Let’s talk just a bit about restaurant calories and macronutrients. Theoretically, you should be able to eat at a restaurant and use their menus to determine the number of calories and corresponding macronutrients in each food. But unfortunately, unless a restaurant uses measurements before serving your food, the probability of its menu’s nutritional information being incorrect is going to be high.
For example, have you ever eaten Chipotle? When you order guacamole, or even rice for that matter, the size of the scoop you get and therefore the number of calories you’re going to end up eating, is going to depend on who serves you. It’s going to be the same with any other restaurant, too.
Even restaurants like McDonalds and Chick-fila can’t be sure their employees are serving a consistent standard size of food. Almost everyone gets “bagglers”, or the fries that are “extra” in the bag.
And if you eat at Five Guys, forget about it. Don’t even try to count calories. I think they give you more french fries in your bag than they give you in your carton.
The bottom line with restaurants is it’s best to leave them alone while you’re on your journey. Even now, I sparingly eat at restaurants. When I do I plan for this. I usually eat two high-protein low-calorie full meals during the day that gives me about 1000 calories and 60 grams of protein. Then, I enjoy myself at the restaurant by eating my main meal but try to avoid table treats like chips and salsa, bread, and other appetizers that can easily make a meal add up to over 2,000 calories.
When you’re on a weight loss journey, I suggest no more than one restaurant meal per week. My go to restaurant meal is fried catfish with french-fries, because, well, I’m human. But I eat this at most, once per week.
If I must eat at restaurants while traveling, I only eat grilled chicken salads and I always ask for the lowest calorie version of dressings. Otherwise, I pick up groceries from the local Walmart and cook meals in my hotel room. But this is a lifestyle program, so eventually you’ll find what works for you. It may be fasting during the day just so you can have a large restaurant meal at night. It may be something else. Once you figure out what works for you, you’ll have the flexibility to do what works for your lifestyle, as long as you are aware of how it affects your maintenance numbers.
