How to Track Macros When Eating Out (Without Ruining the Experience)

TL;DR

• Restaurant meals typically contain 20 to 60% more calories than home-cooked equivalents
• AI food scanning is the fastest way to estimate macros when eating out
• Snap a photo of your restaurant meal with Chowdown, a free AI macro tracker, for an instant estimate
• Approximate tracking is far better than skipping meals entirely

Eating out is where most macro trackers quietly give up. You sit down at a restaurant, stare at the menu, and realise you have absolutely no idea how many grams of protein are in the chicken tikka masala. The rice portion is a mystery. The naan bread wasn’t part of the plan but it arrived at the table and, well, here we are.

The old advice was “just don’t eat out.” That’s terrible advice. Social meals, date nights, and spontaneous dinners with friends are part of a good life. The real skill is learning to track restaurant meals without turning dinner into a maths exam.

Here’s how.

Why Restaurant Meals Are So Hard to Track

Three reasons:

Hidden calories are everywhere. Restaurants cook with far more butter, oil, and cream than you’d use at home. A “grilled chicken breast” at a restaurant might be cooked in 2 tablespoons of butter, adding 200 calories that are invisible on the plate. Studies suggest restaurant meals contain 20 to 60% more calories than the equivalent home-cooked version.

Portions are larger than you think. A restaurant pasta serving is typically 150 to 200g of dry pasta. At home, you’d probably cook 80g. That’s double the carbs before you even consider the sauce.

Menus don’t list macros. Some chain restaurants provide nutritional information (usually buried on their website), but independent restaurants almost never do. You’re guessing, and humans are notoriously bad at guessing portion sizes and calorie content.

Strategy 1: AI Food Scanning

This is the fastest and most practical approach. Take a photo of your meal and let AI estimate the macros.

Chowdown uses AI to identify foods from photos and break down the nutritional content. Point your phone at your restaurant plate, snap a photo, and you’ll get an estimate for protein, carbs, fats, and calories within seconds.

Is it perfect? No. AI scanning at restaurants has a wider margin of error than scanning simple home-cooked meals because restaurants add hidden fats and the exact ingredients aren’t always visible. But a rough estimate is infinitely better than no estimate.

Tips for better AI scanning accuracy at restaurants:

• Take the photo from directly above (bird’s eye view)
• Make sure the lighting is decent
• If the dish is complex, describe it in text as well (“lamb rogan josh with pilau rice and naan”)
• Review the AI’s estimate and adjust if something looks off

Strategy 2: The Estimation Framework

When you can’t or don’t want to scan your food, use this mental framework to estimate macros on the fly.

Step 1: Identify the Protein

Look at your plate and find the protein source. Estimate its weight using your palm as a guide: one palm-sized portion of meat or fish is roughly 100 to 120g cooked, which gives you approximately 25 to 30g of protein.

Step 2: Estimate Carbs

Rice, pasta, bread, and potatoes are the usual suspects. A restaurant portion of rice is typically 200 to 250g cooked (roughly 50 to 65g of carbs). A bread roll is about 30g of carbs. A portion of chips is 40 to 60g of carbs.

Step 3: Account for Hidden Fats

This is the most commonly missed step. Add 15 to 25g of fat on top of whatever you can see. That accounts for cooking oils, butter, sauces, and dressings. It sounds like a lot, but restaurants are generous with fat because fat tastes good.

Step 4: Log It

Enter the estimate into your tracker. It doesn’t need to be precise. Being within 20% of the actual values is good enough for real-world results.

Strategy 3: Menu Research

Many chain restaurants publish nutritional information online. Before you go out, check:

• Nando’s: Full nutritional info on their website and app
• Wagamama: Nutritional data available on request and online
• McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, Five Guys: All publish detailed nutrition
• Pizza Express, Zizzi, ASK Italian: Online nutrition guides available
• Greggs: Full macro information in-store and online

Spending 2 minutes checking the menu before you arrive lets you plan your order. You can choose the chicken breast instead of the thigh, skip the creamy sauce, or go for a side salad instead of chips, all with actual data rather than guesswork.

Restaurant Type Cheat Sheet

Here’s a quick guide to common restaurant types and how to estimate macros:

Indian

• Tandoori/grilled dishes: best option. High protein, moderate fat.
• Curry with cream/coconut: add 20 to 30g fat on top of what you’d guess
• Rice (pilau): 60 to 70g carbs per portion (cooked with oil, so more calories than plain rice)
• Naan bread: 40 to 50g carbs, 10g fat per piece
• Best order for macros: Chicken tikka (not masala) with plain rice. Roughly 45g protein, 55g carbs, 15g fat, 530 calories.

Italian

• Pasta portions are huge. Assume 150g+ dry pasta (80g+ carbs) unless it’s a starter size.
• Pizza: a full pizza is easily 1,200 to 1,500 calories. Half a thin-crust is more manageable.
• Best order for macros: Grilled chicken or fish with a side of vegetables and a small portion of pasta. Or a protein-topped salad.

Chinese

• Stir-fries are deceptively calorie-dense due to oil. Add 15 to 20g fat.
• Rice: similar to Indian, 55 to 65g carbs per portion
• Best order for macros: Steamed dishes where available, or a simple chicken/prawn stir-fry with plain rice.

Pub Grub

• Burgers: 500 to 800 calories depending on toppings. The bun alone is 30 to 40g carbs.
• Fish and chips: 900 to 1,200 calories. The batter adds 30g+ carbs and 20g+ fat to the fish.
• Best order for macros: Grilled chicken or steak with a jacket potato and salad. Skip the chips.

Fast Food

• McDonald’s: Big Mac is 508 cal, 26g protein. Grilled chicken wrap is better at 380 cal, 27g protein.
• Subway: 6-inch chicken breast sub on wheat is roughly 320 cal, 24g protein. Skip the footlong and creamy sauces.
• Nando’s: Half chicken with corn on the cob and coleslaw is about 680 cal, 70g protein. One of the best macro-friendly fast food meals around.

The “Bookend” Strategy

If you know you’re eating out tonight, use the bookend strategy: control what you eat before and after the restaurant meal, and give yourself flexibility at dinner.

Here’s how it works:

1. Calculate your daily targets (use our free macro calculator if needed)
2. Front-load protein in your earlier meals (high protein breakfast and lunch)
3. Keep earlier meals lower in carbs and fats to create headroom
4. Enjoy dinner without stressing, knowing you’ve banked protein and saved calories

For example, if your daily target is 2,000 calories and 150g protein:

• Breakfast: Protein shake and Greek yoghurt (300 cal, 50g protein)
• Lunch: Chicken salad, no dressing (350 cal, 40g protein)
• That leaves 1,350 calories and 60g protein for dinner, enough to enjoy almost any restaurant meal comfortably.

This isn’t about starving yourself to “earn” dinner. It’s about distributing your daily macros intelligently.

What About Alcohol?

A pint of beer is roughly 200 calories with minimal protein. A glass of wine is 125 to 150 calories. A gin and tonic is about 120 calories. Cocktails can range from 150 to 500 calories depending on the mixers and syrups.

Alcohol provides 7 calories per gram but no useful macronutrients. If you’re drinking, account for the calories but don’t try to replace a macro with alcohol. The practical approach: have your drinks, log them honestly, and accept that a night out with alcohol will likely put you slightly over your targets. That’s fine. One evening doesn’t undo a week of consistency.

For a deeper look at alcohol and macros, keep an eye out for our upcoming guide on the topic.

The Mindset Shift

Here’s the truth that most fitness content won’t tell you: a slightly inaccurate log of a restaurant meal is infinitely better than no log at all.

Many people skip tracking entirely when they eat out because they “can’t be accurate.” This is the perfection trap. Your log doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to exist.

If you tracked your home meals precisely and estimate your restaurant meal roughly, your weekly average will still be close enough to drive results. One estimated meal out of 21 weekly meals changes your average by less than 5%.

Track it. Estimate it. Move on. That’s what flexible dieting is all about.

The Bottom Line

Eating out doesn’t need to derail your nutrition. The tools and strategies exist to track restaurant meals with reasonable accuracy.

Your three options, in order of ease:

1. Scan with AI: Snap a photo with Chowdown and let the AI estimate your macros
2. Estimate manually: Use the protein, carbs, and hidden fats framework above
3. Research first: Check the restaurant’s nutritional info online before you go

Combine any of these with the bookend strategy (front-loading protein earlier in the day) and you can eat out regularly without sacrificing your goals.

Use our free macro calculator to set your daily targets, track your meals with Chowdown, and stop letting restaurant meals be the excuse that holds you back.

Life’s too short to never eat out. Track it and enjoy it.