I had to eat at a Japanese restaurant today. I realize tempura is full of carbs, but I considered it less harmful than rice or meat that was breaded or soaked in sugar. I took part of the batter off as it fell of easily and ate carrot and broccoli - just 2 and a half pieces. Plus a small bowl of miso soup. I have looked up the carb count for these and it varies from 1 to 9 grams for one piece of vegetable tempura. Since I took most of the breading off, I am guessing it might be about 5 grams including the carbs in the vegetables. The miso soup is said to be about 4 grams. So that is about 9 grams and probably should not cause weight gain.

The acid test is whether I gain weight overnight. It's always a challenge when I dare to eat at a restaurant. Scanning the menu, I saw there was no item at all without carbs except for raw fish which I am unwilling to eat.

I don't know why everything but raw fish has to have sugar or wheat in it. I do better getting a plain steak, or a burger with lettuce, cheddar and grilled onions, and not eating the bread. I've never gained weight from those. But sometimes I get asked to a restaurant that doesn't have those.

Have any of you been in that situation? What did you choose?

It depends on how often you eat at a Japanese restaurant. For me, it's so rare that I'd want to loosen up a little just for the experience (nothing obviously carby, but I'd probably eat borderline things like what you're talking about). As long as it's a one-off thing, and one-off things don't come daily, I'd just take my lumps. An extra 10 or 20 grams of carbs every day can make a big difference for some people, if it's once a week or so, maybe it's okay. Just beware the slippery slope.

Hi. Japanese restaurants here in Canada might have a more elaborate menu, but prior to going gluten-free, I went with the miso soup, chicken skewers and beef skewers (the meat never tasted sweet to me), grilled eggplant, fried tofu, and riceless hand rolls. Not ideal for Atkins, but could be worse. One local restaurant actually does a California salad - cucumber, avocado, and seaweed. (ETA) They also do pan-fried beef striploin. I'd chuckle because the menu said, "strip lion".

Consider warming up to the raw fish. It really has a wonderful texture and mild flavour. Now that I take gluten intolerance seriously and I'm basically in maintenance, sushi is a treat meal for DH and I. Rice doesn't really bother me and it's a good filling meal. Our local restaurants have gluten-free soy sauce on the side. The soy sauce is what kills all of the other menu items for me now. :/

I have had great success with the low carb WOE in both losing weight and in getting my blood sugar under control. I have religiously stuck to 20 carbs or less per day except for one day with my wife when we planned to cheat for just that one meal and we went out for sushi. That one time had virtually no effect on my progress.

I would not worry to much on small weight fluctuations from day to day. I have found that my weight can vary as much as 2 pounds from day to day, or from the beginning of the day to the end of the day. I know one factor is how much salt I consume.

For example, if I eat a salty soup for dinner, (like miso soup), I know I am going to weigh more the next morning than I did the day before. There are other factors that can effect your weight also. I always try to weight myself at the same time every Sunday morning and I don't eat anything with very much salt between Saturday morning and Sunday morning.

I agree with the post above- any change is more likely from the sodium.

Also, sashimi is amazzzzzing

I love Japanese - here are non raw fish ideas:
Hibachi or grilled meats
chicken satay skewers- skip the peanut sauce
Miso soup- and many places will offer a seafood miso soup, too
Oshitashi is a spinach side dish with soy sauce and sesame seeds
Riceless rolls (made from cucumber rounds and filled with veggies/avo)

It sounds like you don't plan on eating much Japanese- you did the best you could . So congratulate yourself and move along

Thanks for the tips. I actually didn't gain weight from that restaurant despite eating the tempura. I am sure it is because I didn't eat most of the batter, and this was a very small meal. I have never seen riceless rolls and that does sound awesome. I'd love a cucumber/avocado roll with no rice. I'll have to look around. I do often get asked to eat Japanese. One thing that bothers me is that the chicken in any dish I've had is almost always dark meat with bones and/or lots of fat. It's made me avoid the chicken. I've had better luck with nice lean beef in sukiyaki made with cabbage, but the problem is the sugar in the sauce so I automatically avoid that. I waffle between the two - which is worse for me, sugar or starch. I know that if it's under 5 gr. of carbs neither will ruin me. I just try like we all do to avoid all of that stuff most of the time. But we don't want to spoil all dining out. People tend to feel OK and not nag if they see you order two things that look real to them. I don't have to eat all of it and it makes them stop questioning me. Another thing I do to satisfy people is take the leftovers home, saying I am full. Somehow it makes them feel comforted that it won't be wasted. However, I throw it away. I'm not about to eat 180 grams of carbohydrates in a full order of anything! (that is apparently the carb count for a full order of vegetable tempura). Ah the things we have to do to keep the peace.