Have you been surprised by the nutrition of restaurant food?

So today I went to Chili's with some friends and got Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers, I was expecting it to be bad but got quite the shock when I looked it up later: Crispy Honey-Chipotle Chicken
Calories-1680
Fat-73
Carbs-203
Wow, thank goodness I only ate half, but now I need to convince myself to throw the rest away and be done with it! As I start trying to eat a healthy diet, I need to learn to look things up before I go out to eat!

Hmm, totally out of topic, but I have been hearing a lot of people buzzing about chipotle. What is it, exactly? Lol, Sometimes i feel like I live under a rock or something.

Chipotle is like subway meets burrito. You can go in and build your own tacos and burritos...I don't care for them personally.

Always look up a restaurant's nutritional info before going. I go by this: If the place doesn't have nutritional info, either don't go or overestimate.

I overestimate, too. I work in a small town with lots of mom & pop places to eat, none of which have printed nutritional info. I should take my lunch, but I only do that a day or two per week. The other days I log what I think I ate and hope for the best.

YES I have been suprised. Try looking up Applebee's stuff and check out the sodium. One of thier under 550 items had over 3000 mg of sodium that is THREE GRAMS!!!! bring your own lowfat dressing and eat a salad that has NO Meat. Most food chains have a factory where they make thier salad dressings, pre season the meat, make thier sides, and add a LOT of sodium and calories and FAT to each dish. They make it the cheap way not the healthy way. :-) We have the best salads at home because we do not have to ask to HOLD anything. I am getting to the point that I am going to make my own salad dressing. My meal will be good at home until I have to add the salad dressing (I use half a serving and still get alot of bad stuff) Good Luck eating out and stay away from sandwich shops....shudder.....you really don't want to know the bad news on nutrition there. :-)

All the time, but honestly the thing that surprised me more is that some SALADS have more cals / fat then a stake & potato. How the hell does something that should be ‘healthy’ end up being some of the worst choice to make?

Oooh this one irritates me! A couple of years ago, I went to Red Robin with the hubs and the MIL. I decided to be "healthy" (this was before I was on MFP) and get a salad while everyone else got burgers and fries. While we were waiting on our food, I was browsing the Nutritional Info pamphlet on the table. I want to know how my stinkin' salad had more calories than everyone's burgers! I should have went with a burger :grumble: !

The whole entire Outback menu is depressing.

No, if you choose wisely. The have a section in their menu where you can "customize," your choices. Victoria steak (about 6 oz), and vegetables for less than 600 calories. I think that it also includes a small salad. Check it out next time.

I learned while taking my last nutrition class that even the calories that the franchises post are not always accurate, and their "light fare" is seldom light. However, my son works at a Texas Dairy Queen and is a food manager there. He had changed things at this particular DQ, so calories, fat content, etc. are not accurate. He omitted the butter and uses a spray and changed the fry oil to Soybean. He also bakes some things instead of fries. Kudos to this DQ!