Calculating Nutrition Info For Mexican Fajita's

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macmonkeytn
macmonkeytn Posts: 3
in Food and Nutrition
Our local Mexican joint is the goto restaurant for me and my wife. Since I started counting on MFP we haven't gone. We're going today.

My issue is that all of the calorie listings in the database don't seem realistic to me. The reason for this is that portions from one mexican restaurant to another can vary dramatically. Our spot brings out a huge plate of steaming chicken & veggies. Additionally they bring out another plate with reasonable portions of lettuce, beans, sour cream and rice.

Also, the chicken is pretty much swimming in oil. I'm going to ask them what type and how much oil/butter is used when cooking which may help me but as far as portion size I can't help but think the whole meal (without tortilla's) is easily 800-1000 calories whereas MFP is saying 350.

Does anyone have any insight on how I might get a more realistic number for a dish at a mom & pop mexican restaurant?

Thanks

Replies

  • macmonkeytn
    macmonkeytn Posts: 3
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    thanks.
  • Inshape13
    Inshape13 Posts: 680 Member
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    I had this same question because fajita or taco salad were my go-to's when we went to Mexican. I pulled up on the border which is pretty generic to get an idea of how many calories in general.

    Mesquite-Grilled Steak Fajitas -calories-620 fat-41 protein-42 carbs-18
    Mesquite-Grilled Chicken Fajitas -440 -18 -48 -20
    Shrimp Fajitas (Includes butter) -750 -63 -28 -18

    Chicken breast and shrimp have close to the same calories per ounce so that would mean that there is about 250-300 calories of butter with these I would guess(due to the difference in calories above) and the tortillas here are a little on the small side so probably at a different restaurant you should add in a good 120 in calories to that as well.

    So that would make the fajita platter about 850-870 calories in total given this info with adjustments. I usually use 1.5 tortillas at the most and no sour cream or rice and do decently with my calorie count. That or the taco salad no sour cream or shell.

    Hope this helps and I am no calorie expert...just been logging away at this for a long while. Have a great meal!
  • macmonkeytn
    macmonkeytn Posts: 3
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    Thanks Inshape13. That sounds a lot more likely but I'm suspect of the oil/butter. I also found some pages on Google search suggesting in fact these types of dishes can be 1300+ calories and fat is 60+grams.

    Some suggestions I've seen are:

    • Skip the tortilla's
    • Skip the refried beans (ask for pinto's)
    • No Cheese or Sour Cream (I usually don't do cheese with my fajita's anyways)
    • Use lots of lowcal salsa
  • Inshape13
    Inshape13 Posts: 680 Member
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    I did find some of the options with 1200+ calories at On the Border, but I think they had carnitas or ribs included....generally the higher calorie ones may be the ones with sausage in them I think. Gross combo to me, but I have seen it on some menus. Rice has a ton of calories and refried beans too. I use a lot of salsa as well.
  • missmacsays
    missmacsays Posts: 681 Member
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    I almost always get chicken fajitas when I go to a Mexican Restaurant. I would suggest getting just the plate with chicken and veggies, don't eat the sour cream/cheese/guac sides and don't use tortillas (if you can help it!).
    I find it easier to figure out nutrition info by stripping down the meal, so I use one estimate I found on here for the chicken and fajitas, no condiments or tortillas. Per that, it says just the skillet itself would be 330 calories-24 carbs-8 fat-42 protein-1250 sodium. I think that seems pretty accurate to me. But the rice/beans is hard to figure out because every restaurant gives those separately. If you can eat them moderately, get them. If not, maybe just skip them. My favorite part is the cheese dip, but when I run it on here, it's insane the amount of fat and sodium it has. I try to just not get Mexican that often so when I do, I can indulge myself a little. I hope that helps. This was one of those things I searched for a loooong time on before landing on numbers that made sense because they are so varying. Good luck!!!!
  • Dr_Gains
    Dr_Gains Posts: 81 Member
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    I understand with wanting to stay on track and under or around calorie goals. I am also ocd over this but at the end of the day if you take out all the no no sides and foods at the mexican restaurant that you find most enjoyable then what is the point in going? It would just ruin the point for me and i would just make mexican at the house and not even waste my time going out to one. I say enjoy yourself. Use self control and have one great meal then leave and continue on your fat loss journey. In the grand scheme of things its ONE MEAL. Enjoy it.. But hey thats just my take.
  • MercenaryNoetic26
    MercenaryNoetic26 Posts: 2,747 Member
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    Awww man! Just enjoy it! You can guestimate chx portion, use tortillas in database and enter ingredients separately. You'll find it may not be as bad as you think. If you weigh foods, you can prob guess really close. I know what 100g of chx looks like.

    I refuse to mutilate Mexican food. It's meant to be enjoyed.
  • Fittreelol
    Fittreelol Posts: 2,535 Member
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    You can just ask for no oil. One place I worked at used ~2oz ladle for it. It's what makes the plate all sizzly. Then it's just the same as any grilled chicken.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Use fajitas from some other restaurant. when you're looking at MfP are you looking at some homemade version? If you are it's going to be wildly off. You can count on pretty much any large meal out being around 800 - 1000 calories considering restaurant portions are usually about twice a recommended serving size.

    I used to be able to eat an entire fajita meal all by myself but my stomach isn't big enough for that anymore...my wife and I usually split or I'll bring 1/2 the meal home.
  • keegalie
    keegalie Posts: 82
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    I understand with wanting to stay on track and under or around calorie goals. I am also ocd over this but at the end of the day if you take out all the no no sides and foods at the mexican restaurant that you find most enjoyable then what is the point in going? It would just ruin the point for me and i would just make mexican at the house and not even waste my time going out to one. I say enjoy yourself. Use self control and have one great meal then leave and continue on your fat loss journey. In the grand scheme of things its ONE MEAL. Enjoy it.. But hey thats just my take.

    Very well put, I agree! I was craving fajitas for a while so I made myself some the other day and they definitely hit the spot! Enjoy your dinner out with your wife! :happy:
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
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    I understand with wanting to stay on track and under or around calorie goals. I am also ocd over this but at the end of the day if you take out all the no no sides and foods at the mexican restaurant that you find most enjoyable then what is the point in going? It would just ruin the point for me and i would just make mexican at the house and not even waste my time going out to one. I say enjoy yourself. Use self control and have one great meal then leave and continue on your fat loss journey. In the grand scheme of things its ONE MEAL. Enjoy it.. But hey thats just my take.
    That's my take, too.
    If you want to have something in your diary that covers it...I usually find something in the database that is similar, and then add some quick calories to cover the ridiculous portion sizes, overused oils, etc. if you've been very disciplined, don't let it freak you out to go into the red. One night won't hurt you, and sometimes, we really do need to just let go and enjoy what we love...it makes the days we work so hard to stay within our goals so much easier if sometimes we can indulge.

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