Eating out should be fun, but if you try to log meals, it can also feel a bit discouraging. Menus are long, nutritional information is not always clear and portions rarely resemble those at home. The good news: with a few smart strategies from expert dietitians, you can register restaurant meals with confidence, no stress required.
Below myfitnesspal -dietitists share their best tips to make following restaurant meals easier. Moreover, you will find ways to use myfitnesspal tools to simplify the process.
1. Check the menu before you go
“Tracking will be a piece of cake if your favorite restaurant is a chain with 20 or more locations, because they are legally obliged to offer calorie and nutrition information,” says Katherine Basbaum, RD. Even if nutrition information is not available, she proposes to check the “Sides” menu before you go. Options such as a salad, baked potato or steamed vegetables can be exchanged for richer components and make it easier to make logging.
Denise Hernandez, MS, RD, LD, also recommends staying with known dishes where possible. “Look for normal meals, such as spaghetti with meat sauce. This makes it more likely that you will find a match in the database. Meals that are not mixed dishes, such as salmon with rice and broccoli, are easier to log because each part is separated.”
2. Use visual instructions to estimate parts
Restaurant plates can be oversized, but you can still carefully log in by using your hands as a built -in portion guide. “Palm for proteins, fist for carbohydrates and two cupped hands for vegetables,” says Daisy Mercer, RD. She notes that this method works well because not all restaurants use standard plates.
If the portion is huge, Mercer recommends to delay, eat consciously and boxing the extra. When you sign up later, adjust the part to what you actually ate. “If you have eaten half of the potatoes, you can reflect that in your logbook,” she says.
About the experts
Daisy Mercer, RD, is a food data curator at MyfitnessPal. She graduated with her Bachelors of Food Science and Dietetics of the Colorado State University and completed her internship at the VA San Diego Healthcare System.
Denise Hernandez, RDis a food data curator at MyfitnessPal. Denise completed her master’s degree in food from the University of the Texas Woman. Her areas of attention include weight management of adults and children, nutrition of women and the management of chronic diseases.
Katherine Basbaum, MS, RD Is Food Data Curator at MyfitnessPal. She received her masters in Nutrition Communication from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University and completed her internship at UVA Health, where she also works as a nutrition advisor for patients with cardiology.
3. Make simple swaps while ordering
Ordering strategic ordering not only illuminates a meal, but also makes following easier. “Fresh and simple is the best choice,” says Katherine Basbaum, RD. “A baked potato or steamed rice is easier to log than scalloped potatoes or a soup based on creams.”
She recommends searching for menu terms such as steamed, roasted, baked, or broke down – These usually indicate less added fats and simpler preparation. On the other hand, words like creamy, fried, breaded, or buttery Signal a more calorie -rich meal than you may have planned.
Hidden extras can be mainly secretly. “Fish is often a fantastic choice, but if it is butter, it is richer than it seems,” Basbaum notes. When in doubt, ask how a dish is prepared so that you can log it more accurately.
4. Benefit from Logbook aids
Sometimes the biggest barrier for logging restaurant meals is the time needed. That is where MyfitnessPal tools can help.
“Meal scan is perhaps the easiest to use in a restaurant, because it is a fast photo,” says Mercer. You can use it to log in directly or save the photo as a reference if you prefer details later.
The barcode scanner is useful for bottle drinks, packaged sauces or grab-and-go-sides, while speech logging makes it easy to record your order in real time. If you are a habit, saving your favorite restaurant meal means that you only have to log them once. “It’s the same idea as creating and storing a favorite recipe in the app,” explains Basbaum. “It’s within reach for the next time.”
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5. Buffets and shared plates with flexibility act
Meals and buffets in family style can be difficult, but there are still ways to stay on course. Denise Hernandez, MS, RD, LD, recommends using the plate method for buffets: Fill half of your plate with vegetables, a quarter with protein and the last quarter with carbohydrates.
When logging you can make a custom meal with ingredients or choose a generic version in the database and adjust the section. MyfitnessPal -tools can make it even smoother. “Use meal scan to take a photo of your plate for an estimate, or try to say speech log registration by saying each item and saying an estimated portion,” Hernandez suggests.
ADD can quickly be a useful shortcut for meals with stated food fees. Enter the calorie and macro information directly for a more accurate logbook.
6. Don’t strive for perfection
Even the most seasoned trackers cannot register restaurant meals with 100% consistency – and that’s okay. “It is important to remember that we don’t have to be perfect to see results,” says Denise Hernandez, MS, RD, LD. “We generally do not eat out every day, so having a meal that is not precisely recorded, will not derail your journey.”
Out eating out is also about joy and connection. “The key is to balance the frequency of food with your goals,” adds Hernandez. By using the tips above, you get close enough for consistency. And consistency is more important than precision!
The Bottom Line
Restaurant meals do not have to throw your logging line. With a small planning, a few smart ordering choices and the help of the functions of MyfitnessPal, you can enjoy your meal and still feel good to stay on track. As Basbaum says it, starting with simple, fresh food and logging what you can in control, so that you can enjoy both your meal and your progress.
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