Popular Restaurants with surprising calorie count

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Replies

  • toaster6
    toaster6 Posts: 703 Member
    I try to research restaurants before I go to them since a couple of restaurants show nutritional information on their sites. But since I usually estimate a high calorie value in any case, I end up never being surprised when it is high haha. I was however, surprised by Panera offering some yummy low calorie options.
  • Coming4U
    Coming4U Posts: 93 Member
    Cheesecake Factory.....nearly everything is over 1k calories.

    They have an entire low cal menu seperate called skinnyliscious and almost everything on it is under 600 Calories and it is fantastic. I go there alot with great success.
  • kmm7309
    kmm7309 Posts: 802 Member
    IHOP's calorie counts are deplorable. Two wheat pancakes with sugar free syrup is over 300 calories. Salads are almost 1000 calories. A stack of four seasonal pancakes (like red velvet w/o butter or syrup) is over 800 calories.

    I know I shouldn't be shocked, but it sucks. My roommate works there, and it's 5 minutes from the house, and we always choose IHOP when we are going out to eat. I have to study the nutritional guide very carefully, write everything down, and bring it with me. But I do that for all major restaurants, and I recommend everyone do that.

    Applebee's is bad too. 1400 calories for some of their APPETIZERS!
  • wazzanz
    wazzanz Posts: 78
    Have a protein shake before you go. Great way to eat less!

    I have Subway salads twice a week. Often get double meat. Roast Chicken or Roast Beef seem to have less sodium. Have substituted the sandwich for a wrap when need that bit more as less refined carbs.
  • MindyG150
    MindyG150 Posts: 1,296 Member
    I am always suprised at the amount of fat and calories in salads in general at restaurants. I can't believe that it is sometimes healthier to order a burger at some restaurants than it is to order a salad. I can never understand why restaurants don't have fat free salad dressings to go with their salads either, I mean come on, you say you have "healthy salads" so why not offer the fat free dressings as well. lol

    So This!!
  • kmm7309
    kmm7309 Posts: 802 Member
    I admit freely that I am a McDonaldsoholic.....but now, instead of a big mac, fries and coke....I get a Grilled Chicken McBistro, BLT, NO BACON, NO SAUCE.....for about 320 cal....a small garden salad (skip the dressing) and Coke Zero (yes I know it's high in sodium).....see??? it can be done!!

    I also love Subway, but you MUST resist the cheese and sauce. Their ham is fat-free!

    Dairy Queen and KFC are no-go's for me. Tim Horton's has a fairly decent chicken noodle soup, and you can order sandwiches with the cheese and sauce.

    I find McDonald's isn't awful too. I just get a plain McDouble (1 slice of cheese) and a parfait with a water, and it's around 400-500 calories. I find the meal to be satisfying, for fast food. I also like the grilled chicken sandwiches, but I tend to get them without bread.
  • Breeoxd
    Breeoxd Posts: 4
    Red Lobster has many good options. I agree with an earlier post about Panera--but stay away from the sweets. Those numbers were SCARY!! I also agree about Starbucks. I can have a "skinny" latte, but was also surprised by the pastries!!

    Really? everything I've ever seen at RL is drenched in butter- even when you don't order drawn butter with Lobster, the fish is drenched in it. And those biscuits are the devil. Seriously, I'm not the most stringent person in the world, but dang folks! lol

    But yeah for SB skinny versions! RIght on!
  • missprincessgina
    missprincessgina Posts: 446 Member
    I was going strong losing weight a couple years ago, and had a meeting in a small town about an hour away, and I drove a colleague with me. I brought my own lunch and was doing great. At the end of the meeting, he said "I'll take you to Dairy Queen..." which I NEVER go to, never eat there, never had an urge to. But he really wanted something, so I went, and tried to think of the smallest, least-offensive/bad thing I could order for a little treat. They did not have the frozen yogurt or low-fat/low-sugar ice cream. So I ordered a small vanilla malt. Tiny thing, about 3/4 -cup of blended ice cream and a spoonful of malt.

    Went home and looked it up on the DQ webpage. 650 calories. I about passed out.

    However, that week I continued to lose my 1-2 pounds per week as I had been for several months. I learned important lessons, though: 1) processed and fast foods of any kind (salads included) seem to always have more calories than you expect, so reduce those as much as possible; and 2) one goof during a week won't kill you.

    But I'm much more mindful--and forgiving of myself--now and that's probably been my only visit to DQ in the past 10 years and I have no urge to ever set foot in one again.

    I am obsessed with DQ. That is one thing I refuse to give up. I'd run hard for 2 hours or do anything to have a blizzard. Ice cream is probably my favorite food.
  • Sweet_Potato
    Sweet_Potato Posts: 1,119 Member
    I don't go out to the chain restaurants unless I'm traveling or something. The downside is that I can't look up calorie counts of the meals I eat out, so it's always a wild guess. I do a lot of cooking from scratch, though, so I think I'm pretty good at determining what the ingredients are and rough quantities of each.
  • danimal5867
    danimal5867 Posts: 390
    I rarely order in a restaurant without checking the nutritional facts first. And, yes, the sodium levels are completely out of whack in nearly all restaurants.
  • Skinnymunkii
    Skinnymunkii Posts: 191 Member
    When I first started my lifestyle change, I got a craving for ice cream. I don't keep it in the house, so off we went to Sonic. I looked at the menu board and saw they had a new "mini" size for their Sonic Blasts, and thought to myself...yay! This should be reasonable! So I got one, enjoyed it, and looked it up when I got home. I wasn't very happy to find that even the mini size STILL had around 600 calories.:noway: I swear they put extra calories in their soft serve just to tick us off.:angry:
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    My fave meal out is the Boston Cheesesteak and Cactus Cut fries at Boston Pizza... 1140 calories for the sandwich and another 570 for the fries lol... I'll get it now... maybe once or twice a year and eat half the sandwich. And I'll make sure I run that day haha.
  • gjsmommy
    gjsmommy Posts: 90 Member
    I just had dinner at Islands Restaurant tonight and saw that their Kaanapali Kobb Salad had a grand total of 1590 calories. I was shocked as many of the burgers were a lot less in calories than that.
  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
    A Noodles & Co just opened up by my work, so I looked them up - and I was surprised that there were multiple options for entirely reasonable meals there. Not even being a total weirdo ordering the double this and that other thing on the side, just right there ordering off the menu. You do have to actually research though, because there's a huge range and the stuff you might think is healthy is actually loaded with sugar and the stuff you think is going to be awful turns out not to be. (Tuscan linguine FTW!)

    Also, they have the Soda Machine Of The Future (Of Ten Years Ago), which entertains me no end.
  • duckieee
    duckieee Posts: 7 Member
    Red Robin is probably my favorite chain restaurant. And I absolutely LOVE their nutritional menu because it is SO customizable. I always get the whiskey river BBQ burger or chicken burger, and on their website, you can customize the burger and find out that the bun alone is 253 calories, and the calorie count for the onion straws and go halfsies on them etc. I LOVE IT! The sodium content is ridiculous, but it's a great way to ballpark customized meals and find out the rough nutritional value of each ingredient that makes up your meal!
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    I ate at Red Robin with no planning, and it was a lot of work to find something that was reasonable in the calorie department. I let DD have a milkshake, and a kid's milkshake alone is upwards of 400 cals! And to be perfectly honest, it would've been much better with less sugar and more flavor.
  • susiesweets
    susiesweets Posts: 48
    I also love Subway, but you MUST resist the cheese and sauce. Their ham is fat-free!

    WHAT!?! I'm sorry but there is no such thing as fat free ham. If it is considered fat free then it is (s)"ham and not ham.
  • MMarvelous
    MMarvelous Posts: 1,067 Member
    Cheesecake Factory.....nearly everything is over 1k calories.

    I agree. I ate there tonight but I preplanned my meal before I went. I usually get the grilled salmon, mashed potatoes and succotash....I ate half of the meal which was 560 and don't DARE think about getting a slice of cheesecake unless you like eating 700-1200 calories UGH
  • annwyatt69
    annwyatt69 Posts: 727 Member
    My son is a manager at a Texas Country Dairy Queen and I know what the food is cooked and fried in. When you order the grilled chicken salad, you have to ask for no bacon or cheese or get it on the side. They only have fat free Italian dressing, so I bring my own fat free with me. Now if I want a grilled chicken sandwich, he rinses it before he grills it and that removes the buttery sauce that has all the high calories. He seasons it with pepper and serves it to me with grilled jalapenos on a plate. You can special order anything at a Texas Dairy Queen. Also, fried foods there are fried in soybean oil, which is high calorie, yes, but as healthy as olive oil or safflower oil. Also, many of the calories come from the buttered grilled bun. Ask for them to not butter the bun before it is grilled. The calories shown on MFP can be lowered tremendously by asking them to do simple things.
  • Coming4U
    Coming4U Posts: 93 Member
    Cheesecake Factory.....nearly everything is over 1k calories.

    I agree. I ate there tonight but I preplanned my meal before I went. I usually get the grilled salmon, mashed potatoes and succotash....I ate half of the meal which was 560 and don't DARE think about getting a slice of cheesecake unless you like eating 700-1200 calories UGH

    Again eat off the skinnyliscious menu...it is fatastic and low cal
  • SuperSexyDork
    SuperSexyDork Posts: 1,669 Member
    When I go out to eat, I normally preplan my meals. I did so last night when I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for my boyfriend's birthday... that way I know what to expect.

    The one place that really surprised me when I was doing this was Ruby Tuesday. Their food has a lot less calories and sodium than I was expecting and some really great low calorie options for sides (grilled vegetables, spaghetti squash, salad bar, etc). However, just like anywhere you eat, it's possible to get really high counts on both.
  • Molly_Maguire
    Molly_Maguire Posts: 1,103 Member
    Outback Steakhouse
    Macaroni Grill
    Cheesecake Factory

    --And surprisingly--Taco Bell! I mean I know it's fast food, and no fast food is GOOD for you, but I was pretty shocked to learn that almost all of their stuff is pretty pricey, calorie-wise.
  • lwagnitz
    lwagnitz Posts: 1,321 Member
    Tropical Smoothie. It's insane. Their smoothies are 300+ calories. I got a wrap once, and opted for the veggie hummus vs the buffalo chicken thinking I was making a better decision. How wrong was I.
  • jillian769
    jillian769 Posts: 247 Member
    Red Lobster has many good options. I agree with an earlier post about Panera--but stay away from the sweets. Those numbers were SCARY!! I also agree about Starbucks. I can have a "skinny" latte, but was also surprised by the pastries!!

    Really? everything I've ever seen at RL is drenched in butter- even when you don't order drawn butter with Lobster, the fish is drenched in it. And those biscuits are the devil. Seriously, I'm not the most stringent person in the world, but dang folks! lol

    But yeah for SB skinny versions! RIght on!

    They have a separate menu called The lighthouse menu or something like that, I think you have to ask for it, but they have lots of really good stuff on there for decent calories.
  • pamperedlinny
    pamperedlinny Posts: 1,679 Member
    There is a Salad Creations at the mall near me... it's like Subway w/o the bread and the salad is huge! They are my new fave when I'm there because I can pick anything and decide how good or bad I want to be... even the dressings have all varieties from really heavy to just oil & vinegar from diet to low carb. Best find ever!
  • TeriLynnSpano
    TeriLynnSpano Posts: 103 Member
    The chicken fajita pita at Jack in the Box has 320 calories. It tastes good too. Thats a good calorie count for one meal. I love the fresh brewed ice tea with lemon and splenda, and during the summer a large is only $1.00:drinker:
  • Prahasaurus
    Prahasaurus Posts: 1,381 Member
    I just had dinner at Islands Restaurant tonight and saw that their Kaanapali Kobb Salad had a grand total of 1590 calories. I was shocked as many of the burgers were a lot less in calories than that.

    How can a salad have 1590 calories??? What do they put in there, a pound of bacon and gallon of blue cheese dressing??

    --P
  • Erisad
    Erisad Posts: 1,580
    Salads definitely. My favorite salad from Applebee's is about 900 calories. Also most of Friendly's platters are 4 digits in calories as well. Definitely saddened me. I haven't eaten there in over a year now. Probably for the best. :P
  • jennaworksout
    jennaworksout Posts: 1,739 Member
    When restaurants had to start posting calories here in CA, I was shocked at Starbucks. You expect the pastries, but some of the "healthier" items like bran muffins and whole grain bagels are just as high!

    muffins and bagels are super high in calories .....not good for you at all
  • EnchantedEvening
    EnchantedEvening Posts: 671 Member
    I was curious what Restaurants you may have gone to that you found it surprising how low or how high the calories were in the food. (Note: I understand that it varies by what you order, but just generally speaking when you get a burger, you usually have a certain expectation as to how high the calorie count will be) There are some days when take out is the best option but I find it worse when you get there and put the food in MFP only to find out it is very different from what you expected. For example, I was relatively shocked when I ordered Jimmy Johns and checked the calories in the sandwich. I was not expecting the calorie count to be that high from a sandwich restaurant that I would normally compare to other lower calorie sandwich joints. Are there any places that should be visited with caution by dieters and other places that actually are not as high in calories as you would expect?
    That's funny. I was thinking "Jimmy John's" before I finished reading your post. We just ordered some. I was really shocked the first time I entered my sandwich. I'm sure a big part of it is the bread. Now I take half the bread off and eat it like an open-face sandwich.

    Arby's is like this too. Their "Market Fresh" sandwiches have more calories than the Arby Melt (roast beef w/ cheddar sauce).

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