Practical Tips: How to Cut Calories When Eating Out

"I often eat out because of my busy schedule, but I find it hard to control my calorie intake when dining away from home. The portions are usually large, and the food is often richer than what I prepare at home. I'm looking for practical tips to enjoy eating out without sabotaging my diet."

Eating out is a great experience as it offers relief from cooking, and at the same time, you get the chance to sample other foods. However, there is a possibility of consuming a lot of calories when trying out new foods, as restaurant food tends to be higher in fat, sugar, and salt. The main issue of people here is, therefore, how to reduce calories during eating out without compromising taste or pleasure.

Luckily, there are some simple tricks that you can use to decrease the number of calories, including going through the menu and customizing your meal. In the following article, we have identified the best tips and approaches to consider for maintaining calorie intake when dining out. After using these practical tips and strategies, you can eat anything, anywhere, without any worry.

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Part 1. Think Before You Order: Planning Tips for Eating Out

In case you are exploring how to cut calories when eating out, these tips will make it easier to balance your diet:

• Set a Meal Strategy: Always decide on your meal strategy in advance to be mindful of your meals. For example, you can pass on an appetizer or share a meal to help you organize your meal without making difficult choices.
• Restaurant Filters: When you are browsing restaurants, apply online filters such as healthy food, low calories, or vegetarian. With these filters, you can quickly scan through your health-conscious restaurants.
• Review Menus in Advance: Before choosing a restaurant, take time to review the menu thoroughly, as some of them have nutritional values mentioned. Scanning the options beforehand can help you avoid impulsive ordering and pick healthier food.

Part 2. Decoding the Menu Language for Cutting Calories

Menus can be tricky while learning how to cut calories when eating out, so let's explore how to decode the menu through the given guide:

Avoiding Red-Flag Words

On some menus, most dishes sound delicious, but they often have hidden calories, so we have listed down words you should avoid:

• Smothered or Loaded: These terms are usually used to describe that the food is loaded with cheese or heavy toppings, e.g., cheesy nachos and loaded fries.
• Creamy or Rich: It is a clear indication that the food contains excessive cream or butter, which is mostly in pasta, soups, or mashed potatoes with cream.
• Stuffed or Filled: As the name implies, these restaurants are filled with cheese or sugar fillers that are usually stuffed in pastries, stuffed chicken, or filled donuts.
• Fried or Crispy: This type of food shows that the food is cooked in excessive oil and is often associated with dishes like "fried chicken" or "crispy appetizers."

Looking for Healthier Clues

When we talk about how to cut calories when eating out, spotting these healthy clues can make a whole difference:

• Grilled or Roasted: These types of words clearly show cooked with less oil, yet have yummy flavors, such as "Grilled Chicken or Roasted Potatoes."
• Steamed or Boiled: The dishes are created with water-based cooking while saving their nutritional value, often used with "Meat, Vegetables, or Fish."
• Fresh or Seasonal: As the name indicates, the ingredients are not cooked or processed, typically found in salads as sides, accompanied by fruits and vegetables.
• Whole Grain or Brown Rice: These refer to dishes that consist of high fiber and more nutrients in comparison to other dishes, such as "Bread, Pasta, or Rice."
• No Added Sugar: This type of meal doesn't have extra sugar and allows you to adjust the number of calories to maintain your dietary needs.

Part 3. Controlling Portions to Cut Calories When Eating Out

In the process of knowing how to cut calories when eating out, let's go through how you can balance your portion size while dining out:

Splitting Entrees

One of the easiest ways to manage calories while eating out is to split your food with someone else. Most restaurants offer large portion sizes of meals, which are more than enough for an individual's appetite.

Box Your Meal

When you are in the restaurant, you should request a takeaway box as soon as the meal is served and divide it into two. By doing so, you eliminate excess food, allowing you to eat a little bit of food and easily stick to your calorie count.

Avoid Eating at Buffets

Most people like to eat in buffets as they appear to be a good bargain with a wide range of dishes at reduced prices. The all-you-can-eat attracts individuals, and they begin to fill their plates without counting calories.

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Part 4. Smartly Deal with Sides

Choosing slides is one of the neglected tricks in how to cut calories when eating out. Here is how to manage them:

Swap Heavier Options

The side dishes of most restaurants include fries, mashed potatoes, or mac and cheese, which eventually add tons of calories. You can ask them to replace those slides with something healthier.

Skip All Free Options

Most people get easily lured by the sight of complementary foods such as bread or nachos, but they are rich in calories.

Use Dressings on the Side

Even salads are viewed as a healthier choice, but not when they are filled with heavy, creamy salad dressing. Here, you should always request that they be served separately with the salad.

Part 5. Watch Your Beverages for Calories

Besides selecting food, if you want to explore beverage choices on how to cut calories when eating out, then adhere to this section:

Avoid Liquid Calories

Most people neglect the calories hidden in liquids while dining out, so we have narrowed down some high-calorie beverages that you should avoid:

Choose Low-Cal Drinks

If you don't like drinking regular water in restaurants, then consider following low-calorie drinks that also taste good:

Drink Before You Eat

Drinking water is an underestimated tip for how to cut calories when eating out, and this trick can help decrease the number of calories.

Part 6. Lean & Green Makes the Calories Mean

While figuring out how to cut calories when eating out, read the following section to know why lean proteins and green veggies matter:

Choose Lean Proteins

When dining out, always opt for the following lean proteins as they are full of nutrition yet low in saturated fat:

• Grilled Chicken: It is widely applied in sandwiches, salads, and main dishes and has only 135 calories per 3 oz.
• Turkey Breast: You can choose low-sodium turkey in sandwiches, or you can consume it alone because it contains only 120 calories.
• Ground Turkey: In addition to turkey breast, it contains slightly more calories, approximately 160 calories, but is still a healthier choice.
• Shrimp and Prawn: This can be consumed as stir-fries, pasta, and they are normally consumed as grilled or sautéed with less oil.
• Tuna: Fresh and canned tuna are very nutritious and contain a low number of calories (as low as 100 calories).

Go Plant-Based When Possible

You can swap your heavy meals with the following plant-based option in the process of learning how to cut calories when eating out:

• Tofu: It is a versatile food and has only 70-90 calories, and can be combined with everything.
• Lentils and Chickpeas: These are the richest in protein, so they are perfect to use in soups, stews, patties.
• Beans: Beans such as Pinto and Red Beans contain only 130 calories in a half cup.
• Tempeh: It is perfectly suitable to make salad bowls and grilled sandwiches.

Part 7. Mindful Eating Decreases Calories

In this section, we have narrowed down some of the easiest ways of how to cut calories when eating out with a mindful approach:

• Eat Slowly: Your brain takes about 15-20 minutes to register that it is full, so eating slowly can give the brain time to catch up.
• Use Smaller Bites & Pauses: Eating smaller bites with pauses in between helps maintain a steady pace.
• Stop When You're 80% Full: The concept of stopping when you are 80 percent full came from Japanese practice.

Part 8. Use CalBye - AI Calorie Counter App

Besides planning your meal manually, you can opt for CalBye - AI Calorie Counter App to thoroughly examine your calories. It is a machine-learning-based app that allows you to post pictures of your food, estimate its nutritional value, and the number of calories. This app is effective in analyzing your food, and it gives you a breakdown of your carbs, fats, and proteins.

This application rates your food on the basis of its nutritional value, and this helps you make better food choices. Besides, on its main interface, it presents the total calorie chart and gives you a reminder notification to stay on track. Users can schedule their weekly meals, which helps them to stay focused on goals like how to cut calories when eating out.

CalBye

Track Calories Everywhere & Anytime

Available on:

Track Now

Track Calories Everywhere & Anytime

Conclusion

As a final thought, now you can easily satisfy your dining-out cravings by just following practical strategies. For your convenience, we have discussed some healthy food options and mindful eating habits in the article above. Moreover, if you are more enthusiastic about how to cut calories when eating out, opt for the CalBye - AI Calorie Counter App to thoroughly examine your meals.