Dear lord this is insane!!

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leighoconnell
leighoconnell Posts: 217
in Food and Nutrition
My office ordered my department lunch today from the CHEESECAKE FACTORY and I went ahead and order a burrito. Well when my burrito got here it weighs literally 3 freaking lbs! Its enough to feed a family of five and Cheesecake Factory considers this one portion! Well I decided to look up the calories in it before scarfing down.....first off, Cheesecake Factory is extremely secretive of their calories, the only way to find out? Is by looking at pictures of their menu in a state that requires them to display the calories, pictures someone had to sneakily take! That speaks volumes. Anyways here's the lowdown on the single burrito I got not including the mountain of sides that came with it:

Calories: 1839
Carbs:169
Fat: 29
Sodium: 3,776

I only ate 1/5 of the burrito and it was still devastating. But I have to stay, I am so proud I resisted this because a year ago I would have eaten the whole thing! And I didn't ruin my day. Though it did give me a killer headache.

Moral of the story: Don't eat at the Cheesecake Factory. They don't have anything under 800 calories and high fat including salads!

Replies

  • kimberly428
    kimberly428 Posts: 237
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    WOW! That is crazy!!!! I am extremely impressed with you that you didnt eat more than a normal serving, good job girl!
  • allykat8
    allykat8 Posts: 237
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    I know! Everything they have is just about enough to give anyone a heart attack LOL

    I looooove their cheesecake - but a single slice can be 800-2200 calories!!!

    Great job on portion control - I would have ate the whole thing!
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    I've only been to the Cheesecake Factory once and my friend warned me that their portions were absurd. We ordered a salad to SHARE and still took home leftovers. And we wonder why there is an obesity problem in the United States! (Okay, maybe we don't really wonder about the reasons.)
  • godblessourhome
    godblessourhome Posts: 3,892 Member
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    i love the cheesecake factory! i don't ever plan to stop going to a restaurant just because they make high-calorie meals. :) it is their job to make delightful-tasting food and my choice what i stick in my mouth. my husband and i go and will split an entree and still have left-overs for lunch the next day; it's a fabulous bargain for the price!

    good for you for knowing appropriate portion sizes and sticking to it! i'm glad you were able to make your selection work for you.
  • weidner
    weidner Posts: 127
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    Ha, ha, ha!!!! That is more than I am alotted in an entire day!!!!!!!!

    Congrats for knowing your limits and sticking to them!
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    my husband and i go and will split an entree and still have left-overs for lunch the next day; it's a fabulous bargain for the price!

    That's typically what I try to do at restaurants. (I don't avoid the place because it serves high calorie foods, but just because there aren't any near me). It is an economical way to go, for sure! I can get two meals for about $6/each at a lot of places. I do really like that states are not gradually starting to require restaurants to make this information available, though. I think so many people just have no clue about these things so they think "Well. I do eat healthy -- I only have a salad at XYZ Restaurant." But the problem might be that the salad is 900 calories and they eat at XYZ Restaurant four or five times a week.

    Definitely good control with only eating a portion of the burrito. I find that I have trouble stopping myself when it comes to Mexican food. Half of a Chipotle burrito just looks so sad sitting there by itself....:happy:
  • YogaRunner
    YogaRunner Posts: 652 Member
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    I went there once and ordered Miso Salmon because I was trying to be good! Got home and was blown away by the number of calories in it! Thankfully, I didn't eat the whole thing, but still!! Why did they have to ruin salmon????
    Risa
  • cruisegirl
    cruisegirl Posts: 43 Member
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    Wow, that IS insane. But you did great!!! That one meal is more than I'm allowed in an entire day! Since being on MFP, I've really started noticing restaurant food and most all of them are that way. The portion size is ridiculous.. like you said, one 'portion' is enough to feed an entire family! What you did is what everyone should do when eating out -- just cut out a small portion and eat it. I've also heard of people just telling the waitress at the beginning, to half it and box the other half to take with you.
  • FitJoani
    FitJoani Posts: 2,173 Member
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    I can NOT wait till it becomes law everywhere to post calories...although it wont stop people from gorging it may help with awareness...eat this not that votes CF to be the WORST(as in caloric) Restaurant in America...what a title to have amidst the calorie nightmares we consume(not us per se but as a country...sad)
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    I think what you learned today is: Just because someone serves you 1/2 a cow, does not mean you must eat it all!!

    I remember the day I slapped my forehead and said " OH, I an eat 1/2!!" when I wanted a hoagie so badly.......drool was dripping from the sides of my mouth. I looked it up and it was 800 calories-with no sauce.

    It was like I was a moron or something.......eat 1/2 and it is 400 cals and I can have what I like! WOOT!.

    Funny, how our minds are set a certain way.

    So proud of you for doing your research and only having a bit.

    Now drink a lot of water to flush our the sodium-which is likely what is causing your headache.

    XOXO Jeannie
  • donsch
    donsch Posts: 40
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    Good for you. my husband and went to Applebees I LOVE the orange bowl chicken. When I asked for a nutritional guide they said I would have to look on-line. That made the bells and whistles go off. I went ahead and ordered it and a take home container. Before I even took a bite I put half of it into the container, When I got home I realized I had eaten 900 calories! !!The good thing--I would have eaten the whole thing a year ago!! THat would have been 1800 calories!!!
    I am amazed at the portion sizes at resturants in USA. No wonder we are fighting obesity in young children!
  • tralalara
    tralalara Posts: 149
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    Don't you just love it when you ask for a nutritional fact sheet on their menu and they just say "huh?". I asked at Cracker Barrel and all they had was a food allergens sheet that they almost couldn't even find. What's it gonna take before restaurants are open with this info? Grrrrrr.....They look at you like you're crazy for wanting to know.
  • WrenLynn
    WrenLynn Posts: 213
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    Yesterday I had to go to our corporate office two hours away for a meeting and knew they would be taking us out to lunch somewhere. I called on Thursday to ask if they knew where we would be eating and they said The Cheesecake Factory so I got online and found the nutritional info. This was the first time going to this restaurant for me so I was really surprised when they brought the menu. Over 30 pages of tempting food with two whole pages of just different kinds of cheesecake. I was so proud of myself for sticking with what I had decided via my on line search. I didn't have any bread or any of the appetizers the others ordered. I had the spicy chicken salad-511 calories. I then ordered a piece of the original plain cheesecake (why not?-employer was paying! :) ) I then proceeded to eat a third of it and took the rest home. I even kept under my calorie goals yesterday and I didn't have time to exercise because I got home so late -I was so proud of myself because before I would have cared what others thought of me for not eating while they were pigging out on appetizers and joined in. This time I enjoyed the atmosphere-very pretty restaurant and all the fun conversation. I am starting to realize I think I can make it happen this time!

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