Misleading food! What did you underestimate?

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Replies

  • judyde
    judyde Posts: 401 Member
    My friends and I were out all night driving home, and decided to stop at Ihop. Not the healthiest choice :P. phone was dead so no mfp D:. So I chose a GARDEN OMLETTE. Literally, tomatoes, peppers, onions mushrooms and cheddar...so i got home and checked....how is that 920 calories?! Crazy. I thought maybe 500 calories and that was pushing it. What are some foods you underestimated?

    I haven't read the entire thread, so I don't know if this has been answered yet. But IHOP puts pancake batter in all of their regular omelettes. The only ones that don't have the pancake batter in them are the ones from the light and fit menu (or whatever it's called).

    OMG...Pancake Batter in an omelette !!! WTF!!!
  • jamiemommy
    jamiemommy Posts: 58 Member
    I do unfortunately LOL (well now anyway haha)
  • JenX15
    JenX15 Posts: 103 Member
    For everyone who hates how quickly ice cream calories add up, try this! http://www.arcticzero.com/

    I found it at my local supermarket (unfortunately I haven't found it anywhere else yet). Its gluten, and fat free! A whole pint is only about 20g of carbs and sugar, and 150 calories! Leave it out of the freezer for about 10 minutes so its melts a little, then use a spoon to swirl and mix it up. Its doesnt taste as good as ice cream at first (obviously) but I swear after about a month, I love the flavor and don't miss all the other ice cream choices. You can even throw a scoop of peanut butter and its still not as bad as regular ice cream!

    Thanks for the tip! I searched it and the website says that all 3 grocery stores in my town sell this stuff... I am gonna check it out! :) Ice Cream is my Achilles heal. Just love it!

    Also you might want to try the Skinny Cow brand - lots of different options there between 100-160 cals/serving (bars, cones, etc...).

    Ice cream is my problem area - Baskin Robbins - Jamocha Almond Fudge - OMG - I can probably eat the entire "ready pack" container - very difficult to measure at home. I do the kiddie size cup when I take the kids for ice cream, otherwise I am in trouble, lol.
  • rabblerabble
    rabblerabble Posts: 471 Member
    One of my favorites. Coffeemate flavored creamer. 30-35 calories per tablespoon. Until I started drinking my coffee black I was easily consuming several 100 calories a day of that stuff.
  • jayjay12345654321
    jayjay12345654321 Posts: 653 Member
    :)
  • McDonalds Junior Chicken is 380 calories!!! Whenever my boyfriend and I would stop at Walmart to get a couple things we were always suckered into a little snack at McDonalds. Little did we know it has the calories of a whole meal and makes you feel so crappy and tired after! We just went to Walmart a couple nights ago and resisted the temptation, it felt so good!

    I also work at a restaurant famous for ribs and about every other shift I would walk out after my shift with some kind of meal. I just checked the nutritional facts on the website and almost fainted! A half rack of baby backs with no sauce has 550 calories...
  • Chia seeds! 1 tbsp is like 60 cals
  • holliebevineau
    holliebevineau Posts: 441 Member
    Oatmeal and rice. :cry:
  • ccole57
    ccole57 Posts: 1 Member
    I logged Pick up Stix, Pad Thai today before I even entered the restaurant to order. Planning ahead made me happy. While I was finishing up my delicous 670 calories lunch, I noticed on the menu (which I didn't look at becuase I already knew what I wanted and didn't want to be tempted by those cream cheese wontons)... I see the number 2 in parathesis next to the 670 cals... well.... looks like I'll be working on my fitness an extra long time tonight because my pad thai was 2 servings!! What a bummer! I need to make sure I alwasy double check what MFP has in their datebase before consuming. Lesson learned!
  • karensdream
    karensdream Posts: 135 Member
    One of my favorites. Coffeemate flavored creamer. 30-35 calories per tablespoon. Until I started drinking my coffee black I was easily consuming several 100 calories a day of that stuff.

    This was a real eye-opener for me! I am currently loving iced coffee, and while I make my own with skim milk, I also add flavored creamer to it, and obviously 1 tbsp. doesn't cut it. I have since started adding sugar free flavorings, and that helps the calorie count a bit. But boy, do those creamer calories add up! "Sigh", I love my iced coffee, even though it is decaf, lol!
  • elainecroft
    elainecroft Posts: 595 Member
    Cheese*. It's amazing how many calories you can save by leaving off cheese. And granola.

    * By cheese, I mean the gross shreddy kind that comes on a bed of wilted lettuce and doesn't add anything but fillers and calories. Give me a good hunk of parmesan or slab of brie with some crackers and wine and I'll find a way to fit those calories in any day. :)
  • For me, I didn't realize that even though something is labeled "fat free" you still need to pay attention to the other nutrition facts. For instance, I kept going over my sodium intake for a few days only to discover through going through my food diary that the culprit was my fat free ranch dressing. It was way higher in sodium than I had realized! It taught me to pay close attention to EVERYTHING on the label not just the fat and calories.
  • rhonderoo
    rhonderoo Posts: 145 Member
    I hear ya about Chia seeds!

    Today, our office catered Chick Fil A and had salads... I got the greens and the Apple Cider Vinaigrette -- thinking I was being good.... OMG. 230 Calories, 19 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbs and 15 grams of sugar om one 2 tbsp packet!
  • ttat0325
    ttat0325 Posts: 21 Member
    Sweet Potato Fries.
    Small enough for a snack, enough calories for a meal.
  • forgtmenot
    forgtmenot Posts: 860 Member
    A tip for you ice cream junkies:
    I've been making my own ice cream using the ice cream in a bag method (using 1 bag with ingredients for the ice cream and 1 bag has crushed ice and salt. You put the ice cream mixture bag inside the ice bag and shake until it becomes frozen-ish) instead of cream I use milk and stevia instead of sugar. Today I made chocolate "ice cream" using just 1% milk, vanilla, stevia, and cocoa powder. It turned out really good. Sure it isn't as good as the real deal, but it at least gets rid of the craving for me.

    http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/ice-cream-in-a-bag-recipe/1/
    Here's the recipe I used with more specific instructions. Just replace the cream and sugar with your desired healthier alternative and get shaking! This could be made in so many different flavors. :wink:
  • buffywhitney
    buffywhitney Posts: 172 Member
    Me Three!
  • Birder150
    Birder150 Posts: 677 Member
    I learned that the pre-portioned packages of the frozen fish I buy are NOT the weight of the portion listed on the package.
    It says that the per portion calories are for a 150 g piece but every piece is over 200 g making the calorie count higher. (obviously :smile:)
    Now I weigh each piece and figure it out from there.

    My frozen fruits and veggies ... same thing. The portion size is listed as a cup/gram measurement but when I measure out a cup on the scale it's frequently much more than what it says the grams should be for that size.

    The Dole mandarin fruit cups are listed as being 107 g but in reality weigh 120 g. Not a huge difference but if every food you're calculating has the wrong information, you can seriously be off course over a day.
  • Nouurann
    Nouurann Posts: 183 Member
    I learned that the pre-portioned packages of the frozen fish I buy are NOT the weight of the portion listed on the package.
    It says that the per portion calories are for a 150 g piece but every piece is over 200 g making the calorie count higher. (obviously :smile:)
    Now I weigh each piece and figure it out from there.

    My frozen fruits and veggies ... same thing. The portion size is listed as a cup/gram measurement but when I measure out a cup on the scale it's frequently much more than what it says the grams should be for that size.

    The Dole mandarin fruit cups are listed as being 107 g but in reality weigh 120 g. Not a huge difference but if every food you're calculating has the wrong information, you can seriously be off course over a day.


    Right?! I have this bread, 90 calories per 40g but each slice is always 55-60! If I'm eating a sandwich, that's twice the inaccuracies! So now I weigh everything too. Packaged or not :)
  • iquiltoo
    iquiltoo Posts: 246 Member
    I learned that the pre-portioned packages of the frozen fish I buy are NOT the weight of the portion listed on the package.
    It says that the per portion calories are for a 150 g piece but every piece is over 200 g making the calorie count higher. (obviously :smile:)
    Now I weigh each piece and figure it out from there.

    My frozen fruits and veggies ... same thing. The portion size is listed as a cup/gram measurement but when I measure out a cup on the scale it's frequently much more than what it says the grams should be for that size.

    The Dole mandarin fruit cups are listed as being 107 g but in reality weigh 120 g. Not a huge difference but if every food you're calculating has the wrong information, you can seriously be off course over a day.

    Wow, I haven't been weighing the fish either - think I will make sure i do that now. But I NEVER trust the cup to weight measurement, I always weigh. Are you deducting the weight of the packaging for the Dole cups? I ask, because that is something I occasionally forget to do! I also noticed that most canned or packaged fruit that says "in fruit juice" does NOT mean in it's own juice - usually it is in grape juice and pretty much doubles the calorie count. I have found one source of mandarins in their own juice which works out to about 80 cals for the whole can, where the ones packed in grape juice are 80 cals for a container half the size. And "light syrup" is just crazy calories!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I learned that the pre-portioned packages of the frozen fish I buy are NOT the weight of the portion listed on the package.
    It says that the per portion calories are for a 150 g piece but every piece is over 200 g making the calorie count higher. (obviously :smile:)
    Now I weigh each piece and figure it out from there.

    My frozen fruits and veggies ... same thing. The portion size is listed as a cup/gram measurement but when I measure out a cup on the scale it's frequently much more than what it says the grams should be for that size.

    The Dole mandarin fruit cups are listed as being 107 g but in reality weigh 120 g. Not a huge difference but if every food you're calculating has the wrong information, you can seriously be off course over a day.


    Right?! I have this bread, 90 calories per 40g but each slice is always 55-60! If I'm eating a sandwich, that's twice the inaccuracies! So now I weigh everything too. Packaged or not :)

    I've been horrible about doing that. I should get started, lol. I don't have bread that much but yeah, now I'm curious. I usually weigh all the other packaged stuff though.

    ETA: just checked, it's accurate, and we always buy the same brand. Phew lol.
  • StacyReneO
    StacyReneO Posts: 317 Member
    My friends and I were out all night driving home, and decided to stop at Ihop. Not the healthiest choice :P. phone was dead so no mfp D:. So I chose a GARDEN OMLETTE. Literally, tomatoes, peppers, onions mushrooms and cheddar...so i got home and checked....how is that 920 calories?! Crazy. I thought maybe 500 calories and that was pushing it. What are some foods you underestimated?

    I haven't read the whole thread so not sure if it's been pointed out, but iHop uses pancake batter in their omelets! Add 3 more eggs to that and full fat cheese - yep, 900+ calories sounds about right!
  • kellyskitties
    kellyskitties Posts: 475 Member
    My friends and I were out all night driving home, and decided to stop at Ihop. Not the healthiest choice :P. phone was dead so no mfp D:. So I chose a GARDEN OMLETTE. Literally, tomatoes, peppers, onions mushrooms and cheddar...so i got home and checked....how is that 920 calories?! Crazy. I thought maybe 500 calories and that was pushing it. What are some foods you underestimated?

    That's evil - some places do add pancake batter to make them fluffier - that and the oils they fry it in and cheddar - pure evil of IHOP.

    Avocado bit me in the butt one day. I know it's healthy - but at 1200 calories it took a HUNK out of my options for that day.
  • sandytoshiko
    sandytoshiko Posts: 67 Member
    Ihop adds pancake batter to their eggs, it supposedly makes them keep shape better. That's where all the calories are from.
  • naturallyme36
    naturallyme36 Posts: 155 Member
    nuts and microwave popcorn
  • Mslmesq
    Mslmesq Posts: 1,000 Member
    Pretty much everything at Islands. What do people order there? :-/

    Ok, here is an example from their website: Garden salad, ingredients: SALAD MIX (ICEBERG, ROMAINE, RED CABBAGE); SALAD DRESSING (ITALIAN); TOMATO; CARROTS; CROUTONS

    Calories: 1330

    HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!
  • snazzyjazzy21
    snazzyjazzy21 Posts: 1,298 Member
    Walnuts man. What the hell is with delicious nuts being so high in calories?!
  • katorihanzo
    katorihanzo Posts: 234 Member
    Fish and Chips! Now, It's deep fried fish and deep fried potatoes with tartar sauce on top so I KNEW it was unhealthy and way way over a regular meal caloric count. I would never choose it as a healthy choice, obviously. But it's like 1500 calories. Yikes. That sucks. Also olive oil. Though I eat it because it's good for me. OH. And granola. Dear lord.

    I actually usually overestimate things. Wine, bread, potatoes, cheese, mayonnaise. I always think they're worse than they are. All in moderation!
  • applejuices
    applejuices Posts: 19 Member
    Cheese is easily the worst for me. I could eat a block of cheese at a time, and have my calories for the day filled up (and my fat for the week)
  • RonnieLodge
    RonnieLodge Posts: 665 Member
    Pasta, rice..... Those two are pretty much off limits now. I always knew they were high cal, but its crazy that something so plain, so tasteless, can have double the calories of whatever you serve it with!

    ^This.

    And cafe scones - 800 calories for one of those oversized bstards!!
  • jen_zz
    jen_zz Posts: 1,011 Member
    Also cinema popcorn.. I like the sweet ones.. to this day I still don't know how many calories it has..