Dining Out, calculations? Topic

Soulkeeper 01/25/19
My first time out since we started. Last night I had a nice fried chicken, salad, mashed potatoes and gravy dinner. I live in a small town, so nothing has nutritional info.

Is there any way to calculate this? I spent a good deal of time searching, eventually I settled on KFC for the chicken and potatoes. I grabbed a random tossed salad and 2 tbsp of ranch.

Dietician 01/25/19
Hello Soulkeeper,

You are correct! It can be challenging to estimate restaurant portions. The other issue is that most restaurants pride themselves in large portions so that we get our money's worth. Plates, cups, bowls are all often large which can make the portions look smaller. What to do? At home, I would measure and weigh foods to get a handle on accurate portion estimation. Then, when you go out to eat you will have an increased awareness about their portions.
Here is an excerpt from a MyNetDiary article on portion sizes with the link to article after so you can continue to learn. Learning about portions is one of the skills that will make you more successful with weight management!

Estimating Portion Size
If you have already started recording your intake, then you know how difficult it is to estimate portion size. For restaurant chains, the nutrition information should be posted on their website. For other restaurants, you might have to guess if your server does not know the portion size.

For more help on estimating portion size when you cannot measure, check out the Serving Size Card from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. This card displays portion size using familiar objects. Also visit WikiHow’s How to Estimate Portion Size for more helpful visual representations of portion size. See below for a quick summary.

Grain Products 1 cup cereal flakes = 1 fist
1/2 cup cooked rice, pasta or potato = 1 tennis ball
1 oz slice of bread = 1 cassette tape
1 oz chips = 1 handful
Vegetables, and Fruit 1 cup of salad greens = 1 baseball
1 medium baked potato = 1 computer mouse
1 medium piece fruit = 1 baseball
1/2 cup fresh fruit = 1 tennis ball
1/4 cup raisins = 1 egg
Dairy and Cheese 1½ oz cheese = 4 stacked dice
1/2 cup ice cream = 1 tennis ball
Meat and Protein Alternatives 3 oz meat, fish, or poultry = 1 deck of cards
3 oz fish fillet = 1 checkbook
2 tablespoons peanut butter = 1 ping pong ball
Fats 1 teaspoon = 1 dice or tip of a finger
1 tablespoon = 1 poker chip
Tip: We tend to serve ourselves more food when we use larger dishes and less food when we use smaller dishes. If you are trying to lose weight, consider using smaller plates and bowls if you are not able to measure your portion size.

Link to the article I would definitely read:

https://www.mynetdiary.com/estimating-portions-for-food-diary.html

Hope this helps! Brenda (Dietitian, MyNetDiary)

Soulkeeper 01/25/19
Awesome thanks!

Keyani 01/26/19
Great

Dining Out, calculations?