For safety, refrigerate restaurant leftovers within two hours. Then eat leftovers within 48 ho urs. When you cut back to consume fewer calories, you could miss out on nutrients in your diet. Exercise burns off excess calories, but you still get the nutrients. Include some weight lifting in your exercise.
Muscles burn more calories than fat.
So, increase your amount of muscle. Develop healthy habits that let you enjoy food without paying the price on the bathroom scales.