Key takeaways
- You don't need to avoid restaurants to lose fat. One meal out won't undo your progress.
- Order a protein-based main with vegetables, and choose one or two extras you really want.
- Sauces, sides, bread, desserts and drinks are where restaurant calories add up.
- Go back to your normal routine at the next meal. No skipping or compensating.
In this guide
Eating out is part of normal life: work lunches, dinners with friends, date nights, family celebrations and the occasional takeaway. Avoiding all of it isn't realistic, and it isn't necessary to lose fat.
What helps is having a few simple habits that let you enjoy the meal without undoing a week's progress. This guide covers how to order, what to watch for at common types of restaurant, and what to do afterwards.
Why restaurant meals are easy to overeat
Restaurant food is designed to taste great, and that often means more oil, butter, salt, sugar and larger portions than you'd make at home. On top of that come bread, starters, sides, desserts and drinks. Studies of restaurant meals have found that many main courses alone contain a large share of an adult's daily calories, sometimes more.
None of that means you shouldn't eat out. It just means a few decisions make a big difference.
Simple ordering rules
- Start with protein. Choose a main based on chicken, fish, lean meat, eggs, beans or tofu.
- Add vegetables or salad. Ask to swap chips for salad or vegetables, or order a vegetable side.
- Pick your extras. Choose the one or two things you most want, such as a starter, a dessert, bread or drinks, rather than all of them.
- Ask for sauces and dressings on the side, so you can decide how much to use.
- Eat slowly and stop when you're comfortably full. You don't need to finish the plate. Many restaurants are happy to box leftovers.
Portion control without counting explains how to use your hand as a quick guide to portions on your plate.
Smarter choices at common restaurants and takeaways
These are general suggestions. Dishes vary a lot between restaurants, so use them as a starting point.
| Type of food | Often a good choice | Easy to overdo |
|---|---|---|
| Pub or grill | Grilled chicken, steak or fish with vegetables or a jacket potato | Battered fish and chips, creamy pies, loaded burgers with extra sides |
| Italian | Tomato-based pasta, grilled fish or chicken, thin-crust pizza shared with a salad | Creamy or cheesy pasta, garlic bread, a whole deep-pan pizza |
| Indian | Tandoori chicken or fish, tikka dishes, dal, vegetable sides, plain rice | Creamy curries such as korma or butter chicken, naan and fried starters together |
| Chinese | Stir-fried chicken, beef or prawns with vegetables, steamed rice | Battered and deep-fried dishes, sweet sauces, fried rice and noodles together |
| Mexican | Burrito bowl or fajitas with extra salad, beans and salsa | Nachos, extra cheese and sour cream, large tortilla chips portions |
| Japanese | Sashimi, sushi, edamame, grilled chicken or fish | Tempura, lots of mayonnaise-based rolls |
| Burger places | Single burger with a side salad, or a grilled chicken option | Double burgers, large fries and milkshakes together |
| Breakfast café | Eggs on wholegrain toast, omelette, porridge | Full fry-ups with extra toast and pastries, large sweet coffees |
Drinks
Drinks are often the biggest hidden source of calories when you eat out, and alcohol also makes it harder to stick to your plan with food. Simple options:
- Decide on a limit before you arrive.
- Alternate alcoholic drinks with water or zero-alcohol options.
- Choose lower-calorie drinks, such as spirits with a diet mixer, or a smaller glass of wine, rather than pints of strong beer or sugary cocktails.
- Have water with your meal.
Alcohol and fat loss covers this in more detail.
Planning around a meal out
If you know you're eating out, a few small adjustments earlier in the day can help:
- Eat normally beforehand. Arriving starving makes it much harder to make good choices. A protein-rich breakfast and lunch are better than skipping meals to "save up" calories.
- Check the menu in advance if you can, and decide what you'll order before you arrive.
- Take a longer walk that day. It's not about earning the meal, just keeping your activity up.
Eating out often
If you eat out several times a week for work, those meals make up a large part of your diet, and the rules above become especially important. A few extra habits help:
- Keep to your normal meal pattern and portion sizes as much as you can.
- Treat most business meals as normal meals, not special occasions.
- Save desserts and extra drinks for the meals that really matter to you.
- Walk between meetings where you can.
What to do the next day
The next day, go straight back to your normal routine. Don't skip breakfast, cut calories dramatically or add a punishing workout to "make up" for it. That tends to cause more hunger and another cycle of overeating.
It's also normal for the scale to be higher the morning after a restaurant meal. Salty food, extra carbohydrate and the food still in your digestive system all add weight temporarily. It's mostly water, not fat, and it usually settles within a few days. Water weight vs fat loss explains why.
If you eat out mostly at weekends, weekend eating and fat loss has more on keeping weekends from cancelling out your week.
The bottom line
You can eat out and still lose fat. Start with protein and vegetables, choose one or two extras you really want, keep an eye on sauces and drinks, and stop when you're comfortably full. Then go straight back to normal at the next meal. It's your habits across the week, not any single dinner, that decide your results.
Free printable resource
Put this into practice: the free 7-day starter checklist
Seven practical days covering your baseline, nutrition setup, a simple beginner workout, daily movement and a review. It comes with a grocery checklist, habit tracker, progress sheet and a planner for the next 30 days.
Free, printable and no sign-up needed right now.
How this guide was written
Written by the LoseManBoobs7 editorial team using established public-health guidance and peer-reviewed research, following our editorial policy and health content policy. It has not been individually reviewed by a medical professional. Last reviewed . Spotted an error? Tell us.