How to Track Calories and Macros at Restaurants and in Take-Out Food

Tracking calories is beneficial and with all of the apps available these days it’s gotten pretty convenient and relatively easy.

You can scan a barcode of almost any food and have the nutrition facts on your screen in seconds. Or you can type a product into a search bar and find out the calories, fats, protein, carbs, and more.

When you are eating at home and making your meals it’s pretty easy to control your calories and macros.

But what happens when you want to track the calories and macros at a restaurant? How do you find that information when ordering take-out from a local business?

That was always my biggest struggle when I first started tracking calories.

Let’s face it, everyone goes out to eat once in a while. And even though going out to eat once in a while isn’t going to ruin your progress, it’s still nice to know what you are putting in your body.

If you are anything like me, you are a little OCD when it comes to things like this. I don’t need it to be perfect in this situation, but I do like to have an idea of what I’m taking in.

It helps to take a look at the menu before you go out to eat so you can look at the options and give yourself time to make a good choice.

I know that I end up with the “F it” attitude when I’m in a rush or having decision fatigue. If you know where you are going with a little heads up, take a look at the menu and make a plan so you don’t have to figure things out on the fly while you are in line or when you sit down.

Restaurants with Calories Listed on the Menu

The good news is that the world is a lot more health-conscious than it used to be so a lot of chain restaurants list the calories on their menu, or at the very least on their website.

When it comes to fast food restaurants like Mcdonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc, you can assume that the nutrition facts are pretty accurate.

These restaurants have strict standards so for the most part, everything gets made the same way across the board, no matter what location you go to.

It may not be perfect every time but that’s ok. You don’t need it to be perfect, you are just trying to get close.

On the other hand, chain restaurants like Applebees, or Buffalo Wild Wings, which have a little more cooking involved could lead to some inaccuracies. A different chef could mean a little more or less of an ingredient which could result in different numbers than what you see on the menu.

Things like butter, oil, and cheese are good examples of this.

You may even get more or less french fries than what they account for in the calorie count. Take 5 Guys for example. A “little” size fry is 526 calories. But they give you way more than the size you order because they end up pouring a bunch of fries into the bottom of your bag. So if you eat all of the fries you get you are going way over 526 calories.

In a situation where you at at a chain restaurant with a different cook or a different serving size, I suggest adding 20% to the calories listed. You may end up overshooting a bit, but it’s better to overshoot the calories and eat less than undershoot the calories and eat more.

But again, as I said, you don’t need it to be perfect, you just need it to be close.

Restaurants without Calories Listed on the Menu

When you aren’t eating fast food or at a chain restaurant like Applebee’s or Buffalo Wild Wings, it won’t be as easy to find the nutrition facts.

A lot of local restaurants won’t have the calories listed on their menu so you’ll have to put in a little more effort.

These restaurants may offer a meal that is pretty common so you may be tempted to type it into MyFitnessPal and choose from one of the options that pops up.

That’s a bad idea.

You are going to find a handful of results and they are going to have wildly different numbers.

Let’s take a Cobb salad for example. I just typed that into MyFitness Pal and these were the first four results. 290 cal, 430 cal, 529 cal, 688 cal.

Here’s what to do instead.

Look up the nutrition facts for each component of the meal individually. You’ll have to do a little estimating of course, because you may not know exactly how much of an ingredient they are using.

Eyeball the amount of bacon that you see. If there is one egg log that individually. Estimate how much chicken, tomatoes, and blue cheese you see and log them each individually.

Keep in mind that casseroles and mixed pasta dishes are going to be pretty challenging to estimate. If you are trying to get as accurate as possible it may be a good idea to skip something like that.

Cheat Sheet for Eating Out

Here’s a cheat sheet for you to use in situations where you can’t track calories when going out to eat but still want to make good choices. This will come in handy during times when you don’t have a heads-up before you go somewhere and you have to decide on the fly.

Chicken

Here are some estimated calories/protein/fat/carbs for 4 oz of different pieces of chicken.

Skin on:

Thigh - 243/27/15/0

Wing - 176/16/12/0

Drumstick - 207/27/11/0

Breast - 162/24/11/0

Skinless:

Thigh - 194/26/10/0

Wing - 96/15/4/0

Drumstick - 207/27/11/0

Breast - 106/22/2/0

Steak

Here are some estimated calories/protein/fat/carbs for 4 oz of steak cuts.

Sirloin - 283/34/15/0

Tenderloin - 219/32/9/0

Rib - 437/25/37/0

Brisket - 313/20/25/0

Ground Beef - (80/20) 304/28/20, (90/10) 230/28/12

Carbs

Rice - A serving of cooked rice is about the size of a tennis ball or baseball and contains about 160 calories. You can also use a medium-sized apple or your fist as a reference.

Mashed potatoes - A portion the size of a tennis ball cut in half will be about 200 calories.

Sandwich bun - You can account for around 120 calories unless it’s been buttered, then you are looking at about 150 calories.

Sandwich bread - One slice contains about 120 calories so you can estimate about 240/250 calories from the bread of a sandwich.

Fats

Oils and butter - Use your thumb for reference, about half of your thumb will be around 120 calories.

Nut butters - Use your thumb for reference, about half of your thumb is around 100 calories.

Salad dressing - Use your thumb for reference, a portion the size of your thumb is around 100 calories.

Nuts and seeds - Use your thumb for reference, a portion the size of your thumb is around 80 calories.

Cheese - Use your thumb as a reference, a portion the size of your thumb is around 120 calories.

Avocado - A portion the sie of half of your fist is around 120 calories.

High Protein, Lower Calorie Swaps

A lot of restaurants have a section of their menu for lower-calorie options. Something I see a lot is “under 600” so you will be able to find some low-calorie options at certain places without having to do much thinking.

Below are a couple of swaps that you can make to drop some calories and keep your protein up at certain restaurants.

I understand that the original meal I list may not be your first choice to begin with but you can use my examples to see how to make your swaps while still eating something you enjoy.

Here are a couple of swaps that you can make to eat something that you want without having to sacrifice all the calories that come with it right off the menu.

Chick-Fil-A:

Cobb Salad w/ Nuggets - 830 calories and 42 grams of protein. Swap grilled chicken for fried chicken and swap light balsamic vinaigrette dressing for avocado lime ranch dressing. Now it’s 480 calories and 39 grams of protein.

8-piece Chick-fil-A nuggets - 250 calories and 27 grams of protein. Swapt grilled nuggets for fried. Now they are 130 calories and 25 grams of protein.

Panera:

Chicken Green Goddess Caprese Melt on Baguette 1 Sandwich 1070 and 57 grams of protein <> Toasted Smokehouse BBQ Chicken on Classic White Miche for 760 calories and 45 grams of protein.

Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup - Bread Bowl - 730 calories and 33 grams of protein. <> Chicken Tikka Masala Soup - Bowl for 360 calories and 16 grams of protein.

Applebees:

Chicken tender plate - 1,080 calories and 37 grams of protein. <> Grilled chicken breast - 550 calories and 48 grams of protein.

Quesadilla chicken salad - 2,090 calories and 52 grams of protein. <> Caesar salad with blackened shrimp - 860 calories and 31 grams of protein.

Bourbon Street mushroom swiss burger - 1,610 calories and 57 grams of protein. <> Classic burger with steamed broccoli instead of fries - 820 calories and 43 grams of protein.

Wrapping Up

When push comes to shove, going out to eat once in a while isn’t going to ruin your progress, make you unhealthy, or throw you off track.

I only see people struggle to reach their goals because of going out to eat if they are getting some sort of take out more than twice a week.

That’s when it really gets difficult to control your calories even if you do have a good stretegy.

If you are going out with your family or significant other every once in a while, or you are meeting up with a group of friends for a dinner because you don’t see each other very often, I think you should order what you want.

Above all, I want you to enjoy yourself. I’ve been in a position many times where I’d order the healthy option when out to eat with friends and they start to give me crap because of it and it’s not fun.

While I don’t think that alone is a good reason to go off the rails, it’s true that going out to eat isn’t going to ruin your progress.

Looking back, would it have killed me to just order the burger instead of a piece of grilled chicken? No. But at the same time, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to order whatever I want many of times since then. So I really didn’t miss out.

It all depends on your goals and where you are in your life. If you are someone who has put on some unwanted pounds because you’ve been going out to eat more often than not over the years, maybe you should make a sacrifice and order the healthier option.

If you go out once every couple of months and eat pretty clean at home, maybe you should treat yourself when you go out to eat for the first time in two months.

When you are ready to make a healthy decision when going out to eat, this guide will show you the way.

You will be educated on how to track and what to expect calorically on certain proteins, carbs, and fats. You’ll have no problem keeping yourself in check if you use this guide.

If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comment section and I’ll be sure to help you out.

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