Losing weight while eating out
March 9, 2019 9:08 PM Subscribe
A lot of diet advice presumes that you'll be cooking at home and interested in saving money. What would you advise when this is flipped (cost is not an issue, but access to a kitchen is limited)? Are there specific types of restaurants/prepared foods widely found in US cities that are generally good recommendations within these constraints? (seafood welcome, but no meat)
I'll be away from home for over a week and on a per diem. Interested in whether I can avoid the normal travel-induced stress and actually turn this into a boon for my health.
Stuff I've considered having for the majority of my meals:
- juices
- the Whole Foods prepared food bar (there's one near my hotel)
- lots of protein bars?
I'll be away from home for over a week and on a per diem. Interested in whether I can avoid the normal travel-induced stress and actually turn this into a boon for my health.
Stuff I've considered having for the majority of my meals:
- juices
- the Whole Foods prepared food bar (there's one near my hotel)
- lots of protein bars?
If you’re in a major city, you should have tons of options for healthy meal choices. Plenty of salads, pre-cut and whole fruits, fish and other seafood. Especially if there’s a Whole Foods near your hotel—that alone should cover you very well for the week. But even so, it won’t be tough to find a restaurant that will offer healthy menu items. Even fast food chains sell salads, and have the calorie counts for each item available on the menu.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:35 PM on March 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Autumnheart at 9:35 PM on March 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
Sushi/sashimi places. Yes, you're buying refined carbs with sushi, but it's eyeballable and if you sit at the counter and go omakase on sashimi you're going to be okay.
posted by holgate at 10:11 PM on March 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by holgate at 10:11 PM on March 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
Shopping at a grocery store is a great idea. However, juices, protein bars, and prepared foods are probably not the way you want to go. A lot of juices have as many calories as soft drinks. A lot of protein bars are nut, and therefore calorie, rich, like a bar of peanut butter would be. Many of them have a lot of sugar as well, as granola does. The prepared foods at Whole Foods won't necessarily be any healthier or have less calories than restaurant foods. They're often laden with butter.
When I'm on the road, I shop at grocery stores and get the healthiest sandwiches I can find. I pretty much stick to that. If I were on a per diem, I would probably load up at the salad bar, and if I was watching my weight avoid salad dressing. The dressing can easily have more calories than a dessert. I wouldn't avoid nuts and cheese or carbs in moderation though, they're often necessarily filling. Often grocery stores sell pre-boiled eggs. These make for good protein snacks and are pretty filling.
Shop around the edges of your supermarket for fresh foods. Avoid any prepared foods. Avoid processed foods. Plain nuts are better than bars. Fruit is better than juice. Avoid meals that are mostly carbs: rice or pasta or bread. Your body easily breaks these down into sugar. Avoid meals with lots of sugar or butter or sauces or dressing of any kind. Avoid eating out in general.
posted by xammerboy at 10:15 PM on March 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
When I'm on the road, I shop at grocery stores and get the healthiest sandwiches I can find. I pretty much stick to that. If I were on a per diem, I would probably load up at the salad bar, and if I was watching my weight avoid salad dressing. The dressing can easily have more calories than a dessert. I wouldn't avoid nuts and cheese or carbs in moderation though, they're often necessarily filling. Often grocery stores sell pre-boiled eggs. These make for good protein snacks and are pretty filling.
Shop around the edges of your supermarket for fresh foods. Avoid any prepared foods. Avoid processed foods. Plain nuts are better than bars. Fruit is better than juice. Avoid meals that are mostly carbs: rice or pasta or bread. Your body easily breaks these down into sugar. Avoid meals with lots of sugar or butter or sauces or dressing of any kind. Avoid eating out in general.
posted by xammerboy at 10:15 PM on March 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
Be careful with sushi. Maki sushi rolls are a meal that is mostly processed white rice, carbs with little nutritional value your body easily turns into sugars.
posted by xammerboy at 10:22 PM on March 9, 2019
posted by xammerboy at 10:22 PM on March 9, 2019
I think that if you aren't used to figuring this out, you will want to count calories (as well whatever concerns you have re: carbs, fat, etc). Most of the chains have this information available on-line so you can plan ahead.
That said, Here is an interesting assortment of restaurants recommended by Eat This, Not That.
posted by metahawk at 11:22 PM on March 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
That said, Here is an interesting assortment of restaurants recommended by Eat This, Not That.
posted by metahawk at 11:22 PM on March 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
Check to see if there is a Seasons 52 restaurant near you. Almost Every item on their menu is under 500 calories and is generally heavy on vegetables and normal sized portions. They can be heavy on salt, but it’s much easier to have a healthy, portion controlled meal there and it’s pretty decent for chain restaurant food.
When I travel, I hit up whole foods and stock up on fruit and water. Bananas are perfect for traveling as they are fairly filling and decently healthy and transport well. The prepared food bar can be good if you stick the salad fixings (or avocado toast bar) instead of the mayo heavy/fried items. Soups can be good too, so long as you don’t rely on the cream based ones.
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 1:40 AM on March 10, 2019
When I travel, I hit up whole foods and stock up on fruit and water. Bananas are perfect for traveling as they are fairly filling and decently healthy and transport well. The prepared food bar can be good if you stick the salad fixings (or avocado toast bar) instead of the mayo heavy/fried items. Soups can be good too, so long as you don’t rely on the cream based ones.
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 1:40 AM on March 10, 2019
I would definitely scope out Whole Foods and hippy grocery stores in general. One by me has an excellent premade section with falafel wraps, boxed salads and other cold or room-temp foods. Trader Joe's can be helpful here, too.
I like protein bars as an astronaut-food option, but keep in mind that like juices they tend to have more sugar (and salt) than you might assume. I find 20-30g bars are better for meal replacement than Lara/Luna/Clif/etc. (an egg is 6g protein). They'll usually have Michael Bay names like "PowerMAX."
posted by rhizome at 5:40 AM on March 10, 2019 [4 favorites]
I like protein bars as an astronaut-food option, but keep in mind that like juices they tend to have more sugar (and salt) than you might assume. I find 20-30g bars are better for meal replacement than Lara/Luna/Clif/etc. (an egg is 6g protein). They'll usually have Michael Bay names like "PowerMAX."
posted by rhizome at 5:40 AM on March 10, 2019 [4 favorites]
Not juices. Not even the $7 ones that have the plain designy labels that list all the kale and turmeric and spirulina inside. Those will basically be either sugar bombs or barely-flavored water, and either way they won’t be filling.
Don’t deprive yourself on this trip. Whole Foods - and basically everywhere else - has tons of junky options prominently featured and intermingled with the healthier stuff. If you’re tired and hangry and not yet in the habit of optimizing for nutritional value, guess which you’ll go for?
Definitely stock up at the grocery store, though; it’s easier than making this decision at a fast-food place every night. Go for the least-processed, fewest-ingredient stuff you can find, and avoid starches and added sugars whenever possible. (I love a good carb and believe they have a place in everyone’s diet, but when you need to make a snap “is this good for me?” judgment, the bowl of noodles rarely wins.) Seek proteins and fats; they’ll be what keep you from keeling over. Cheese, nuts, tuna.
If you’re near a Pret a Manger, they’re pretty good: everything’s grab and go and has the calories and protein listed on the shelf, plus there are relatively few snacky impulse buys (compared to Panera and other bakery-heavy places), and it’s mostly pretty tasty.
If you do end up eating boxes of cookies in the hotel room every night, though, TOTALLY FINE. I mean, it’s not what you’re setting out to accomplish, but don’t kick yourself. You’ll be traveling, and you’ll have a lot of other things on your mind, and hunger can be such a distraction that you may find yourself needing to eat anything before you can focus on other stuff. Your daily routine, and your access to food, will be different from what you have at home; if you attempt to kickstart a healthy habit on a trip, you’ll still have to put in thought and effort to make sure it carries once you get back.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:54 AM on March 10, 2019 [9 favorites]
Don’t deprive yourself on this trip. Whole Foods - and basically everywhere else - has tons of junky options prominently featured and intermingled with the healthier stuff. If you’re tired and hangry and not yet in the habit of optimizing for nutritional value, guess which you’ll go for?
Definitely stock up at the grocery store, though; it’s easier than making this decision at a fast-food place every night. Go for the least-processed, fewest-ingredient stuff you can find, and avoid starches and added sugars whenever possible. (I love a good carb and believe they have a place in everyone’s diet, but when you need to make a snap “is this good for me?” judgment, the bowl of noodles rarely wins.) Seek proteins and fats; they’ll be what keep you from keeling over. Cheese, nuts, tuna.
If you’re near a Pret a Manger, they’re pretty good: everything’s grab and go and has the calories and protein listed on the shelf, plus there are relatively few snacky impulse buys (compared to Panera and other bakery-heavy places), and it’s mostly pretty tasty.
If you do end up eating boxes of cookies in the hotel room every night, though, TOTALLY FINE. I mean, it’s not what you’re setting out to accomplish, but don’t kick yourself. You’ll be traveling, and you’ll have a lot of other things on your mind, and hunger can be such a distraction that you may find yourself needing to eat anything before you can focus on other stuff. Your daily routine, and your access to food, will be different from what you have at home; if you attempt to kickstart a healthy habit on a trip, you’ll still have to put in thought and effort to make sure it carries once you get back.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:54 AM on March 10, 2019 [9 favorites]
An option if you're really concerned is to go for meal replacements, such as Huel or Soylent, for most of your meals. You can bring the dry powder or potentially have pre-mixed bottles delivered to the hotel. (But try it out in advance to make sure your body can handle it; you don't want digestive issues while traveling!)
posted by metasarah at 6:01 AM on March 10, 2019
posted by metasarah at 6:01 AM on March 10, 2019
In restaurants, salads with chicken (and minimal cheese or bacon), dressing on the side. You can frequently recreate this with clamshell packaged salads or salad bar greens, and some pre-cut rotisserie chicken or turkey. Diet soda’s not great but in terms of simple calories it can be a nice break from seltzer; save the calories or spend them instead on carefully considered booze.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 6:25 AM on March 10, 2019
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 6:25 AM on March 10, 2019
I travel frequently for business. The thing I struggle with while trying to maintain or lose weight is that it tends to be inconvenient. Use a food tracker like MyFitnessPal (MFP) to track everything you are eating and drinking, including those juices. Portion control is #1 for losing weight on the road. What may be seen as "healthy" at that WF salad bar may be packed with calories. The side benefit of using MFP is that most brand/packaged food is already in there as well as most chain restaurant menus which tend to be ubiquitous on the road.
When eating out in a group/business setting I prioritize raw veggies first (dressing on side) in the form of a big salad and lots of water with a lime. If I'm at a fancy dinner I get club soda with lime and put it in some sort of stemware so it feels more fancy and I don't feel excluded. After raw veggies, go for cooked veggies then sparingly on proteins and starches. Dressing on the side, butter on the side, sauce on the side, berries for dessert or just have one bite of whatever your colleague ordered for cheesecake. This is what I do if I'm at, say, a steakhouse. Also: eat SLOWLY and stop when you are 80-85% full.
When I'm on my own I just track everything in MFP. This way when I inevitably get sick of salad and granola bars I don't feel terrible if I go for something crappy from the hotel sundries or a sandwich in the airport. As long as you are generally within your set budget for food, you're good. Try your best, don't beat yourself up.
posted by floweredfish at 7:13 AM on March 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
When eating out in a group/business setting I prioritize raw veggies first (dressing on side) in the form of a big salad and lots of water with a lime. If I'm at a fancy dinner I get club soda with lime and put it in some sort of stemware so it feels more fancy and I don't feel excluded. After raw veggies, go for cooked veggies then sparingly on proteins and starches. Dressing on the side, butter on the side, sauce on the side, berries for dessert or just have one bite of whatever your colleague ordered for cheesecake. This is what I do if I'm at, say, a steakhouse. Also: eat SLOWLY and stop when you are 80-85% full.
When I'm on my own I just track everything in MFP. This way when I inevitably get sick of salad and granola bars I don't feel terrible if I go for something crappy from the hotel sundries or a sandwich in the airport. As long as you are generally within your set budget for food, you're good. Try your best, don't beat yourself up.
posted by floweredfish at 7:13 AM on March 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
Carbs is a problematic word, since it encompasses donuts and cookies (both really high in fat) as well as brown rice and potatoes, both low in fat and good for you. Even white rice, while not optimal, is not going to hurt you. Japan is full of people who eat a lot of white rice and are thin and healthy. I have lost 60 pounds and normalized my blood pressure on a high-carb, low-fat diet.
The Whole Foods prepared food bar is a great idea if you’re careful. You can build a lot of your meal on brown rice and steamed vegetables and then add a small amount of something higher in calories. I eat a lot of salads for meals, following Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s advice to make the salad the main dish. But if your salad is your main dish, it has to be huge or you’ll get hungry. I use 6 cups of greens, then add other vegetables and beans. Just be careful with dressings and cheese, which gets called a protein, but is often very high in fat.
The Whole Foods produce section has a lot of cut up fruits and vegetables.
Many restaurants have baked potatoes, which are good for you and low in calories if you don’t dump on a lot of butter and sour cream. Try them with barbecue sauce instead. Two baked potatoes and a salad can be very filling restaurant meal. Ask for dressing on the side.
posted by FencingGal at 7:17 AM on March 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
The Whole Foods prepared food bar is a great idea if you’re careful. You can build a lot of your meal on brown rice and steamed vegetables and then add a small amount of something higher in calories. I eat a lot of salads for meals, following Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s advice to make the salad the main dish. But if your salad is your main dish, it has to be huge or you’ll get hungry. I use 6 cups of greens, then add other vegetables and beans. Just be careful with dressings and cheese, which gets called a protein, but is often very high in fat.
The Whole Foods produce section has a lot of cut up fruits and vegetables.
Many restaurants have baked potatoes, which are good for you and low in calories if you don’t dump on a lot of butter and sour cream. Try them with barbecue sauce instead. Two baked potatoes and a salad can be very filling restaurant meal. Ask for dressing on the side.
posted by FencingGal at 7:17 AM on March 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
Middle Eastern restaurants usually have lots of delicious, healthful foods.
posted by Dolley at 7:44 AM on March 10, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Dolley at 7:44 AM on March 10, 2019 [3 favorites]
Will you be near Sweetgreen? Their vegetarian salads are delicious. You'd probably want to ask for light dressing and avoid the optional slice of bread (you can also build your own salad if you want to avoid other ingredients). Nutrition details here.
posted by pinochiette at 7:56 AM on March 10, 2019
posted by pinochiette at 7:56 AM on March 10, 2019
P.S. My favorite custom Sweetgreen salad combination is spinach and wild rice, roasted sweet potatoes, apples, red onion, cucumbers, roasted sesame tofu, and miso sesame ginger dressing. Not sure of the calorie count, though the chart I linked to above should let you figure it out.
posted by pinochiette at 8:01 AM on March 10, 2019
posted by pinochiette at 8:01 AM on March 10, 2019
One more idea. My go-to lunch is brown rice mixed with soup. You can do that at Whole Foods.
And if you have a microwave, there are some pretty good frozen foods there. I like the Amy’s line a lot. And nutrition info will be on all the packages.
posted by FencingGal at 9:13 AM on March 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
And if you have a microwave, there are some pretty good frozen foods there. I like the Amy’s line a lot. And nutrition info will be on all the packages.
posted by FencingGal at 9:13 AM on March 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
I used to prematurely split my restaurant meals in two and ask for the leftovers carton at the beginning of the meal. It works fine at home, but on the road I felt bad that the food and its packaging often got wasted due to lack of refrigeration in my hotel room, other commitments, etc. For awhile I would offer it to a homeless person, explaining that it hadn’t been touched (because dieting) and describing the contents for food preference/allergy reasons. I even started carrying plastic cutlery/napkin packets for them in my bag! But this was often really awkward, either because I was with clients, and/or because the intended recipient took offense or refused (meaning I’d have to try again with someone else or quit), and/or because telling someone without enough that you have so much food that you’ve become fat is a tough conversation.
So now, if I can’t take it with me, I split the food in half on my plate and then “kill” one side of it with a ton of salt so I won’t eat it. I can do this subtly if I’m with clients with whom I don’t want to share what I’m doing.
posted by carmicha at 10:01 AM on March 10, 2019
So now, if I can’t take it with me, I split the food in half on my plate and then “kill” one side of it with a ton of salt so I won’t eat it. I can do this subtly if I’m with clients with whom I don’t want to share what I’m doing.
posted by carmicha at 10:01 AM on March 10, 2019
I find it easiest to give myself basically no options. So: breakfast is oatmeal with fruit (no sweetener) or eggs with vegetables. Maybe one slice of whole grain toast. Lunch is a salad with chicken or fish. Dinner is also a salad with chicken or fish, unless my colleagues want to eat somewhere where that’s impossible. In the latter case, just order whatever option seems to maximize vegetables. I bring a lot of coffee and tea options, regular and decaf, and my thermos. That helps break up the boredom a little.
I don’t do this to lose weight, but rather because I realized that eating lavishly because I was “on travel” was making me feel crummy during the trip and it takes a while to reset after getting home. There’s nothing worse than being on a redeye with a lot of grease and alcohol sloshing around inside you.
posted by chocotaco at 12:56 PM on March 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
I don’t do this to lose weight, but rather because I realized that eating lavishly because I was “on travel” was making me feel crummy during the trip and it takes a while to reset after getting home. There’s nothing worse than being on a redeye with a lot of grease and alcohol sloshing around inside you.
posted by chocotaco at 12:56 PM on March 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
I usually order a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, dressing on the side. No croutons. Most mainstream restaurants have this.
posted by cda at 1:00 PM on March 10, 2019
posted by cda at 1:00 PM on March 10, 2019
I used to travel for work while doing Weight Watchers and developed some good go-tos:
- Sushi is pretty good. Yeah, there's a lot of rice, but if you're doing regular maki rolls, it could be a lot worse. And the balance of starch and protein helps keep you feeling full. Nigiri is decent too. The fancy rolls with mayo and breaded/fried stuff in them (dragon/rainbow/etc rolls) should be avoided. Order miso soup and/or seaweed salad as starters to help fill you up before the sushi.
- Vietnamese is not bad. Order pho with meat (chicken or lean steak) or tofu PLUS veggies. Make sure you don't just eat all the noodles, really slurp up that broth. Or you can do the vermicelli bowls, and make sure you eat all the lettuce/veggies along with the meat and noodles.
- If you have to eat at a regular "American-style" restaurant, go for the dish that's chicken breast or salmon or something like that with a veggie. Ask if they'll do a half-portion of whatever starch comes with it, and get a side salad. (Again, I think it's good to have some starch, but you probably don't want a huge mound of mashed potatoes) I wouldn't do an entree salad at most of these places - they tend to not be super-satisfying, even though the calorie counts are often higher than other entrees. Or you could do soup and half a sandwich.
- Have good snacks on you. Apples, string cheese, granola/protein bars: these are all things you can take on the plane and help fend off the desire to get a cookie at the airport or hit the hotel vending machine.
I figured all this stuff out because I was traveling A LOT and treating travel like a special occasion was not good for my health. If this is really a one-time thing, I'd say use the 90/10 rule -try to make as many of your meals/snacks as healthy as possible, but don't beat yourself up for a splurge or two!
Oh and are you using any sort of app to track your calories? Look up whatever you're ordering. It can be surprising what is crazy-high calories!
posted by lunasol at 5:30 PM on March 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
- Sushi is pretty good. Yeah, there's a lot of rice, but if you're doing regular maki rolls, it could be a lot worse. And the balance of starch and protein helps keep you feeling full. Nigiri is decent too. The fancy rolls with mayo and breaded/fried stuff in them (dragon/rainbow/etc rolls) should be avoided. Order miso soup and/or seaweed salad as starters to help fill you up before the sushi.
- Vietnamese is not bad. Order pho with meat (chicken or lean steak) or tofu PLUS veggies. Make sure you don't just eat all the noodles, really slurp up that broth. Or you can do the vermicelli bowls, and make sure you eat all the lettuce/veggies along with the meat and noodles.
- If you have to eat at a regular "American-style" restaurant, go for the dish that's chicken breast or salmon or something like that with a veggie. Ask if they'll do a half-portion of whatever starch comes with it, and get a side salad. (Again, I think it's good to have some starch, but you probably don't want a huge mound of mashed potatoes) I wouldn't do an entree salad at most of these places - they tend to not be super-satisfying, even though the calorie counts are often higher than other entrees. Or you could do soup and half a sandwich.
- Have good snacks on you. Apples, string cheese, granola/protein bars: these are all things you can take on the plane and help fend off the desire to get a cookie at the airport or hit the hotel vending machine.
I figured all this stuff out because I was traveling A LOT and treating travel like a special occasion was not good for my health. If this is really a one-time thing, I'd say use the 90/10 rule -try to make as many of your meals/snacks as healthy as possible, but don't beat yourself up for a splurge or two!
Oh and are you using any sort of app to track your calories? Look up whatever you're ordering. It can be surprising what is crazy-high calories!
posted by lunasol at 5:30 PM on March 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
Not sure where you'll be for this week of travel, but one thing I was surprised by recently was how good the fresh food/healthy options have gotten at some of the more upscale gas stations like Sheetz, Wawa, and GetGo. The touch screen order menu offerings are still a little fried food heavy, but the refrigerated food case (at least at Sheetz) had a lot of great looking sandwiches, salads, hearty snack packs and fresh fruit and cheese plates for on the go. Might be worth checking out in a pinch if there's one nearby.
posted by helloimjennsco at 7:34 AM on March 11, 2019
posted by helloimjennsco at 7:34 AM on March 11, 2019
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With things like juices, you have to be wary of how healthy and concentrated the sugars are. In most places, they should have caloric and nutritional info available now.
posted by nickggully at 9:30 PM on March 9, 2019 [6 favorites]