Ever eat an enormous number of cals at a restaurant without realizing? (aka the 1000 cal dessert)

Emilia777

So, I had to share this. I was at Swiss Chalet the other night (love their chicken, not gonna lie) with the bf and the kitchen was backed up because of a new employee. Long story short, we were offered a complimentary dessert to make up for the long waiting time. Silly naive souls that we are, we ended up getting the hot fudge brownie sundae, as we figured it can’t be that bad if you split it with someone.

Yeah, no. I ate slightly less than half, simply because it was so rich, and we took bets on the calories (he said 600, I said 730). We then looked it up on the inter web, and behold: 1090 calories, 130 g of sugar (lord, that’s sweet).

Moral of this story: always look up calories before you order. The rest of the meal was pre-planned and worked out fine.

Did anything like this ever happen to you?

Erfw7471

Have you seen the nutritional data for Olive Garden? Average meal is over 900-1000 calories, not including bread and salad.

Sabine_Stroehm

Anything you eat all of at P.F. Changs.

suruda

Went to Red Robin with a friend the other night...I had pre planned my meal and was fine, he wanted me to look up his out of curiousity. Banzai burger 975 calories (and that's before the fries and side of ranch). Yikes! My boca patty with veggies and fries with bbq sauce was delicious and totally within my daily calories!

Emilia777

Darn, neither of those are available here in Canada (at least where I live). I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!

Some restaurant meals can be planned out to be perfectly fine. The white meat quarter chicken at Swiss Chalet, for instance, is 240 cals and 44g protein. It’s the trimmings that get you.

Emilia777

suruda wrote: »

Went to Red Robin with a friend the other night...I had pre planned my meal and was fine, he wanted me to look up his out of curiousity. Banzai burger 975 calories (and that's before the fries and side of ranch). Yikes! My boca patty with veggies and fries with bbq sauce was delicious and totally within my daily calories!

Yikes for sure. I love how well pre-planning works! Yay for being able to eat out without messing up caloric goals!

dirtyflirty30

Made the mistake of eating at Cheesecake Factory without looking at cals once. Huge rookie mistake. Gah.

ninerbuff

Reason why in the US that 60% of the population is overweight or obese, is disregard of calorie counts.
It's not rocket science when you're eating more than you need that weight increases. Problem is that a lot people think you need to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to stop gaining weight.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ndj1979

the mistake is in assuming that a hot fudge brownie Sunday would be UNDER 1000 calories...

Emilia777

ndj1979 wrote: »

the mistake is in assuming that a hot fudge brownie Sunday would be UNDER 1000 calories...

Well, brownie + 1 scoop vanilla ice cream + whipped cream doesn’t *have* to equal 1000+ cals. The issue was serving size, I think. I should have eaten half of half. The brownie part was bigger than a deck of cards, which I think is too big.

We live and learn I guess.

Also, cheesecake sounds yum.

lemurcat12

Yeah--my starting assumption is that a lot of restaurant meals (especially in certain kinds of restaurants) are crazy high in calories, and that certainly goes for the desserts.

Emilia777

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Yeah--my starting assumption is that a lot of restaurant meals (especially in certain kinds of restaurants) are crazy high in calories, and that certainly goes for the desserts.

For sure. As I said, it was naive of me to think otherwise. Just didn’t expect it to be quite so bad.

ndj1979

Emilia777 wrote: »

ndj1979 wrote: »

the mistake is in assuming that a hot fudge brownie Sunday would be UNDER 1000 calories...

Well, brownie + 1 scoop vanilla ice cream + whipped cream doesn’t *have* to equal 1000+ cals. The issue was serving size, I think. I should have eaten half of half. The brownie part was bigger than a deck of cards, which I think is too big.

We live and learn I guess.

Also, cheesecake sounds yum.

so you thought it was too big, but then under assumed the calories?

Emilia777

ndj1979 wrote: »

Emilia777 wrote: »

ndj1979 wrote: »

the mistake is in assuming that a hot fudge brownie Sunday would be UNDER 1000 calories...

Well, brownie + 1 scoop vanilla ice cream + whipped cream doesn’t *have* to equal 1000+ cals. The issue was serving size, I think. I should have eaten half of half. The brownie part was bigger than a deck of cards, which I think is too big.

We live and learn I guess.

Also, cheesecake sounds yum.

so you thought it was too big, but then under assumed the calories?

Hindsight is 20/20! I guess you’re totally right, I was being overly optimistic.

lemurcat12

Serving size is totally the issue in lots of restaurants. I frequently just start with the assumption that I'm eating half, and there are some restaurants (Maggiano's, although I haven't been there in forever) where something like a quarter might be more like it.

For what it's worth, about 500 calories vs. 350 (if you ate a little less than half) isn't terrible for a learning experience.

JTick

I was pretty shocked when I first started counting calories and looked up my normal eat out meals. I would always get a pasta dish, and would eat the whole thing. One of my favorites was over 1,000 calories...for HALF the dish. Yikes!

Emilia777

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Serving size is totally the issue in lots of restaurants. I frequently just start with the assumption that I'm eating half, and there are some restaurants (Maggiano's, although I haven't been there in forever) where something like a quarter might be more like it.

For what it's worth, about 500 calories vs. 350 (if you ate a little less than half) isn't terrible for a learning experience.

You make a very good point. If I’d have eaten the whole thing I would kick myself in a big way.

JTick wrote: »

I was pretty shocked when I first started counting calories and looked up my normal eat out meals. I would always get a pasta dish, and would eat the whole thing. One of my favorites was over 1,000 calories...for HALF the dish. Yikes!

Wow, that really is nuts.

I guess the theme here is, even half can be too much when it comes to eating at restaurants and watching your cals.

tincanonastring

ndj1979 wrote: »

Emilia777 wrote: »

ndj1979 wrote: »

the mistake is in assuming that a hot fudge brownie Sunday would be UNDER 1000 calories...

Well, brownie + 1 scoop vanilla ice cream + whipped cream doesn’t *have* to equal 1000+ cals. The issue was serving size, I think. I should have eaten half of half. The brownie part was bigger than a deck of cards, which I think is too big.

We live and learn I guess.

Also, cheesecake sounds yum.

so you thought it was too big, but then under assumed the calories?

Don't be a dick, man. She tried to compensate for not knowing the calories by eating half. She's admitting she made the mistake of underestimating the calories. Why badger her about it? What are you hoping to get out of your line of questioning?

I'm all for slamming people who blame their lack of goal achievement on everything but their own inaccurate logging, but that's not what's going on here.

sllm1

I know Cheesecake Factory is infamous for portion sizes and calorie counts, but I ordered the Teriyaki chicken one time, thinking it would be fairly safe. It wasn't huge. It was a piece of chicken and some rice.

1400 calories.

benjaminhk

I love when I eat the meal then go home to log it only to find that I somehow consumed 1,600 calories in the meal. I love bacon cheeseburgers with a fried egg on them (on occasion), but they are almost always 1,000+ calories. Then you add fries and maybe a beer... or two...

It all adds up fast. I don't eat like this often but when I do, my jaw hits the floor as I am logging the meal.

MoiAussi93

I never go to restaurants that provide calorie information. I live in a large city, and there aren't many chain restaurants here and independent restaurants don't list calories. As a rule of thumb, I just assume the average restaurant meal will be around 1000 calories...before adding in any kind of dessert. And desserts, when ordered at a restaurant or cafe, always tend to be huge servings...so another 1000 wouldn't surprise me at all.

That's why I am very particular about what I order, and pay a lot of attention to what sides come with the entree. Whenever possible I sub green vegetables for things like potatoes or rice, I usually skip the bread, I am very careful about the type of dressing on salads, etc. I almost never get dessert, unless it is a special occasion...and even then I am likely sharing it.

But fat and sugar make things taste good...as does salt...and when people are paying high restaurant prices they want the food to be really good or they feel cheated. And they complain if portions are small because they "aren't getting their money's worth". So I don't blame the restaurants. They are just providing what the public demands.

You can stay within reasonable calorie limits at most restaurants...you just need to to make good choices when you order. It can be challenging though, depending on the types of places you frequent. But as an every once in a while splurge, don't worry about it. I think it's great that you looked it up after the fact...just being aware will help you in the future.