea of what the calorie content might be. Things like clear soups are usually good to start with instead of creamy soups, and salads with little or no dressing can do a good job of filling you up as well.
Your food diary can do a lot to help you stay on track when you eat at restaurants, but ultimately it’s probably best to eat at home whenever possible. This avoids a whole lot of confusion and decision making on your part, and a lot of meals can be made much more reasonably at home than they are sold for in a restaurant.
Weight Loss Plateaus and Your Food Tracker
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An Exercise Tracker Works To Keep Your Weight Loss on Track
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It’s important to have strategies in place to deal with the challenges that you may face when you are trying to successfully stick to a reduced calorie diet.
