PSA: Subway's nutritional info is underestimated

waldo56

PSA : Most nutritional info is underestimated.

Manufacturers are allowed to deviate from their labels by up to 20%. Usually they'll underestimate, ESPECIALLY with "diet" or "lowfat" foods.

I always overestimate calories, underestimate exercise.

Calorie goals are based on a world where calorie counts are overestimated.

Adjust for this by overestimating calories, you also will have to increase your calorie goals to account for the removal of this error.

Accuracy-wise you are barking up the wrong tree. The error in food calorie counts is neutral to the bottom line of weight loss, it is already accounted for in your goals.

If you aren't losing at the rate you expect, adjust your goals, don't purposely alter your estimated values. That is a horrible estimating practice.

waldo56

Subway protip - 6" sub with double meat and cheese = slightly cheaper and lower cal footlong (plus a higher protein to calorie ratio).

Madholm

You had me scared at first. Then I was like LOL, I don't give a **** if I'm eating extra veggies.

If you eat at 5 guys and cold stone often enough that you are concerned about the serving size then I'd say you have much bigger problems. If I'm eating at one of those places I obviously don't care about my calories for that day.

Pedal_Pusher

crazy shlt

Madholm

No one got fat by overeating apples & broccoli!

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!

skinnyitaliannn

I'll still eat there if there isn't a better place nearby lol

JustANumber85

No one got fat by overeating apples & broccoli!

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!

But theyd sure have the ****s though!

now_or_never12

Every subway I have been to has bread that is all the same size and meat that is pre-portioned out for either the 6 inch subs or the footlong subs. The cheese is also portioned as they only put two half slices on each 6inch sub unless you ask for and pay for more.

The veggies don't add a ton of calories. I always get a veggie sub, no cheese, tons of veggies and a bit of sauce. For the sauce I usually ask for it on the side as I know the little containers they use here can hold 2.5 tbsp of sauce.

Why worry about the extra calories from a pickle or two? It barely makes a difference. The real calorie amounts are in the meats, cheese and breads which are portioned out.

Every restaurant estimates things. Do you think if you go into a restuaurant and order fries they actually weight the fries before you get them? No... they just eyeball it based on what amout a serving should be. If you get toppings on a burger I bet they aren't measuring out the mayo to meet the amount the nutritional information says.

calimoma

the subway here that i go to only uses light mayo anyway. the turkey on wheat no cheese is only around 300 cals i think. and now blimpie has light mayo!!

c4ssandra

I worked at Subway for 5 years between two different stores. It's been about 5 years since I quit, though, so some things have changed in their practices but I'm sure some things are the same. My mom was a manager at several Subways for about 8 years. Here is what I know based on my experience of working and eating there. I'm not going to comment on whether or not Subway is healthy or how healthy it is. I'm just gonna tell you what I know.


First of all, YOU CAN BE PICKY. If you want 4 slices of cucumber in quarters and arranged the bread evenly, tell them. You can ask for pretty much any customization you want. You can even ask them to scoop out the extra bread in the middle (this cuts a bit of calories and was frequently requested in one of my stores).

YOU are the customer. YOU are paying for it. TELL THEM what you want. If you are so concerned about calories, find out what exactly is supposed to go on the sandwich and the serving sizes (veggies vary by sandwich in the calorie count).

Instead of saying, "honey mustard", say "I want two very light lines of honey mustard" and stress the 'very light' part. Or if you don't trust the person, just say one light line and go from there. If you want only 1 tomato instead of 3, say that you only want one tomato (and hey, get them to cut that in half for you too so it's even throughout the sandwich).

I used to be able to make my own sandwiches so I'm very picky. You can be too! Unless they take your sandwich to the back room (and why would they?), they probably cannot spit on it. (But, you probably don't want to push people who look like they're on the verge of losing it. There was a guy who worked before me who threw a knife at a customer because he had had it with customers. But he was crazy.)

Second of all, TALK LOUD AND CLEAR. It's really hard to hear back there with all of the machines going.

So on to my review....

BREAD
The bread should be accurate 99% of the time unless the 'sandwich artist' didn't cut the piece of bread equally in half (which happens in a rush). The bread with toppings will probably vary in calories because I know my store didn't measure out the cheese, honey oat, or Italian herbs w/cheese toppings.

MEATS
The sliced deli meats are probably going to be accurate as long as they put the correct amount of slices on the sandwich. If you get double meat, of course the calorie count will increase. The roasted chicken breast patty will be accurate as long on the food supplier got the portion size correct.

All of the other meats, like anything they use a scoop for, is probably going to vary. Back when I worked there, we measured everything and put each portion in a little tray before it went out on the line. We had to be exact. All my bosses were very picky about that probably because of cost control. But nowadays I noticed that Subways just throw all the chicken strips, chicken teriyaki, buffalo chicken, steak, tuna, etc. into a big cambro pan and use the scoop. With this method I always get varying amounts of meat--usually way too much. So unless this type of loose meat comes pre-measured in trays, I wouldn't trust the calories.

Tuna is probably accurate as long as they give you the correct 2 level scoops. It's one bag of mayo per can of tuna, so unless they are incompetent, it should be correct.

CHEESES
Sliced cheeses should be fine as long as they give you the appropriate amount. The shredded cheese is obviously going to be off unless they weigh or measure it accurately.

VEGGIES
Hahahahahahaha! Please. We were supposed to put something like 3 olives on a 6" and 5 on a 12". Unless the person is a stickler for rules or very new, the person making your sandwich will probably put the normal amount of veggies that most people ask for, which is more than what corporate uses to calculate calories. So if you want something different, ask for it BEFORE they put it on your sandwich. Also note that each sandwich is calculated using specific veggies. The sandwich artists are probably not trained to know what those veggies are, oddly enough. So if you're a stickler about calories, you need to do your homework. The subway website has all that info.

COOKIES
Should be right on mark with their calories unless the food supplier messed up the portions.

SOUP
Probably not accurate. When I worked there, we just filled the bowl/cup up almost to the top and who knows if it was exactly the correct portion.

now_or_never12

Subway is crap. They heat their stuff up in a microwave which loses all of the nutrients in whatever is being heated.

I can't stand that franchise!

I'm confused about how heating something in a mircowave magically makes the food lose all the nutrients.

CoffeeNBooze

oh I figured that. When I eat at these places I learn the nutrition facts but if it seems they went overboard on the servings (like fries at In and out, for example) then I try my best to estimate based on the guidelines given. It's a pain in the *kitten* but it's worth it to know all these things.

Btw, I eat at subway frequently every week since it's one of the only restaurants by my job (and by god, am I sick of it). And I swear the servings are way over estimated!!! I always stick to the low cal sandwiches like turkey, ham, subway club, etc and only mustard for dressing. I just don't feel energetic afterwards and I don't think it does anything for my weight loss because of the patterns I've noticed when I eat it a lot. Bring your food from home!

Weebs628

I worked at Subway for 5 years between two different stores. It's been about 5 years since I quit, though, so some things have changed in their practices but I'm sure some things are the same. My mom was a manager at several Subways for about 8 years. Here is what I know based on my experience of working and eating there. I'm not going to comment on whether or not Subway is healthy or how healthy it is. I'm just gonna tell you what I know.


First of all, YOU CAN BE PICKY. If you want 4 slices of cucumber in quarters and arranged the bread evenly, tell them. You can ask for pretty much any customization you want. You can even ask them to scoop out the extra bread in the middle (this cuts a bit of calories and was frequently requested in one of my stores).

YOU are the customer. YOU are paying for it. TELL THEM what you want. If you are so concerned about calories, find out what exactly is supposed to go on the sandwich and the serving sizes (veggies vary by sandwich in the calorie count).

Instead of saying, "honey mustard", say "I want two very light lines of honey mustard" and stress the 'very light' part. Or if you don't trust the person, just say one light line and go from there. If you want only 1 tomato instead of 3, say that you only want one tomato (and hey, get them to cut that in half for you too so it's even throughout the sandwich).

I used to be able to make my own sandwiches so I'm very picky. You can be too! Unless they take your sandwich to the back room (and why would they?), they probably cannot spit on it. (But, you probably don't want to push people who look like they're on the verge of losing it. There was a guy who worked before me who threw a knife at a customer because he had had it with customers. But he was crazy.)

Second of all, TALK LOUD AND CLEAR. It's really hard to hear back there with all of the machines going.

So on to my review....

BREAD
The bread should be accurate 99% of the time unless the 'sandwich artist' didn't cut the piece of bread equally in half (which happens in a rush). The bread with toppings will probably vary in calories because I know my store didn't measure out the cheese, honey oat, or Italian herbs w/cheese toppings.

MEATS
The sliced deli meats are probably going to be accurate as long as they put the correct amount of slices on the sandwich. If you get double meat, of course the calorie count will increase. The roasted chicken breast patty will be accurate as long on the food supplier got the portion size correct.

All of the other meats, like anything they use a scoop for, is probably going to vary. Back when I worked there, we measured everything and put each portion in a little tray before it went out on the line. We had to be exact. All my bosses were very picky about that probably because of cost control. But nowadays I noticed that Subways just throw all the chicken strips, chicken teriyaki, buffalo chicken, steak, tuna, etc. into a big cambro pan and use the scoop. With this method I always get varying amounts of meat--usually way too much. So unless this type of loose meat comes pre-measured in trays, I wouldn't trust the calories.

Tuna is probably accurate as long as they give you the correct 2 level scoops. It's one bag of mayo per can of tuna, so unless they are incompetent, it should be correct.

CHEESES
Sliced cheeses should be fine as long as they give you the appropriate amount. The shredded cheese is obviously going to be off unless they weigh or measure it accurately.

VEGGIES
Hahahahahahaha! Please. We were supposed to put something like 3 olives on a 6" and 5 on a 12". Unless the person is a stickler for rules or very new, the person making your sandwich will probably put the normal amount of veggies that most people ask for, which is more than what corporate uses to calculate calories. So if you want something different, ask for it BEFORE they put it on your sandwich. Also note that each sandwich is calculated using specific veggies. The sandwich artists are probably not trained to know what those veggies are, oddly enough. So if you're a stickler about calories, you need to do your homework. The subway website has all that info.

COOKIES
Should be right on mark with their calories unless the food supplier messed up the portions.

SOUP
Probably not accurate. When I worked there, we just filled the bowl/cup up almost to the top and who knows if it was exactly the correct portion.

I second all of this. I worked at Subway for 3 years. Each sandwich has a formula for slices of meat and cheese, but when it comes to veggies, I never counted out the pickles or olives when making someone's sandwich unless they specified how many they wanted.

xiamjackie

That's why it's better to just eat at home. You know exactly what you're getting.

You shouldn't be eating at places like Five Guys or McDonalds anyway except for once in a while. If I do eat at those places or have ice cream at Coldstone Creamery or something (once in a LONG while for a treat) then I doubt I'm even logging that day because those things along would just blow up my macros.

geebusuk

Nice post c4ssandra!

That's why it's better to just eat at home. You know exactly what you're getting.

Do you? How do you know the stuff you weighed out has the exact nutirition information that it says on MFP/the packet, etc?

Then; how do you know your TDEE is correcty calculated for that day?

It's all a big 'fudge factor'.

I always log McDonalds and while I don't eat there that often, don't see why it couldn't be incorporated in to a healthy lifestyle if desired. Most burgers from there in the UK are pretty low calorie.

Sapporo

The Subway I go to has the cheapest manager ever and has trained all employees to count everything out as per corporate standards. It makes a meatball sub very sucky, not enough meat to cover the bread.

WDEvy

Y'all do realize that subway's website has a really nifty little cals calculator where you can customize everything that goes in and you get your count, right?!