eating healthy at restaurants: tips for dining out without derailing your goals

Emily Field 00:00:00  Welcome back to the Macros Made Easy podcast. This is episode 47, and it’s one you’ll probably want to save because we’re talking all about how to eat out at restaurants without totally blowing your macro targets or your progress. One of the most common beliefs I hear from clients and listeners is the idea that eating out and staying on track can’t coexist. Either you’re the person who brings your Tupperware to a dinner party, or you’re eating whatever you want and writing it off as a loss. But the truth is, you don’t have to pick one extreme or the other. Let me tell you about my client, Amber. Amber is a busy mom of two who loves Friday night dinners out with her family before learning a macros approach. These meals felt like a constant tug of war. She’d either tried to, quote, be good, only to end up feeling frustrated when the meal didn’t go exactly as planned, or she’d say, quote, screw it and order whatever she wanted, but later feel like she undid all the progress she had made during the week.

Emily Field 00:00:53  She told me, I feel like there’s no in between. I was either on track or totally off, but after learning just a few simple strategies like how to estimate portions without needing a food scale, how to balance a plate even when you don’t know exactly what’s in it, and how to trust yourself when eating out, everything changed. Amber still enjoys those Friday night meals, but now she does it without second guessing every single bite. She knows how to navigate the menu. Make a few intentional choices and most importantly, enjoy herself. No guilt. No starting over on Monday and definitely no Tupperware at the table. In this episode, I’m going to break it down into two parts. First, what to do if you want to track while eating out, and how to do it as accurately as possible. And second, what to do if you don’t want to track, but you still want to stay aligned with your goals. I’ll be giving you practical, doable strategies you can start using today, plus a bonus tool you might not expect.

Emily Field 00:01:48  How I like ChatGPT can actually help you estimate macros, compare meals, and make tracking and restaurants much simpler. So whether you want to track. Don’t want to track, or somewhere in between. This episode will give you tools to navigate dining out with way less stress. Welcome to Macros Made Easy, the podcast that takes the confusion out of tracking macros. I’m your host, Emily Field, a registered dietitian that specializes in a macros approach. In each episode, I help you learn how to eat in a way that supports your health, body composition, and athletic performance goals. We’ll cover the basics of macronutrients how to track for various goals, the role of macros in your health, and how to make sustainable changes to your habits. I’ve helped hundreds of people experience more food freedom and flexibility while navigating their nutrition. So whether you’ve tried macros and it just didn’t stick or you just heard the word macros yesterday, I can’t wait to help you too. All right, let’s dive into the first scenario. I want to eat out, and I want to track my macros as accurately as I can.

Emily Field 00:02:48  This is for you. If you’re someone who’s actively working toward a specific goal, maybe it’s fat loss, body recomposition, performance, or even just building the habit of tracking consistently. And you want to keep the structure you’ve built even when you’re dining out. It doesn’t mean you’re obsessed or inflexible. In fact, plenty of my clients find that having a plan going into restaurant meals can make the experience much more enjoyable for them. It gives them confidence that they’re staying aligned with their goals without needing to micromanage every single bite. You might choose this approach if you’re early in your macro tracking journey and just want the practice. You’re in an intentional fat loss or muscle building phase. You’re feeling really good in your routine and want to keep up that momentum. You simply like knowing you can walk out of the restaurant feeling aligned with your goals. If this is you, you’re not alone. Many of my clients feel empowered when they choose to track, because it gives them a sense of control without turning the meal into a math test.

Emily Field 00:03:43  So if you want to eat out, enjoy yourself and keep making progress, this section is for you. So let’s talk about how to make it simple and doable. The first thing I would suggest is to take an honest assessment of your goals. Before we even open the menu, we have to zoom out and ask, how strict do I actually need to be right now? This will look different depending on your personal goals. Let’s say you’re pushing hard toward a short term goal, like cutting for a photo shoot or making weight for a sport. You might need to be more dialed in with your tracking. That might mean limiting dining out temporarily or being more meticulous when you eat out. On the other hand, if you’re working toward general fat loss, improving body composition or performance, there’s usually a little bit more room for flexibility. Remember, you can still make progress even when your tracking isn’t pinpoint accurate every single meal. And then there’s the question no one likes to ask. What is important is avoiding eating out altogether the best option for now.

Emily Field 00:04:40  Sometimes during a short and focused sprint towards a big goal, you may temporarily limit restaurant meals to make life simpler. But for most of you, learning how to navigate restaurants rather than avoid them is the real skill you want because you want this to be sustainable, right? Okay, so that’s step one. Take an honest assessment of your goals. Assess the timeline. Assess whether or not you need to be very strict, moderately strict, or you don’t have to be strict at all. Step two is prepping for success before you dine out. Okay, so here’s the thing about restaurant meals. They almost always come with more fat and carbs than your home cooked meals. Butter, oils, bigger portions. All of it adds up. So instead of pretending it won’t happen. Plan for it. I like to recommend pre logging an estimated chunk of carbs and fats earlier in the day. For example, you’ll reserve about 50 to 60g of carbs and 20 to 30g of fat for dinner. If you know you’re going to go out and leading up to that meal, you’re going to prioritize protein and veggies like it’s your full time job.

Emily Field 00:05:44  If lunch and snacks are protein heavy and veggie based, you’re going to have much more flexibility later without blowing past your daily macro targets, and that 50 or 60g of carbs, 20 30g of fat is really just high level sweeping recommendation here. If I’m asking someone to look at their own targets, I might be more inclined to say you need about at least a third of your fats, or at least a third of your carbs to spend on that restaurant meal. And it might be even higher if you know that the restaurant you’re going to go to is notorious for bigger portions notorious for butter and oil and, you know, a lot more savory or extravagant ingredients, things like that. When you’re prepping to dine out, you may consider flexing your macros. Another key skill here is learning how to swap macros when you need to. Restaurants rarely serve perfectly balanced meals, so you have to make some trade offs. A simple formula I teach is the 2 to 1 carb to fat swap. Roughly ten grams of fat equals about 20g of carbs in energy.

Emily Field 00:06:49  Okay, so 1 to 2. 2 to 1. You get what I’m trying to say here. So if your meal is a little fattier than expected, you can reduce the carbs elsewhere in your day and still hit your calorie target pretty closely. Again, this is not about being perfect. It’s about being close enough to stay on track. And in this flexible mindset, you’re essentially saying this meal is going to be way higher on fats than I normally accommodate for. So I’m just going to hold back on carbs. Or let’s say the meal that you want is pretty carb heavy, so you’re going to take away or hold back on the fat macros that you eat earlier in the day and allow for many more carbs to come in that restaurant meal. This is kind of like a windshield wiper sort of visual. In order to stay on track with your calories overall. You’re going to hit your protein targets as best you can, and then flex those carbs and fats based on what you want to have. And you can do this in your app.

Emily Field 00:07:41  That’ll do the math for you. Or you can just kind of think ahead. All right. There’s two carbs for every one gram of fat. There’s two grams of carbs for every one gram of fat. So if I’m going to go over on fats, I need to hold back on carbs. If I’m going to go over my carb target, I’m going to hold back on fats again. Let it go. A little bit of a windshield wiper here. The next piece about prepping for success before you even go dining out is to look up nutrition information online if it’s available. If you’re heading to a chain restaurant, many of them are going to provide nutrition information online. Yes, it’s often an estimate, but an estimate is still way better than crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. Use what you can find and pre log it, or at least have a sense of the portion sizes and macro breakdowns. I like to use this nutrition information for chain restaurants to my advantage. Even when I’m not going to a chain restaurant, I can get a sense for how a pasta dish might break down.

Emily Field 00:08:37  From a macro perspective, if I looked up Olive garden’s nutrition information or maybe a, you know, kind of an American chain restaurant Like Texas Roadhouse, a steak, a veggie, and a starch is a typical meal at Texas Roadhouse. And I’m not necessarily eating at Texas Roadhouse, but I can estimate the macros for a similar dish for a restaurant that has a similar option, maybe a burger and fries. This is all about education, right? You don’t actually know how many macros are being contributed to your meal if you don’t actually look at it. So rather than avoid tracking because you’re, quote, afraid of going over your macros, you just kind of want to bury your head in the sand. I welcome you to look up this nutrition information for these chain restaurants, and then apply it accordingly to the restaurant that you might be eating at that doesn’t have specific nutrition information online. Which brings me to my next point. If you don’t have nutrition information available online, there’s still ways that you can estimate your macros.

Emily Field 00:09:37  All right. So if there’s no nutrition information online do not panic. You still have options. I recommend that you don’t search generic mixed dishes like breakfast bowl in your tracking app. These are usually inaccurate, and they’re going to get you wildly different entries. Instead, I’d like for you to break down the meal into components. You’re having some eggs. You’re having some bacon. Maybe some hash browns. It’s got avocado with it. Estimating each ingredient is going to help you understand the nutrition information for each of those foods. Again, kind of building up your confidence to track in any situation you’re learning which foods contribute protein fat and carb here. So it’s a great learning opportunity. But it’s also going to be much closer to accurate when you’re putting it into your diary, when you break down the dish into individual ingredients. And I know it’s going to feel clunky at first, but trust me, it definitely gets faster with practice and it’s going to be way more reliable. And bonus, if you eat at this restaurant fairly often or you know you’re going to have this meal again, you could save your entry and you could leave it in your diary to access at a later time.

Emily Field 00:10:47  Next, I recommend that you choose easier to track meals. All right, you’re going to pick meals that are naturally easier to estimate, where you can actually see the ingredients and the rough portion sizes that they’re in. Okay, so I’m thinking salads with dressing on the side. You can individually pick out the protein carbohydrate rich toppings on the salad, maybe fat rich toppings on that salad. It’s going to be much easier for you to break down the ingredients in your tracker, if you can visually see the ingredients in front of you. Okay. And my guess is that you’ve probably eaten these foods before. So you know what? 1oz or 2oz or five ounces, six ounces maybe looks like for some of these protein, fat and carb rich foods. And that’s going to only enhance your confidence to do this without a food scale here in the future. Another easier to track meal might be a grilled protein with a veggie on the side with a starch combo on the side as well. So a typical American meal where you have a hearty dose of protein, you’re having some mixed veggies, green beans, asparagus, veggie medley, something like that.

Emily Field 00:11:52  But it’s also served with rice or potatoes, sweet potato fries, something like that. Very simple combo available at most restaurants. Very easy to estimate the ingredients because you can visualize what that portion looks like on your plate and then compare it to your hands or your fingers or any other reference point you’ve seen up until this point by tracking at home. Another easy one that I like to share the example of is a burrito bowl. You can control the toppings, you can see the ingredients on top of that bowl, and you might be able to compare it to something you’ve had in the past. Think Qdoba or Chipotle and some of their typical serving sizes here might be of help to you to kind of estimate the macros found in each one of these ingredients, I would try to avoid dishes like pastas, casseroles, soups, anything where every one of the ingredients is really mixed together and you can’t tell where one macro ends and the other one begins. There’s going to be a little bit more difficult. And again, this section is really for the person who wants to track as accurately as possible.

Emily Field 00:12:53  And so I’d say it’s pretty difficult to get very accurate when you are picking dishes that are very layered, have a lot of sauce, you know, cheese covering it, cream sauces covering it, things like that. I think you can start to visualize, which would be harder and which would be simpler here. There are always ways to make smart modifications here for your restaurant meals as well. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. Restaurants are used to people asking for modifications, so consider getting sauces on the side or dressings on the side. Maybe you’re going to opt for grilled instead of fried, or you could ask for more protein. It’s definitely allowed. When it comes to restaurant meals, protein containing foods are going to be the most expensive, so they’re going to probably be limited in portion size. If you don’t feel like asking for more protein at the meal with your dish, you could consider eating something protein rich before you go, knowing that that dish is going to be lower in protein, higher in fats and carbs, but you still want to hit your targets by the end of the day.

Emily Field 00:13:55  Maybe you do a quick little protein shake or protein powder protein bar on the go on the way to the restaurant, something like that. It’s something I’ve utilized in the past, something my clients have absolutely utilized. Just knowing that the protein serving is probably going to be pretty limited at the restaurant, and they just don’t want to give up on that target. I will leave you with a couple of common sense tracking strategies here. When you’re not sure, overestimating portions slightly can be a better fit, right? It’s better to slightly overshoot than to under log and convince yourself you were, quote, perfect when you weren’t. Use visuals. Remember, a deck of cards is about 3 to 4oz of protein. A baseball is roughly a cup of rice. Your hand is a really great portion estimator when you don’t have measuring tools. This is probably a really good time to add that I have a great portion size guide downloadable. I show you what typical portions of protein, fat, and carb rich foods look like when comparing to your hands and fingers.

Emily Field 00:14:56  So I’ll make sure to put that in the show notes so you can download it on your own and reference that. But above all, remember that consistency over time matters more than precision in one meal. Tracking is not about being flawless, it’s about creating awareness and making progress week over. Week. One restaurant meal isn’t going to derail you, but developing a skill to navigate them confidently will absolutely serve you for life. I teach a simple but powerful tool to my clients, especially when they’re in a deficit phase. Their main goal is fat loss and we call it the A, B, c meal strategy. This helps you decide how you want to approach a meal based on your goals, the situation, and how much mental energy you want to spend on tracking. Not every restaurant meal is the same. Sometimes you want to be dialed in, sometimes you want to loosen up a little, and sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment. Without the food scale or tracking, you know, kind of living rent free in your head.

Emily Field 00:15:52  So here’s how I break it down for them. A meals are the ones you’re saying, I’m going to try to track this pretty closely. These are meals where you plan ahead, but you can estimate portions fairly accurately and you want to track. You might have a menu ahead of time. You might choose a meal that has clearly visible components like grilled chicken, veggies, rice, something like that, so you can feel confident that your estimate is close enough to reality. If you’re in a deficit and trying to make very consistent progress, a meals should be your most common approach when eating out. B meals are the ones that sound like I’ll track it, but it won’t be perfect. These are the meals where you still want to track, but you accept upfront that it won’t be perfectly accurate. Maybe you’re in kind of like a shared plates situation. You might take a few bites from your partner’s dessert or the portions are hard to eyeball. You still make an effort to log what you can, you use your best guesses, and you keep yourself honest, but you give yourself permission to accept a little inaccuracy.

Emily Field 00:16:53  These meals are still incredibly useful for awareness in preventing the well, screw it mentality. But again, if you are trying to achieve a very focused fat loss goal, you have some time parameters around that goal. You want to achieve as much as possible. In this deficit phase. Maybe B meals are happening less often than a meals in the whole context of your deficit. See, meals sound like you know you’re trying to be mindful but not measured. These are mindful but not measured meals, C meals, or meals you’re choosing not to track at all. You’re mindfully going into the situation saying no tracking is going to deter my enjoyment of this meal. Maybe this is a birthday, an anniversary dinner, maybe a vacation meal where you simply want to be present, enjoy the food, and not think about macros at all. This is completely allowed. Okay, by the way, I am not here to tell you that you cannot choose this option at any point, but sometimes it helps to be incredibly mindful before we go into a meal.

Emily Field 00:17:54  To avoid the screw. It’s okay. It doesn’t mean that this meal is a free for all. I still recommend that you apply some basic skills like eating until you’re satisfied, not stuffed. Prioritizing protein earlier in the day and choosing indulgences you truly want and you will enjoy. But you’re making a conscious choice to step away from tracking this meal, and that’s completely fine. When you’re in a focused deficit, you’ll want to aim for A and B meals more than C males. That’s how you keep progressing while still having some flexibility. But notice I didn’t say no C meals females allowed. Life happens and celebration meals are all part of a sustainable fat loss approach. The key is to be intentional here. Make decisions before the meal. Say, am I treating this like A, B or C meals and adjust your expectations accordingly? And just to drive home that whole point regardless of A, B, or C. Front loading protein and eating lighter earlier or around that restaurant meal is going to go a long way.

Emily Field 00:18:58  Since restaurant meals are typically higher in fats and carbs and lower in protein. I suggest getting most of your protein and lighter meals earlier in the day. This is especially important if you’re walking into a C meal, where you want to have some flexibility without swinging too far off your macro targets overall. Even outside of a fat loss phase, the strategy still holds up. It keeps you nourished, helps with satiety, and still leaves you room to enjoy the experience without food guilt. Now let’s move into the second scenario. And honestly, this one is just as common. I want to eat out without tracking, but I still want to stay aligned with my goals. This might be you. If you’ve been tracking for a while, and you’re starting to feel more comfortable making decisions without logging every single thing. Or maybe you’re on vacation, at a special event, or you just want to take a break from the app. Totally valid reasons. This approach is for anyone who wants more flexibility without completely abandoning their progress.

Emily Field 00:19:54  Doesn’t feel like pulling out their phone at the table every time they order. They want to practice eating more intuitively while still respecting their goals. They value social and emotional parts of eating out just as much as the nutritional side. Choosing not to track is not the same thing as throwing away your goals. It’s about building the skill of estimating, listening to hunger and fullness cues, and trusting yourself to make choices that feel good both physically and mentally. So if you’ve been wondering, can I really take a break from tracking and still stay on track? The answer is yes, and I’m going to show you exactly how in this section we’re going to start with some mindful eating strategies for restaurants. The first is to review the menu in advance. I’m a huge fan of looking at the menu before you get to the restaurant. When you’re sitting at home or even in the car, you’re way more likely to make a calm, goal aligned choice. Compare that to showing up hungry, smelling fries and suddenly making decisions you didn’t intend to make.

Emily Field 00:20:51  Pre deciding removes a lot of the overwhelm and keeps you from making spur of the moment choices that you might regret later. Along those same lines, don’t show up. Ravenous. If you know the restaurant doesn’t serve food until seven but you ate lunch at noon, you’re going to be absolutely starving by the time that meal shows up. There’s no shame in having a protein forward snack before you go. Something simple like a protein shake a Greek yogurt. A hard boiled egg can take the edge off so you feel like you can make more intentional choices once you’re there. The next thing I’ll recommend is to choose a protein rich option and something that has Whole Foods. At the restaurant, I recommend that you prioritize that protein and fiber as much as you can. Your protein is going to help you feel full and stay satisfied for longer, and fiber from vegetables or whole grains will slow down digestion and help you feel more balanced. Try to minimize ultra processed or overly refined foods where you can. Not because they’re bad, but because they typically don’t fill you up or leave you feeling great later.

Emily Field 00:21:53  And in the restaurant situation, this is probably going to be things like your deep fried foods, your fries, your fried pickles, your mozzarella sticks, things like that. But I’m also thinking about refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, flour tortillas, pizza crust, pancakes, waffles, crepes, things like that. Obviously we’ve just talked about the fried foods. We have French fries. We’ve got fried chicken. Chicken tenders, chicken wings. Tempura means fried. So tempura. Fried anything. Fried seafood. Onion rings. Things that are labeled more crispy or breaded are probably going to fall into this category. And then lastly I would say, you know, it’s pretty common sense, but the ultra processed appetizers insides like mozzarella sticks or loaded nachos or queso dips, creamy cheese sauces, potato skins, pretzel bites with cheese sauce these are all going to be foods that are going to be tough to track, but also not really providing us with a lot of nutrition. They’re not going to fill us up and satisfy the same way as Whole Foods will.

Emily Field 00:22:56  And when we’re talking about staying aligned with your goals without tracking. This is what I mean. These kinds of foods are going to really, really jack up your carbs and fats for the day and make it unlikely that you’re going to be able to stay on track with your targets, even if you were just estimating those targets for the day. So the next step would be to opt for some portion control and some balance in your meals. So even without tracking, you can still think about balance. I want you to think of a plate that has a good source of protein, a carb, preferably one that has high fiber and maybe a source of fat. It’s the same concept you use when you’re tracking. You’re just doing it more visually and intuitively here. And one of my favorite tips use the 80% full rule stop eating. When you’re about 80% full. You can always eat more later if you’re truly still hungry, but we tend to overshoot when we keep going until we feel stuffed. Eating out doesn’t have to be synonymous with leaving the restaurant uncomfortably full.

Emily Field 00:23:56  Smart splurging? Maybe consider that you’re going to decide ahead of time where you want to splurge. Do you want the cocktail? Do you want a dessert? Do you want the appetizer? Do you want fries? There’s no wrong answer here, but deciding ahead of time helps you avoid the all of it sounds good and I’ll have it all situation, so consider one over the other. One of those four choices, not all four of those choices. It’s likely you’re going to be more aligned with your goals if you just choose one of those options instead of, again, more or all of those options, you’ll enjoy your meal more when you’re intentional about what you really want. Some tried and true portion control hacks that I still use to this day. Splitting a meal. It always works. Splitting a meal with my partner or my friend goes a long way. I still feel satisfied and balanced about my meal choice, but I’m not necessarily going to feel overly stuffed and feel like I need to roll out of that restaurant.

Emily Field 00:24:51  You might also consider asking for a box and packing half of the meal up right away. So it’s away from your temptation and you know you can get two meals out of it. The last one maybe consider ordering smaller portions if available, like an appetizer or a lunch sized meal. We know that restaurants serve portions designed to keep you coming back. It’s that kind of play into the mentality of value. How much food can you get for this value? It’s definitely not Necessarily, you know, to help you match your needs. They don’t care about what your needs are nutritionally, so you totally have permission to make those meals work for you using any one of those portion control hacks. A couple of last strategies here for you around the idea of connecting socially, but also staying flexible. So I don’t often recommend this, but it may be applicable to you to bring your own options to a social gathering. So if you’re headed to a party, a potluck, a barbecue, consider bringing a dish that aligns with your goals.

Emily Field 00:25:51  No one’s going to be mad if you showed up with a protein packed salad or a veggie tray. And this way, you know there’s at least one option that’ll make you feel good. A lot of my clients love to host for this very reason. This comes to be a conversation around the holidays, when we have multiple parties to choose from, or lots of different people want to get together. Consider hosting, because then you can be in charge of the menu and you know that you’re going to have some whole food PFC options that, you know, work for you. They’re not going to leave you feeling gross when you leave or like you have stomach trouble when you leave. So yeah, I mean, consider bringing your own options to the gathering or consider hosting if that’s something that’s in your wheelhouse and you love to do. Another smart strategy will probably be to skip those mindless extras. You know, the ones like the chips and salsa, the breadbasket, the candy bowl, the host house. Ask yourself, do I really want this? And if the answer is no, just skip it.

Emily Field 00:26:47  Those little extras often add up without actually bringing any satisfaction. And last but maybe the most important here is to remember you’re not there. The social situation that we’re talking about, you’re not there just for the food. You’re there for the people, the memories, the conversations, the experience. Shifting your focus from what’s on the plate to who’s around the table can reduce a lot of the stress about eating out while staying aligned with your goals. All right, so now you know, you don’t have to track everything exactly to stay aligned with your goals, but you have options to do that or not. Whether you’re choosing to estimate portions, balance your plate, or simply listen to your body, you have plenty of tools to keep making progress logging every single bite. But before we wrap up, I want to share a little bonus strategy that some of my clients have been loving, and that’s using AI like ChatGPT to make estimating macros even easier when dining out. If you’ve ever stared at a menu thinking, how on earth do I even begin to estimate this? You are not alone.

Emily Field 00:27:49  The good news is I can actually help you brainstorm meal options, estimate macro breakdowns, and even compare dishes when you’re feeling stuck and know you don’t have to be tech savvy to use it. So let me show you exactly how you could use AI as a tool, not a crutch, to make macro tracking feel less overwhelming when you’re out to eat. One of the hardest parts of restaurant meals is when there’s no nutrition information available, and you’re still really new at tracking macros, so you don’t really know what’s correct or not correct in that food library of your app. And you still want to be mindful in this situation, right? This is where I can be super helpful. You can literally ask ChatGPT to break down a dish for you. For example, you might say, what are the estimated macros for grilled chicken Caesar salad with dressing on the side? I will walk you through a reasonable estimate based on common restaurant portions and ingredients, and from there you might be able to say, you know, what’s a dinner portion typically estimate as or what does a lunch portion look like? You know, if I add cheese or take away cheese.

Emily Field 00:28:54  If I add anchovies, take them away. Croutons. No croutons. You can kind of get really specific here. And seeing how your macro estimates will change based on those tweaks that you’re making to your meal. Or maybe you’re just wondering about portion size. You can ask AI to compare similar meals, like how does a Chipotle chicken bowl compare to a Qdoba chicken meal? It gives you a starting point, which is often all you need to make a more informed choice about a restaurant without nutrition information published online. Another easy hack is to use AI to give you general macro estimates for a classic restaurant meals. Say you’re staring at a menu and you see a cheeseburger. You could ask, what are the macros for a cheeseburger without the bun and a side salad? And that’ll give you a rough ballpark to help you log. If you’re modifying a meal, I can help you make estimates for the swaps, then show you how it will impact your macros. Something like if I swap fries for veggies, how would that change the macros? This will help you adjust on the fly without second guessing.

Emily Field 00:29:56  You could also use AI to compare menu options when you’re feeling stuck. For example, you could ask which is a better macro friendly option at Olive garden chicken parm or grilled salmon with broccoli. I will help you weigh the protein, fat, and carbohydrate breakdown so you can pick the option that best supports your goals. Even better. You can ask for suggestions like how can I make this Thai stir fry more macro friendly and get ideas for swapping rice for extra veggies, getting sauce on the side, or even asking for extra protein. Pre logging is always a win when you can pull it off, but what if the restaurant doesn’t post the nutrition information? I can help you find a similar meal from a chain restaurant with published macros. This is what I was referring to in section one, except you’re asking AI to do the work instead of you doing the work. For example, you can ask what’s a similar steakhouse to Texas Roadhouse that lists their nutrition information? Then you could use that information to estimate. You can also have I help you pre log by saying something like if I plan to eat steak, a baked potato and veggies, what might my macros look like? And this might help you hold space in your diary without needing exact numbers.

Emily Field 00:31:12  When I say hold space, what I really mean is eating around those macros. So you’re eating your lunch, your breakfast, around those numbers, accommodating those protein, fat and carbs that you plan to kind of eat at dinner or even going so far as logging quick add carbs, quick add fats, or quick add protein, which is just singular grams of proteins, fats, and carbs in your diary. Every app allows you to do this, it’s just allowing you to again hold space and pull from your targets, knowing that you’ve already allotted for those macros in a future meal and knowing what you have left to work with in those meals surrounding that meal eaten out. You could also use AI to help you eyeball portions. If you ask, what does four ounces of chicken look like? It might describe it as a roughly the size of a deck of cards, or the palm of your hand. You could even ask if I eat six ounces of salmon with one cup of rice and a side of buttered asparagus.

Emily Field 00:32:08  What are my estimated macros? And I will walk you through a reasonable estimate that you can plug into your tracker. Lastly, I can help you make on the spot adjustments throughout your day. If you went over on fats at dinner, you could ask, how can I balance out my other meals to stay on track today? And I will give you some ideas for reducing fats or carbs elsewhere. And since we know restaurants love to sneak in extra oils, you could even ask if a dish is sauteed in oil. How much extra fat should I account for? And I can help you make a reasonable estimate so you feel confident you’re covering those hidden extras, something you might not have to think about as much when you’re cooking at home and have more control. All right, friend, whether you’re aiming for macro mastery or just looking to be more mindful, I hope you’re walking away from this episode with fresh strategies you can actually use the next time you eat out. Remember, you don’t have to do this perfectly to make progress.

Emily Field 00:33:01  What matters most is showing up consistently, making informed choices, and giving yourself grace along the way. And just for fun, I’d love to know. What was your biggest takeaway from today? Was it the a, b c meal strategy? Pre logging using AI to help with estimating. If you’re listening on Spotify, you can comment directly on this episode and let me know. Or DM me on Instagram. Tell me the one thing you’re going to try next time you go and eat out. I’d love to hear from you and cheer you on. Thanks for listening to the Macros Made Easy podcast and I’ll catch you in the next one. Thank you so much for listening to the Macros Made Easy podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the one you’re listening to right now to share it on your Instagram Stories, and tag me @emilyfield so that more people can find this podcast and learn how to use a macros approach in a stress free way. If you love the podcast, head over to iTunes and leave me a rating and a review.

Emily Field 00:33:53  Remember, you can always find more free health and nutrition content on Instagram and on my website at emilyfieldrd.com. Thanks for listening and I’ll catch you on the next episode.