''Part of the [[Using the iOS app|Loopa app]] guide. Also on Android.''
'''Eating Out''' helps you order on plan when you are not cooking. Name the restaurant and it looks the menu up for you, then hands back a few concrete orders ranked against the day you have actually had. Open it from '''More''' → '''Your Food Plans''' → '''Eating Out'''. It is part of Loopa Premium.
''General wellness tracking, not medical advice.''
== Finding a restaurant ==
Start typing a name, or skip the name entirely and photograph the menu — see below.
Start typing a name. Well-known places appear as you type, and a small bolt marks the ones already looked up — those answer instantly and do not count against your daily lookups. There is a second field for the town or city, which helps when the place is independent rather than a chain.
Your recent restaurants appear as shortcuts. That list lives on your device only.
Tap '''Find my picks'''. If nobody has asked about this restaurant before, Loopa has to go and read its menu, which takes a moment — you will see an honest wait rather than a spinner that pretends. You can leave the screen; it carries on and is waiting when you come back.
== Photograph the menu ==
Some places are not in any database — the diner with no website, a specials board, a menu in another language. '''Scan a menu instead''' takes a photo of the menu in front of you and reads it.
You do not type a restaurant name for this. Point the camera at the menu, fill the frame, shoot straight on rather than at an angle, and Loopa reads the dishes off it.
From there it is the same feature: the same ranking against the day you have had, the same never-eat filtering, the same contains / likely contains / unclear wording. Only where the menu came from is different.
Two things to expect. Most printed menus do not list calories, so the figures on a scanned menu are '''estimates''' and are labelled as such. And a photo it cannot read is a photo it will say it cannot read — retake it closer rather than trusting a guess.
The photo is not kept. It is read, ranked, and discarded before the results come back.
== How strict do you want to be ==
Two modes, and you can switch without spending another lookup:
- '''Stay on plan''' (the default) — only shows things that fit what is left of your day. If nothing on the menu does, it tells you so rather than padding the list.
- '''Best available''' — shows the best of the menu even when nothing really fits.
When staying on plan has held things back, Loopa offers to show them. When it has not, it does not ask.
== Your picks ==
Each pick is a card with the order to place, its calories and macros, and:
- A '''fit score''' out of 100 — how well it uses what is left of your day, allowing for your diet style and any changes you could ask for.
- A '''one-line reason''' for that score, in real numbers: "Fits the 550 kcal you have left and covers 42g of your remaining protein."
- '''Modification tips''' where asking for a change makes a real difference — "no rice, no sour cream".
Figures the restaurant publishes are shown as published. Everything else is an estimate and is labelled as one.
== Allergens and things you avoid ==
Anything the menu data flags as '''containing''' something on your never-eat list is removed before you see it. Where the data cannot tell, the item may still appear, marked, and it is never allowed near the top of the list.
The vocabulary is deliberately '''contains''', '''likely contains''' and '''unclear'''. There is no "free of" — no menu read off the internet can support that claim, so Loopa does not make it. Every result carries this notice, and it means what it says:
''Ingredient and allergen information is estimated and may be incomplete or outdated. Always confirm directly with the restaurant, especially for allergies.''
If Loopa could not match something on your never-eat list to anything the menu describes, it tells you which one, so you can read the descriptions yourself.
Set your never-eat list and diet style in [[Setting up your profile]].
== When the menu is wrong ==
Menus change and web data goes stale. '''Something here looks wrong''' at the bottom of the results sends a note to a person. When enough people report the same restaurant, its stored menu is dropped and the next lookup reads it fresh.
== Logging it ==
Eating Out gives you something to order; it does not log anything by itself. Once you have eaten, tap the pick to log it, or enter it on [[The Food log screen]] by search or by '''[[Describe a meal|Describe]]'''.
== See also ==
- [[The Food log screen]]
- [[Meal planner]]
- [[Describe a meal]]
- [[Setting up your profile]]
- [[Using the iOS app]]
[[Category:The iOS app]] [[Category:mobieusHealth]] [[Category:Food and nutrition]]
''Part of the [[Using the iOS app|Loopa app]] guide. Also on Android.'' '''Eating Out''' helps you order on plan when you are not cooking. Name the restaurant and it looks the menu up for you, then hands back a few concrete orders ranked against the day you have actually had. Open it from '''More''' → '''Your Food Plans''' → '''Eating Out'''. It is part of Loopa Premium. ''General wellness tracking, not medical advice.'' == Finding a restaurant == Start typing a name, or skip the name entirely and photograph the menu — see below. Start typing a name. Well-known places appear as you type, and a small bolt marks the ones already looked up — those answer instantly and do not count against your daily lookups. There is a second field for the town or city, which helps when the place is independent rather than a chain. Your recent restaurants appear as shortcuts. That list lives on your device only. Tap '''Find my picks'''. If nobody has asked about this restaurant before, Loopa has to go and read its menu, which takes a moment — you will see an honest wait rather than a spinner that pretends. You can leave the screen; it carries on and is waiting when you come back. == Photograph the menu == Some places are not in any database — the diner with no website, a specials board, a menu in another language. '''Scan a menu instead''' takes a photo of the menu in front of you and reads it. You do not type a restaurant name for this. Point the camera at the menu, fill the frame, shoot straight on rather than at an angle, and Loopa reads the dishes off it. From there it is the same feature: the same ranking against the day you have had, the same never-eat filtering, the same contains / likely contains / unclear wording. Only where the menu came from is different. Two things to expect. Most printed menus do not list calories, so the figures on a scanned menu are '''estimates''' and are labelled as such. And a photo it cannot read is a photo it will say it cannot read — retake it closer rather than trusting a guess. The photo is not kept. It is read, ranked, and discarded before the results come back. == How strict do you want to be == Two modes, and you can switch without spending another lookup: * '''Stay on plan''' (the default) — only shows things that fit what is left of your day. If nothing on the menu does, it tells you so rather than padding the list. * '''Best available''' — shows the best of the menu even when nothing really fits. When staying on plan has held things back, Loopa offers to show them. When it has not, it does not ask. == Your picks == Each pick is a card with the order to place, its calories and macros, and: * A '''fit score''' out of 100 — how well it uses what is left of your day, allowing for your diet style and any changes you could ask for. * A '''one-line reason''' for that score, in real numbers: "Fits the 550 kcal you have left and covers 42g of your remaining protein." * '''Modification tips''' where asking for a change makes a real difference — "no rice, no sour cream". Figures the restaurant publishes are shown as published. Everything else is an estimate and is labelled as one. == Allergens and things you avoid == Anything the menu data flags as '''containing''' something on your never-eat list is removed before you see it. Where the data cannot tell, the item may still appear, marked, and it is never allowed near the top of the list. The vocabulary is deliberately '''contains''', '''likely contains''' and '''unclear'''. There is no "free of" — no menu read off the internet can support that claim, so Loopa does not make it. Every result carries this notice, and it means what it says: ''Ingredient and allergen information is estimated and may be incomplete or outdated. Always confirm directly with the restaurant, especially for allergies.'' If Loopa could not match something on your never-eat list to anything the menu describes, it tells you which one, so you can read the descriptions yourself. Set your never-eat list and diet style in [[Setting up your profile]]. == When the menu is wrong == Menus change and web data goes stale. '''Something here looks wrong''' at the bottom of the results sends a note to a person. When enough people report the same restaurant, its stored menu is dropped and the next lookup reads it fresh. == Logging it == Eating Out gives you something to order; it does not log anything by itself. Once you have eaten, tap the pick to log it, or enter it on [[The Food log screen]] by search or by '''[[Describe a meal|Describe]]'''. == See also == * [[The Food log screen]] * [[Meal planner]] * [[Describe a meal]] * [[Setting up your profile]] * [[Using the iOS app]] [[Category:The iOS app]] [[Category:mobieusHealth]] [[Category:Food and nutrition]]
