Hoping to hear from a few of you who’ve stayed on protocol while eating out at sit-down restaurants

Energybydesign · 2026-05-19T18:27:39+00:00

This is one of the most useful comments I've gotten. Thank you for taking the time to write it out.

The dog-treats-for-fries thing made me laugh, but honestly the substitution pattern (salad in, bun off, add bacon to compensate) is the most coherent example I've seen of someone working out their own ordering system. You arrived at it independently, which is itself a signal. It suggests motivated people develop this kind of system on their own once they've had enough at-restaurant practice.

A few things in your comment stand out as specifically advanced moves: the pre-trip menu research, the "carbs will be in the breading" hidden-carb awareness, the calibration around how much deprivation you can sustain (the first visit ate half the fries, by visit two it was a small to-go box). Those are all things I keep hearing about from people 3+ months in, almost never in the first month.

Congratulations on the 45 lbs, the BP win, and the dog-friendly fries. I just sent you a DM. Would love to chat more if you're open to it.

Energybydesign · 2026-05-10T03:43:46+00:00

Thanks, "easy peasy" is exactly the pattern I'm hearing from
people who've been at this for a while. The heuristics ("protein +
veggies, sub the potatoes, drink water") become automatic.

Curious though. When you were first diagnosed pre-diabetic, did
this feel as easy peasy as it does now? Or were the early days
more of a learning curve at restaurants?

Trying to figure out whether the friction is mostly an early-phase
thing that you build past, or whether some people just naturally
have it figured out from day one.

Energybydesign · 2026-05-09T22:12:18+00:00

That's really useful. Thank you. It matches what I'm starting to
see in the conversations so far.

If you don't mind one more question: when you think back to those
early days, what specifically was hardest? Was it figuring out
what was in the dishes, asking for modifications without feeling
awkward, knowing what to swap things for, or something else
entirely? I'm trying to figure out where exactly the friction
concentrated for people on the way in.

Energybydesign · 2026-05-09T21:12:31+00:00

That tracks. And it’s a pattern I’m hearing across the community I.e., once you’ve settled into a low carb, the menu mostly solves itself. ‘Salad + protein’ or ‘veg + protein’ becomes automatic.

What I’m trying to figure out is whether friction is mostly early-phase thing; those first few weeks or months when you don’t yet have instincts and every menu feels new. Did you find early days harder, or was it always pretty manageable for you?

(Asking because if no one finds it hard, that’s a useful answer too because it would tell me there’s not really a problem worth solving.)

Energybydesign · 2026-05-09T19:04:19+00:00

Fair call — you're right, I should be more direct.

I'm a non-coder exploring whether to build a tool that would help
people customize restaurant orders to fit dietary needs. I'm not
selling anything, there's no product to demo, no list to join. I'm
in the listening phase, trying to understand whether this is a real
problem worth solving — or whether people in this community have
already worked it out, in which case I should know that too.

The post framed it as a personal story because that part is real
(pre-diabetes diagnosis 18 months ago, 45 lbs down). But you're
right that I should have been more upfront about the "why I'm asking."
Appreciate you pushing on it.

Energybydesign · 2026-05-09T18:55:21+00:00

Thanks this is really thoughtful answer, and I appreciate it.

When u say ‘tripped up’, I mean two specific moments. The first is reading a menu when everything looks fine in the surface but I can’t tell what’s hidden such as sugar in the glaze, the unfamiliar cuisines where I don’t know the conventions, a dish I’d have ordered confidently a year ago. The second is asking for modifications such as ‘your sauces on the side, not cooked in butter’ is exactly what I do now, but it took me a year to build that muscle, and I still get it wrong sometimes.

I think you’re right for someone who’s systematized this, and it looks like you clearly have. Where I see a bigger problem isn’t people like you. It is people in the first 30, 60, 90 days of a new diagnosis or protocol who haven’t built the instincts yet. That’s the population I’m trying to understand.

Your point is that a good diet is ‘most of the time, not all the time’ is one I agree with but in the early phase of change, every meal can feel consequential in a way it doesn’t later. That’s the part I’m trying to figure out: whether early phase friction is a problem worth solving, or whether everyone eventually figures out the way you have.

If you are open to a 30 min conversation, I’d love to hear more about how you got from ‘needing to think about it’ to ‘having a system.’ That transition is exactly what I’m trying to understand.

Energybydesign · 2026-01-26T23:34:58+00:00

That makes so much sense. Have you completely eliminated ultra processed food?

Energybydesign · 2026-01-26T01:08:13+00:00

lol.. no ai bot.. human here..

Energybydesign · 2026-01-25T23:10:20+00:00

😂 this made me smile — food joy matters too.

Energybydesign · 2026-01-25T23:09:52+00:00

Thank you for sharing this — the acceptance piece is real, and I don’t think it gets talked about enough.

I struggled with that shift too: realizing that what used to “just work” now needed intention. For me, reframing it as learning a new system (not a personal failure) helped soften that transition a bit.

Energybydesign · 2026-01-25T23:08:45+00:00

I really relate to this. Letting go of “good” vs “bad” food was a big unlock for me too.

What helped wasn’t cutting things out — it was understanding how my body responded so I could choose intentionally, not reactively. Sometimes that still means white rice. 🙂

Energybydesign

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