1,600+ calories for ONE meal?!

weightforme8134

I went on a date with my husband today. I love chicken fingers and fries (Im a big kid what can I say) and always get them when I go out for the most part. I ordered and looked them up on the database. For 4 tenders and fries it was over 1600 cals! When I look it up on the restaurants menu it shows the tenders plate to be 1,119 which sounds a bit more "reasonable." but I had chosen the basket not sure if there is a difference. Either way I immediately got a to go box and put half my meal away so I didn't consume so many calories. Does this sound right to you all? I know its fried but I am SHOCKED. Its a southern restaurant and I did not get the white gravy that comes with maybe it included that. Either way scary.

cwolfman13

weightforme8134 wrote: »

I went on a date with my husband today. I love chicken fingers and fries (Im a big kid what can I say) and always get them when I go out for the most part. I ordered and looked them up on the database. For 4 tenders and fries it was over 1600 cals! When I look it up on the restaurants menu it shows the tenders plate to be 1,119 which sounds a bit more "reasonable." but I had chosen the basket not sure if there is a difference. Either way I immediately got a to go box and put half my meal away so I didn't consume so many calories. Does this sound right to you all? I know its fried but I am SHOCKED. Its a southern restaurant and I did not get the white gravy that comes with maybe it included that. Either way scary.

I'd go with the restaurants menu.

Unless you're specifically ordering from a lower calorie menu, most restaurant food is going to easily clock in around 1,000 calories give or take for a full meal.

jjpptt2

Yep, sounds about right to me. At a local place here, 4 tenders are 750 cals. Add fries to that and it's easily over 1000 calories.

cbohling1987

Yeah, all those oils make a huge difference in the overall calorie count. You can reduce the calories by a lot just by going for a grilled/unbreaded chicken option.

cwolfman13

I'd go with the restaurant menu rather than a random entry in the database. But yeah...for the most part, a sit down restaurant meal is typically going to run you 1000 calories give or take, unless you're ordering off a "lite" menu.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

quiksylver296

Yeah. Sounds about right.

CourtneyUT

I eat out at Chili's all the time and when I started MFP I was shocked to learn most of their meals are 1000+ calories. It's shocking, but then not.

laur357

Nice job with the portion control though!
I'm also a chicken tender fan - I often get tenders with a cup of something like vegetable soup to keep the calories manageable.

clayelliott847

Yup they are immersed in the deep fryer. Nothing but liquefied lard.

toxikon

Have you ever looked at nutritional info on the Applebees website? LOL. Man. It's depressing.

weightforme8134

Thanks everyone just now seeing the replies! I am so glad I split it up. Felt like I saved money too lol by having two meals out of it.

murp4069

If I go out to eat, even if I order something "healthy," I pretty much count on my meal being 1,000+ calories.

Happysoul0317

weightforme8134 wrote: »

I went on a date with my husband today. I love chicken fingers and fries (Im a big kid what can I say) and always get them when I go out for the most part. I ordered and looked them up on the database. For 4 tenders and fries it was over 1600 cals! When I look it up on the restaurants menu it shows the tenders plate to be 1,119 which sounds a bit more "reasonable." but I had chosen the basket not sure if there is a difference. Either way I immediately got a to go box and put half my meal away so I didn't consume so many calories. Does this sound right to you all? I know its fried but I am SHOCKED. Its a southern restaurant and I did not get the white gravy that comes with maybe it included that. Either way scary.

It sounds about right. I'm on the road a bit for work, and of course, I eat at restaurants, hotels, etc. I find it to be very frustrating trying to stay on track. I've gotten better about where I go to eat now. I'm also sure to bring my phone in with me so I can look calories up on MFP prior to ordering. Pretty much anything fried is a no no. Anything with gravy is also a no. Salad dressings...can't have those either. I have just had to be more mindful. Grilled meats and veggies are usually safer than fried stuff I've found. It's just something to be aware of. But even in some of those McDonald sandwiches, they're packing 1100 calories and up.

kelly_stevens81

I have found that unless a meal is in the lighter section or a salad, eating out portions in the USA are two meals worth of calories. Its best to just save half your meal for later, or split it with someone.

whitpauly

I get the kids meal from Canes sometimes for lunch and its 715 calls for 2 tenders and some fries,,,sad

Anon2018

I was at the airport prior to a 6 hour flight the other day and I decide to pick up a salad that I could eat (flight was over dinner time), so I head to a Chilis to-go and get some variation of a "Southwest Salad" assuming it's gonna be kind of calorie heavy for a salad, but if I take off the tortilla strips and go light on the ranch I should be OK. Well, silly me didn't read the menu carefully, and don't realize until I'm at 10000 feet that the chicken is fried and my salad is packing over 1200 calories. Needless to say, wasn't too pleased but I just chalked it up to a maintenance day and moved on. I was more pissed because like, I didn't even *want* a treat or a yummy restaurant meal - I wanted a simple boring salad. Learned my lesson there!

bbell1985

I usually log about 1200--1600 calories when I go out to eat, if I'm not being conservative on my food choice. Even then. That's without dessert or drinks

Cbean08

My latest go-to for eating out at chain type restaurants is a burger without the bun. Unless the patty is completely oversized for some reason, its about 200-300 cals for the meat. And then just the piece of lettuce, slice of tomato, and a pickle. If I need something else, I'll get a small cup of soup or a veggie side. The meat is the good part of a burger anyways. The bread is the throw away part. You can even keep higher calorie fillings like bacon, avocado, cheese, fried egg or sauce and it's still a reasonable meal.

But anything that comes plated is going to be at high calorie and a massive portion. You find that a lot of restaurants offer a double serving of meat (like 8 oz, or 2 chicken breasts, or 12 shrimp, or 2 skewers etc), 2 sides (usually high carb or fat) plus a serving of bread, and extra fat is added to each of those components. So essentially, restaurant plates are made for at least 2.

lucerorojo

The only place I can get a real food meal (not junk food) under 1000 calories is PANERA, or a salad place. If I'm going to a "real" restaurant I just consider it a cheat meal because anything other than a salad is probably over 1000 calories. If it is tasty food I probably will want to eat it all!

ladyhusker39

CourtneyUT wrote: »

I eat out at Chili's all the time and when I started MFP I was shocked to learn most of their meals are 1000+ calories. It's shocking, but then not.

For ages I thought I was making a sensible choice by ordering the quesadilla explosion salad. It's we'll over 1000 calories.

Now I get the sirloin and baked potato.

weightforme8134

Luckily we don't eat out much i couldn't afford it calorie wise!