So I am very new to this (only my second week) and I really want to give it 100%. I have a few meals out coming up and just looking for some advice about counting syns in restaurants.
I am going for lunch on Saturday and I have already planned what I will be having from the menu, but tomorrow evening my Mum and I will be eating somewhere and I am nervous about not being able to plan in advance and just picking from the menu.
the temptation is to go for a salad, but with bread, croutons, salad dressing, and/or condiments like mayo you might as well have chosen something with chips
no additional bread roles eg when waiting for your main to arrive.
tomato based pasta sauces are better than cream based sauces
starters tend to have lower calorie options, whereas low calorie dessert is really only fruit. much better to go home and have a fun size chocolate, or fat free yogurt instead of spending lots of calories/points/syns on dessert. This doesn't mean you can never have dessert, but maybe not the same day as eating out
a nandos portion of medium fries (which i think is reflective of most restaurants chips) is 380 calories. A plan jacket is about 200 calories (depending on the size), but if you add butter you easily add 100+calories. suddenly chips don't look so bad.
avoid anything with lots of cheese - I think it is really really hard to guestimate cheese portions, especially if it is melted
condiments - ketchup is lower calorie choice than mayo
a steak and salad (no dressing) is likely to be lower calories than chicken and chips, or fish and boiled potatoes with a butter sauce
if they have a brunch menu, this can have a lot of yummy options. avoid sausages, but different combinations of bacon and eggs are OK. even a full English without sausage, black pudding, and fried bread, is not bad calorie wise for a main meal
sandwiches with crisps is a better option than sandwiches with chips
Finally - if you don't eat out every week it's OK to enjoy a meal every now and again. As Pierce said, you can save up, or use less calories/syns/points for the rest of the week. But over a month, if you go over in 1 meal, it is not going to be an issue.
