my latte had how many calories?!?!?!

InnerFatGirl

I work at Starbucks and, believe me, there's a lot of calories in drinks. Make modifications. Chai is nice. I modify it by having only one or two pumps and with no water so it's stronger. Have it in a short or tall size.

jigglewiggles

I used to get Outback steakhouse's Atlantic Salmon with Mixed Veggies ALL THE TIME, and then I saw a report online about that particular meal having 1640 calories!!! I was in complete shock. I thought I was eating so healthy, but instead I was going over my calories in just one meal. I've just recently checked their website, and it seems that they have now replaced the Atlantic Salmon with a much lighter Norwegian Salmon, now the meal only totals 484 calories.

megleo818

Got my daughter a glazed old-fashioned donut, which she didn't like. So I ate it. 450 calories!! Holy crap! (BTW, after she tasted and said "ew" to the old-fashioned, I got my daughter a regular glazed, which she loves. A rare treat for her, a never-again-because-now-I-know-stuff treat for me.)

jigglewiggles

I've learned that if it tastes good, it as lots of calories. Plain boring tasteless food is the only way to go.

Fundamentally incorrect. If you know how to cook, just about anything can be prepared with plenty of flavor and still keep it lo-cal and nutritious. As a former catering chef, I will admit it's easier to do so by adding easy calories but certainly not an impossibility to do it healthily.

Everyone jumped on my quote. I mean, if it tastes REALLY YUMMY DELICIOUS GOOD. We all fool ourselves and con ourselves into thinking that fresh anything tastes wonderful and nutritious. The fact is, slap bacon and butter on it, and it's 25,000 times better.

Please take it in the spirit it was meant. We're talking about being surprised that a tuna melt is so high in calories. Really? Really? That surprises you that it's drowning and dripping in mayo and you're surprised that it's 800 cals? That's what I mean. If it's something yummy, drowning in fat, rich in flavor, cooked in butter, deep fried, yummy, donuts, pastries, chocolate, starbucks "coffees", etc. It is not surprising that all the yummy stuff is high in calories. That's the spirit in which I'm talking about. Please don't be so technical, it's kind of boring and drives the conversation the wrong way. Of course nutritious heathful food can be prepared to taste good. But, it cannot compare to bacon and butter and melted cheese. It just can't.

Stop! you're making me hungry

Topher1978

Bacon and butter is not bad for you, and used in moderation can still bring about delicious food! I use bacon lard in my meat stews, and butter in my seafood stews. A gram of fat is 9 calories no matter where it comes from, and lards and butter are not bad if not overused. Just sayin.'

marinebiologist_girl

So this moring I decided to stop and get myself a chai soy milk latte. The spicy, sweet goodness was beckoning me. I finished that lovely concoction and dutifully logged into MPF to journal my consumption. 310!!!!calories later, I am planning an extra long workout tonight. What treat did you eat thinking it wasn't going to be too horrible and then you found out the real truth?

Starbucks is especially good for enjoying a latte and not feeling depressed afterwards. Cut out cream and ask for skinny milk, or sugar-free syrup where it's available (the vanilla always is). Examples of drinks that I have had lately, all tall size, with those modifications:

Caramel macchiato: 90 cals
Chai latte: 154 cals
Toffee nut latte: 145 cals
Peppermint mocha: 100 cals
Gingerbread latte: 150 cals

Disclaimer: It's more the sugar and carbs you want to watch out for.

meganann77

I *was* a devoted latte drinker (at least 2 every day).

I've replaced lattes with one black coffee (made with proper grounds, not instant) in the morning.

I've never been a black coffee/tea drinker so I thought this would be difficult to embrace, but after a few days of drinking black I actually felt turned off by the thought of milk (it's been about a month now since I made the change). I feel a lot 'lighter' in the gut after breakfast too.

Black coffee (with no sugar) has hardly any calories. Yay!

CoachDuhamNC

Yep, those grand slams, hide everywhere. Just be ready for them to show up. You don't have to fear, make your adjustments and your right back in the game. This is what happens when you assume. You know what happens to someone that does that. There is a way to turn these negative situations into a positive one for you. Live by this philosophy. Never guess, and if you have to make a decision at that moment without all the knowledge follow this plan.

G= is this good for me.
If not sure don''t take it

U= Do I understand my choice
How will affect my goal?

E= is this easy to acquire
Don't jump through hoops to get it

S= is it simple
Can I easily apply to my life?

S= is it a solution
Does this help solve my goal?


I hope that this will help the next time you want to leap before looking
CoachDuhamNC

fearless_

In the words of Kanye West
"All those mocha lattes, you gotta do pilates"

jynxxxed

I've never had this dilemma.. my boyfriend got a Starbucks gift card so we went there today for maybe the second time in our lives.

People seriously pay $4.25 for a drink THAT size?!?! We each got a drink and that was nearly $10 gone on just drinks.
Blows my mind. I have no problem avoiding the calories, I make pumpkin spice lattes at home typically around 60 cals.

ETA: I think the only surprises I've noticed are with carbs. So many silly things I would never except have like 50g of carbs! I don't avoid carbs at all, but I must have been consuming an insane amount before MFP.

WAnnB

I limit mine to Buy One Get One days. And then I only have the tall.

rugbyphreak

You think 300 calories is bad?! I had something extremely chocolatey from Starbucks once, then logged it, and that's the last time I went there... It was over 600 calories! That's half of my daily allowance! Ugh...

Mcgrawhaha

i dont really drink at starbucks anymore for personal ethical reasons, however, when i did, i spent about $50 a week doing so, and it was definately not worth it. i have since become my own barista, and learned on my own to make drinks just as good, if not better, with a healthier calorie and fat content, for a fraction of the price...

cathdrew2

I guess because I am only 5'1-1/2 with a desk job, I have just gotten used to logging FIRST. I am never surprised AND I eat whatever I want - just 1/2 of it or 1/4 of it, whatever fits in my plan. What restaurants give you doesn't have to be what you consume in one sitting.

Larela

oh that sounds good- I'll have to try that!

AsellusReborn

yummmm 310 calories of pure delicious-ness!
if i ever think that i'm going to stop and get something like that i look up the nutritional info online that way there are no surprises.
starbucks has a LOT of 0-100 calorie options and i've tried a few of the iced teas and they're all so, so good
and to answer your question, i once ate an ENTIRE WATERMELON. 1,000ish calories later i was dying and peeing and dying and i never thought it had that many calories in it. it's 90% water for godsakes!

Lol sorry, reading through this thread had very few surprises but this cracked me up!!!

profr

I've learned that if it tastes good, it as lots of calories. Plain boring tasteless food is the only way to go.

Sorry if the original poster thinks this is taking the initial comment too seriously, but I no longer *want* to eat things dripping butter or filled with sugar. You know how if someone is wearing too much perfume you can't smell anything but the perfume? I think sugar and salt act similarly: too much sugar, too much salt, and you can't taste anything else. Too much fat (butter, oil) works the same way for me. I was completely desensitized to flavor. Because your tastebuds are expecting a lot of sugar and salt, food without that seems boring and tasteless.

It's time to retrain your tastebuds. (It works. I did it.)

Learn to cook from scratch & stop eating fake food like artificial sweeteners and canned things with lots of salt. Processed foods with all their additives trick us into not actually tasting the wonderful flavors of food. It takes a little while to wake your taste buds up again, but when you do, food tastes great. Something as simple as an egg, carefully fried in olive oil and served with some freshly ground pepper and a one ounce slice of some homemade bread is really tasty.

Also, splurge on the really good stuff, but weigh or otherwise measure the portion. An ounce of chocolate will fit into a healthy eating plan, but a whole candy bar probably won't, so enjoy that ounce as much as possible by getting the best chocolate you can. Quality, not quantity. Lol.

Oh -- eat slowly, too, so you have time to taste the great things you are eating.

The best part of my dinner tonight was brussel sprouts roasted in olive oil, fresh thyme, and a good balsamic vinegar, served cold (they were leftovers!) and tossed with pomegranate arils and a drizzle of fig infused balsamic vinegar. No sacrifice there!!!

Last night was a lovely steak (4 oz), with lots of great vegetables and fruit on the side.

Works for me.

Natihilator

I've learned that if it tastes good, it as lots of calories. Plain boring tasteless food is the only way to go.

You know how if someone is wearing too much perfume you can't smell anything but the perfume? I think sugar and salt act similarly: too much sugar, too much salt, and you can't taste anything else. You're desensitized. Because your tastebuds are expecting a lot of sugar and salt, food without that seems boring and tasteless.

It's time to retrain your tastebuds. (It works. I did it.)

This.

I really wanted a cupcake the other day, so I made the trip to the bakery to get it. All I tasted was glue and artificial flavouring and SUGAR, so much sugar :sick: And that was just the icing. I ate it because I was starving, but it was 530 calories wasted on garbage food. If I get that craving again, I am going to make it myself with about 1/3 of the sugar and control what goes into it for the correct calorie/enjoyment balance.

InnerFatGirl

Try the skinny mocha soy latte instead. Only 100 calories and 2g of sugar, I believe!

What size? Our mocha sauce is 20 cals per pump and we put 3 in the tall. The espresso is about 10-15 cals. Also, do you mean skinny or soy or both? The soy has a fair amount of cals (like 120 in a tall) and skinny milk is only about 20 calories less than that.

pier11

I one day bought "Bread - Olive Fougasse"
http://foodemporium.grocerydirect.com/pd/ACE-Bakery/Bread-Olive-Fougasse/16-oz/628553031564/
I thought it would be good to complement roasted salmon. That's supposed to be a healthy quick meal/dinner after movie.
It's its form, not as regular slises of loaf, seem confused me of its calorie value.
I ate 1/2+ that day and the rest another day, to realise +2 lb on scale after
I was pretty shocked to realise that I ate 70cal*10oz = 700 cal just from a slightly more than half of that bread. Not anymore

bahacca

Banana bread! I about died when I logged my recipe and servings.

MsDover

A small Mcdonald's milk shake..... I knew it wasn't going to be guilt free, but 580 calories? for a SMALL?

firstsip

i dont really drink at starbucks anymore for personal ethical reasons, however, when i did, i spent about $50 a week doing so, and it was definately not worth it. i have since become my own barista, and learned on my own to make drinks just as good, if not better, with a healthier calorie and fat content, for a fraction of the price...

I certainly hope your ethical reasons are for perhaps supporting local, small businesses, and not because of the million times disproven "They're not supporting the troops!" nonsense that was on the rumor mill awhile back.

In regards to "surprise" foods: You know Chicago Style pizza is going to be bad. Then you look up every MFP and Google entry on it, just to hope that you were mistaken upon seeing your first result.

bama97202

Why would a latte have sugar? It's just espresso and milk yet every listing for a non fat latte has at least 12 g of sugar. Where is the sugar coming from if I'm not putting any in? Maybe I need to put in milk and espresso separately to get a more accurate idea of my sugar intake.

sbrownallison

I was on line at the supermarket and saw a packaged big cookie near the checkout. Scalled the nutrition label, decided I could "afford" it, and bought it. After I consumed the cookie, I looked at the packaging again and discovered that this cookie was actually TWO servings. Who ever ate 1/2 a cookie? Really. Who?

snazzyjazzy21

I was on line at the supermarket and saw a packaged big cookie near the checkout. Scalled the nutrition label, decided I could "afford" it, and bought it. After I consumed the cookie, I looked at the packaging again and discovered that this cookie was actually TWO servings. Who ever ate 1/2 a cookie? Really. Who?

I hate that! I once brought a packet of pringles and was like 'sweet, 120 cals!'. Double checked it after eating to find it had 1.5 servings in the packet. That's just rude!

Lizajayne23

I have to say, the one area that will continue to splurge is my Caramel Macchiato. I haven't been in months and couldn't help myself when in the area so I decided to try the skinny, nonfat, yada yada yada and all I can say is YUCK. I'll stick with my regular and a bit of sugar, thank you very much. LOL

Luckily, we don't have a Starbucks and the closest is 20 miles away so I don't go often, but my daughter is coming for a 3 week visit next week and we usually start on Starbucks at the airport , heaven help me. LOL

pinkraynedropjacki

yuuup.. that chai is sneaky.. I'm getting rid of my oregon chai concentrate.. pure sugar.. and 90 calories for 1/2 cup! My solution when I'm really craving chai is getting actual chai tea (bags of looseleaf- 0 cals).. and brewing it in some almond milk (30-40 cals) and adding a little honey (0-20 cals) or stevia for sweetness

Only thing with 0 cals is the water you put in it. Even the tea has cals, not 0. Only things with 0 cals in the world are air & pure plain water.

burnsds

If you are disciplined and consistent, you can have a food day and eat whatever you want. It isn't going to hurt you if you so it day once a month or so. You are allowed to go crazy sometimes and savor that sweet meal or dessert. Sometimes you gotta just break the rules. When I go to a baseball game all bets are off - I am eating most of the menu, I'm paying for it, might as well enjoy it. If go to a restaurant, I'm going to make use of those calories. I only splurge on meals that are worth it, so only once or month or so is fine. The rest is work and focus on losing the weight.

Phrick

Starbucks Chai killed me too. I searched online and found a recipe to make my own chai tea concentrate to be mixed with milk (or milk sub) and it's sooo much better for calories (49 for 6oz of concentrate I think). I frequently mix it with a few ounces of fat free milk and a scoop of vanilla protein powder, then blend with ice. Yum!