Texas Roadhouse

It took some planning but I (almost) did it!

Here's 500 calories (ish) at Texas Roadhouse.

Probably should disclose that Texas Roadhouse does NOT publish thier nutritional information so these are estimates according to what people have posted on y Fitness Pal and Livestrong.




Roast Chicken: 276 calories with skin (I didn't eat the skin so you can subtract at least 50 calories for that)
Seasoned Rice: 199 calories for one cup (which is what they give you! I love that they serve it in a little bowl instead of just on the plate where it would be hard to eyeball the serving size)

That's 425 calories or so there.




Then I also had a side salad. I had them leave off the eggs and tomatos (personal preference) and had light ranch dressing on the side so I used a very small amount. I also took most of the cheese off, probably left a couple Tbsp and the croutons as well (my husband likes to munch the croutons, so I didn't have them leave them of all together).

So that comes in at about 500 calories.

The trick is not to eat the rolls. I can't say I succeeded there but I'm on Weight Watchers and that's what we have weekly points allowances for! (My goal is to usually have one semi-indulgent but in control day, which was today! That's what I love about that program, its very liveable).

BTW, rolls with no butter according to My Fitness Pal is 115 calories. So they're okay to indulge a little in but can get out of control fast!

Texas Roadhouse actually has some very good choices. 6 oz sirloin steak would be a great one, I just don't like steak! (I know, Un-American right?) There's some good veggie side dish options, just watch those fries and potatos!

And of course there's good salad choices, just watch the dressing and mountains of cheese.

Unfortunately the chicken critters with steak fries, not a good option. I love those greasy things!

500 Calories or Less at Chick-Fil-A

Any mom who lives anywhere near a free standing Chick Fil A knows its the place to be with kids. (Unless your child has a peanut allergy but that's another issue...)

You can sit, eat, visit, and let the play where you can see but not hear them if you're lucky enough to get a table by the window! And during weekday lunchtime they even have a super nice person on duty in the dining room to help you get your food to the table, get yourself set up, get any extras you need, and even get your trays for you when you're done! They'll even set up place mats for the kids!

And this time my kids even went in and played by themselves for the first time without freaking out that mommy wasn't in there with them! (Woo hoo! Because as much as I love my Chick-Fil-A, that play area is claustrophobic! And having to climb up the slide to retrieve a scared child who knows how to go up but not down is no picnic either. Not that I've done that a time or twenty-six...)

So all of that intro aside, here is my 500 calories or less meal at Chick-Fil-A. A Chargrilled Chicken Cool Wrap with ranch. I only use a tiny bit of the ranch. Less than 1 Tbsp. Its not the lowest cal thing there but its made up of healthy (for fast food) components. This is my favorite warm weather meal there (for when its cold outside, I luuuuuuv their soup).

My dining companion (another mom I was meeting there) had a Chicken Salad sandwich and fruit, which is also a good choice. That sandwich comes in right at 500 calories and is probably the highest calories of all of their sandwiches, which are pretty low in general, but it certainly looked more filling than some of the others.

In fact, most of their salads and sandwiches are under 500, I think because they typically don't have cheese or mayo on them (and its all skinless chicken breast...sometimes breaded and fried chicken but still skinless chicken breast). You get yourself in trouble when you start adding sides. Small waffle fries are 280 calories. Those with a Chargrilled Chicken sandwich would be 540 total. Not the worst, but you can do better there. You can fit them in without too big of a hit though if you get them with kids meal nuggets. Four nuggets are 130 calories. Just watch those sauces! Those little packets are as much as 140 calories! (BBQ and honey mustard are your best bets at 45, Chick-fil-a sauce, polynesian and ranch, are the higher ones)

So here's the damage:

Chargrilled chicken cool wrap: 410 calories, 12 g fat, 49 g carbs, 33 g protein, 11 WW P+
1 Tbsp Ranch dressing (the full fat stuff): 80 calories, 8 g fat, no carbs or protein, 2 WW P+

Total: 490 calories!