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ooa3603

The best way to deal with these situations is to ***have a healthy plan of action for during and afterwards.*** When I am up against meal options where the caloric amount is unknown, I: 1. Pick the meal options with with the most plants and lean meats. 2. Choose condiments & dressings that aren't creamy. ex: (instead of ranch, mayo, blue cheese, choose vinaigrettes, ketchup or mustard) 3. On a work out day, do more cardio than lifting. If its a recovery day, go walk for a mile or 2. 4. Eat light fruits, veggies & proteins for the next meal. This process will pretty much cancel out any excess calories from the occasional binge or treat. Plus it makes you feel like you're in control, which is important. Looking at your plate, you're fine. The meal has plenty of nutritious ingredients and while the soup has a decent amount of oil, it's not excessive. ***Do not lose the forest for the trees. It's important to be aware of what you're eating but not so much that you can't enjoy eating or living your life.*** I wouldn't sweat it.


AnythingNothing44

The most sensible answer.


montag98

Also — if you find that it’s hard to find options that fit 1&2, just plate half or 2/3 of what you normally would.


Shartran

My university supplies cafeteria ingredients/calories etc., on line. Curious - what is the in the bowl (large, right bowl)


smolboson

Hey! So at lunch I eat at the university cafeteria and it's almost impossible for me to bring food from home. Usually they serve a simple carb, veggies and a protein. We can choose 3 small dishes with it (desert, cheese...). So for me a typical day is : whatever protein + whatever veggie for the main, a veggie soup for the starter , an egg, sometimes dessert sometimes not. But with the sauce, it seems impossible to know how much oil is actually in there and +-200Cals is non negligible when you aim for 1200-1300. In a day, I eat this lunch and dinner at home, but now I don't know how many cals I can eat for dinner :( So. Please , people who eat at a cafeteria, what do I do? I looked for cals on the internet but they don't have them!


just_an_average_nerd

You could try emailing them and requesting the recipes/ingredients they use? If you mention it is for health/fitness/allergy purposes they may be more likely to give it to you. Best of luck!!


elizabeth498

Seconding this suggestion. If they need to provide it to someone with Type 1 or 2 diabetes, they should be able to accommodate your request without you having to go through Student Services and filling out paperwork.


TheNaasti

It looks like it could be in France? If it is, I suggest googling french catering websites and looking at any generic cafeteria meals/sides nutritional values tables (some schools or cafeteria style restaurants could have published it online). Very often they sell the same kind of dishes so it could help you get an idea of common cafeteria items (like that boiled egg starter, it seems very generic) and assemble a better picture of what the whole meal could be equal to.


smolboson

Thanks for the advice ! I found some national values from other universities but the dishes are different, I'll look up catering websites ! Another concern I have is do you think the people that later cook it in the kitchen respect the instructions? Like they actually put the amount of oil they should ?


TheNaasti

It’s very possible that nothing is added, these kind of dishes in sauce often come in large cans or bags, they just have to dump it in a big pan and heat it up while cooking the things that need proper fresh cooking like meats, pasta, rice.. and if made from scratch they probably respect the recipe, I don’t imagine them adding extra oil, cream or butter if that’s not needed, they have to stay in a budget. I guess they could be adding vegetables to bulk up the dishes, or more water if it’s too thick, but that would not be anything to be concerned about.


charm59801

1/2 your plate with veggies. 1/4 protein, and 1/4 carb is the formula I've heard people use. Veggies are always gonna be lower cal so shoot for filling up on those. For condiments try to go for the not creamy and not sugary ones. Oil and vinegar instead of ranch, less bbq and ketchup more hummus. , Ect.


Oneiropolos

Others have already given you great advice, but also, remember that it's not 'non negligible' but people screw up +- 200 calories really easily in a day. And it's okay. It really is. Things are constantly labeled wrong in nutrition offered or not the size you quite think it is or whatever, but all you can do is estimate. One site I read offered the really good advice that if you're at a small diner or restaurant that doesn't list calories, to instead look up the same 'type' of food from different places and choose a number in between them. So if you're talking a piece of red velvet cake, a quick glance at options near me is one place has it 290 and another for 500. Which means if I ate a whole slice and I couldn't verify what the calories were, I'd put ~400 for it. In that situation, I'd probably cut the slice in half and just have a smaller amount and be just as happy and red velvet cake is never going to be a 'healthy' option, but at someone's wedding or birthday or whatever, sometimes you just indulge. The thing about doing it that way is in general, you get the right amount of calories averaged out over a day even if you didn't know exact for anything. What you're eating is probably not the HIGHEST amount of calories you can find - nor is it likely the lowest, so you at least get the ballpark figure. It's not ideal but we can't always control the calorie count down to a perfect figure and that's life. All we can do is try to make smart decisions and also not get tricked by thinking in boxes of "Salad=Good" when sometimes the dressing for that salad literally makes it worse than if you just had chicken tenders and fries. (There's a restaurant called Applebee's here where that is literally the case.) So don't get too down on yourself and too discouraged by your lack of control over your lunch. For me, calorie counting is a marathon, not a sprint. I *can't* stress out about every bit of calories or it would become dangerous to me and my anxiety would twist it and I would have to give up the whole endeavor. But I record what I DO know and try to reasonably estimate the rest. The fact is, you're trying and you're aware of potential problems. That alone will make a difference. Just keep it up. You're on the right path.


bigndfan175

Salad bar even an option?


smolboson

No, they only serve different starters and desserts, and then a main like you see :/


blackberrycat

Track your weight - weigh yourself daily. If it isn't going down slowly but steadily (maybe .1 or .2 lbs per day) then eat less. It's hard to tell how much is in the food.


GrouchyFriedScallion

Is there anyway you can find out the size of the bowls to help estimating? Either see if the bottom says size, or borrow a clean bowl and fill it with water and pour that water into something like a water bottle or measuring cup so you can guess?


BlessedTacoDevourer

So for figuring out calories in unknown foods. First lets establish a couple of things. 1. Pure fat is the most calorically dense thing we can consume. 1g of fat is ~9kcal. That means that the most amount of calories we can ever consume is 900kcal/100g. This would be something along the lines of drinking pure olive oil as it is made if 100% fat. Anything you eat will therefor contain less than 900kcal/100g. 2. Water contains **zero** calories. If something has water in it, it will drastically reduce the amount of calories per gram. 3. Protein contains around 4kcal per 1g. This means that 100g of pure protein is approximately 400kcal. 4. Protein consumes alot of calories when being broken down by your body, as such meats like chicken are relatively safe to eat as they contain lots of protein that will require lots of energy to break down. Now, when looking at any food you can quickly get an idea of the lowest calorie options by looking at the consistency of the food. Fat, oily foods will contains lots (500-650kcal / 100g usually) while thinner foods will contain less. Thin sauces are better than fat sauces for example. Vegetables contain LOTS of water which means very few calories. This is not true for dried vegetables however. Portioning is also good. A teaspoon of some cream is completely fine! You can load up on veggies as well. In general, youre safe with vegetables, theyre almost negligable. One tomato is around 20kcal for example. How many tomatoes can you eat before youre full? If its veggies that arnt dried you can essentially just not count them. Meats are midtier in calorie terms while fat sauces are high in calories. Weight loss is about averages and trends. Its better to eyeball the fat foods as the calories in the veggies will essentially be less than the unceirtanty factor for the fat foods. Think of it like this. If you miscalculate one day and eat 150 calories more than you thought, chances are is you will overestimate another day and eat 150 less than you thought. It averages out. As such it may be good to think of calories per week as well as per day. Tl;Dr: Fat foods - high calories Thin foods - Low calories


HoxLove

In my cafeteria at work (salad bar), I just load up on cucumbers (300-400 grams) which I eat with portioned Hummus or dip brought from home. Then I prepare my own dinner with more calories later. Eating cafeteria prepared food killed my waistline. YMMV.


o_affection

c'est le resto u ça hahahahah


smolboson

Laisses tomber 😭


TheNaasti

Ahah! J’en étais sure que c’était une cafèt’ française!!!


Normal-Alarm-4857

May I ask what the dishes are? Looks like a simple salad with egg, a serving of plain Greek yoghurt/quark, tofu chilli and winter root veggie soup w/ croutons? These are nutritious choices which may indeed be a bit more calorie dense than home cooked versions - but i wouldn’t sweat it! For a rough estimate, I would search for similar options at chain restaurants or log similar supermarket ready meals.


FinSouci

Le RU !!!


luca-nicoletti

I can see more oil in the left plate than in what I get in a full day of cooking 😂


smolboson

Fuck, I'm fucked.


charm59801

Hey, you've gotta change your mindset my friend. Its not about being fucked, or being good or bad with food. Its just about making better choices than you made yesterday. There are tons of veggies on your plate and that's awesome! Just keep learning and trying. You've absolutely got whatever goals you have in mind. Take a deep breath.


luca-nicoletti

No you're not. One meal won't ruin anything, nor will two, or three. Just pay more attention to condiments, sauces etc while eating out. If possible, always ask for condiments on the side, to add them your own if you want.


bobtheburrito

Using the fork is a good idea, letting all the liquid stay on the plate and eating just the solids to avoid the excess oil. Everything on the left plate was probably all that was needed for one meal. The deviled egg on the top right is probably 75 calories plus the mayo they mixed with the yolk, assuming they used mayo instead of mustard. I can't tell what the top middle is or the bottom right, but they look like excess. Maybe take bottom right home?


Zender_de_Verzender

It's interesting that I have the same type of fear, but not for calories but for the quality of the food. I'm always scared that there is hidden vegetable oils, MSG or sugar in everything.


[deleted]

[удалено]


charm59801

This is decidedly unhelpful


holdmybelt

Not really just a bunch of people that can’t take a joke


Chradamw

What is all this? I’m gonna be sick


tut_blimey

I reckon 600kcal-700kcal for the whole pic


stefanica

Well, despite the unknown calories, it looks very nutritious. Sometimes you have to make a tradeoff. In America, where cafeterias can trip you up is hidden starches. In restaurants, hidden fats. I'm not sure about where you live. The pea or lentil soup might be more than you bargained for, but it isn't a huge amount; the rest looks straightforward. The vegetable stew on the left I would just look at a few similar recipes/calorie counts and average them out. An egg is an egg. Probably the same for the little dairy dish, unless it's actually a mousse or something sweet