How, I ask you? HOW?!

JenPeerless

It's CRAZY! One of the worst culprits? Panera Bread. They like to masquerade as healthy food but the reality is I might as well eat a Big Mac (except for the freshness factor, the fat and calories pretty much are comparable.) I ate at Chipotle the other day - I don't know what I was thinking - and I came home to find out my burrito packed in 1000 calories. And I thought I was being good skipping the chips and soda...

The one fast food chain that I think offers the best truly not-terrible-for-you food is Chickfila. Say what you will about their CEO's values and beliefs, they make real unprocessed chicken and offer delicious non-fry side alternatives. The milkshakes, delicious as they are, however are deadly. Small - 720. But now that I think of it, that plus a Grilled Chicken Sandwich still comes in under that burrito and sounds waaay more satisfying....

rextcat

if you look close it should say if its 1100 for the meal, burger+side(s)

joannecando

i mean come on, everything is better with a stick of butter...

Are you related to Paula Deen? My husband swears he will leave me for her.

CaseyCrafter

So true, like wtf lol why?

Capt_Apollo

thinking that one meal is going to ruin your diet is like thinking that you have to junk your car after you get a flat tire.

It doesn't ruin your diet, but if one meal racks up the majority of your day's calories it can ruin that day unless you feel like hitting the gym for a couple hours just to justify something else.

a day, over the course of a year, is 0.27 percent of the year. that one day might be ruined, but the year isn't.

echosentwo

Wow! I did not know that their veggie burger is so high in calories. My sister uses weight watchers for her weight loss support program and she has the calorie finder booklet for restaurants. although weight watchers use the point system to monitor their food intake. The average daily points most members can intake per day is 26 points and this veggie burger is equivalent to 23 points. almost a total day allowance.

joannecando

Have you seen any of the info for The Cheesecake Factory? Would scare the crap out of ya.

EAT AT HOME. ohhhh... if it were only that easy.

I haven't looked, but I am under no illusions that fried mac and cheese is good for me :laugh:

jonibc

It seems best to check the websites beforehand and plan it into your calorie budget.

slkehl

That's insane! Great example of why it's always good to double check calories at restaurants. Just because it sounds healthy doesn't mean it is!!

airangel59

It is scary. I've been eating out a lot this week and I check the nutrition info and write down my choices, then I ask for box, ask for stuff on side (dressing which I use fork tines to dip into then dip into my salad, butter on side etc). I also will ask what they cook things in or what sauce or seasoning they use on the food. I also tell them I'm watching my weight or whatever or have to watch my carbs etc. I've found most places will accomodate you.

cmeade20

When I go to TGI Fridays I get theirchicken cobb salad with no dressing. Its 590 calories but its huge so it fills me up. And it has so much crap in it I dont need the dressing. Don't get me wrong I by no means think this is a healthy option but I honestly think going out to eat and trying to find a healthy option is as useless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.

mom2dms

I'll never forget one time we'd gone to lunch after my husband had just done a pretty good Mnt bike ride with a friend and burned some good calories. After lunch, he was putting his food in his diary and almost cried! He not only ate back all of his exercise calories, but went OVER them ... and he really didn't eat much in the way of quantity of food...but apparently it was the quality that did him in!

My benefit is that I only eat about 4 oz at a time, so I can take it home and eat on it later or the next day...which I don't generally because I don't like leftovers

PaleoPath4Lyfe

I tend to keep it simple when I eat out.

Since I have to watch my carbs due to endocrine issues I usually opt for Salmon and steamed vegetables and a dinner salad or Rare steak, steamed vegetables and a dinner salad.

careyannal

Im right there with you!
I love the market fresh turkey sandwich from Arbys... LOVE IT.
But it has over 750 calories! and thats without mayo!
I dont understand fast food/restaraunts.
thats why i pretty much just cut them out completely.

I was reading the "Eat this, Not that" book earlier, and their small roast beef and cheese sandwich has about 300 calories less than their "healthy" turkey sandwich. Who knew?! Not me!

newmooon56

Olive Garden has a Venetian Chicken Breast that is 400. All the other places are not so easy to win at.

But you cant have salad or soup with it and it comes with it-(not if you want to stay low cal) OG is one of the worst out there (work there- I know how awful they are, sorry) And yea- we say we have 'lite' dressing - but rarely do we ... sodium in the regular is enough to stop a bull's heart.

Will agree with others who said Ruby's has a few good choices and any breakfast house that will cook you egg whites is a win Id hope- how they cook them tho- ugh.. its a crap shoot any where really.

meeper123

I was told to order a 6 oz steak and grilled veggies when I eat out not sure what the truth is in that shrug. Veggie burgers alwyas make me wonder what they are sticking in it -.-

nickssweetheart

I cancelled a lunch date today because I was ill, and part of me was relieved! We were supposed to eat at Perkins, but the nutritional information was eye-popping.

You'd think a salad would be a relatively safe choice...one of their salads had 1300 calories! I could get the steak dinner for only about 1100. And the omelets were reasonable...but don't get a muffin with it unless you feel like burning 600 calories. The LOWEST calorie salad they had, without dressing was in the 1000s. Nearly a day's worth of calories for most people trying to lose weight.

I joked with my boyfriend yesterday that my friend would think I was crazy if I ordered 1 muffin for lunch and a coffee with no cal sweetener, but that still would have been more calories than I normally eat at home. I agree, I don't know what they are doing to get this stuff into their food. Sure a salad can have cheese and dressing and croutons, but it's not like they are poaching the lettuce in butter!

julieh391

Have you seen any of the info for The Cheesecake Factory? Would scare the crap out of ya.

EAT AT HOME. ohhhh... if it were only that easy.

Wow. Just wow.

Phaedra2014

I seriously don't understand how it is physically possible for some restaurant food to be so bad for us. I'm going to TGI Fridays tonight and decided to look up the nutrition for their veggie burger since that's what I want to get. It's 1140 calories. 1140?! In a veggie burger?! When I make a veggie burger at home, it's around 300 calories. Of course TGI's burger is bigger, but I wouldn't say it's four times bigger. Where on earth do all those extra calories come from? And that's not even including the side of fries they serve with it - that's an extra 300 :grumble:

Guess I'll be only eating half of my meal and taking the other half home. I'll also get it without mayo and maybe no cheese so that should bring down the calorie count... just ugh... it doesn't even seem possible that it's that bad for you.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

It's really shocking when you start looking up menus like that. I was gobsmacked at the sodium content of most everything and the calorie bombs that get served up.

nickssweetheart

thinking that one meal is going to ruin your diet is like thinking that you have to junk your car after you get a flat tire.

And of course this is true, but if I'm going to have a meal with a thousand extra calories, I want it to be a really great meal. Not a salad at Perkins for pete's sake.

Sloth_TurtleGirl

I really like Applebees and Outback because they have a part of their menu where they have 550 calorie selections. I like to get the steak and broccoli at Applebees. There are a few other restaurants who do this as well. I'm not sure if Fridays does that. We had one here and some drunk guy hit the gas instead of the brakes and ended up in the dining room.

pmcco

I have always heard large sodium counts come from chicken... the manufacturers load them up with saline solution when they freeze them.... I always share a portion with the hubster if I can... and reading labels really helps. I love Panera as it does give you the calorie count right on the menu too.

ddietsch123

I had an innocent little $1 menu chicken sandwich at McD's today - after I ordered it and sat down, my daughter pointed to the wrapping and the high sodium content (wow!) as well as the calories. I took off the top bun with the mayo and still felt guilty as hell. I never eat out for dinner and will no longer at lunchtime. It's cheaper at home, anyway.

LaurenAOK

I'm so glad all of you understand! I'm no newbie to looking at restaurant calories and the salads always shock me, as some of you mentioned. However, for some reason I found the veggie burger really really surprising. I guess because it had just as many calories as any of the regular burgers. You would think a veggie patty would do at least a little less damage than a huge slab of red meat!

I always appreciate it when restaurants list calories or have "under xx calories" options. The only issue I tend to have with those is that the majority of the time, the low-cal options are a piece of meat (grilled chicken or steak) with veggies on the side. I'm a vegetarian, so most of those meals are out for me... could just get the veggies, but that's not very filling!

I agree with you guys though that it's just insane how they manage to pack so much bad crap into their food! Why would they even want to do that anyway?! Things can taste great without being smothered in butter, geez. We wonder why this country is getting obese :explode:

ohhk8

It seems best to check the websites beforehand and plan it into your calorie budget.

That is exactly what I do! It takes some fun out of ordering but I leave feeling much better that I picked something healthy!