Why hasn't the entire world..

I actually don't want to see the calorie values on the menu at a restaurant. I don't go out often for a meal and when I do I just get what I want and enjoy it and guestimate when I get home.

I want to be able to order without having the calories glaring at me say no no you can't order me - even though I'm delicious and you only have me once every few months, I'm so high in cals it would ruin your day. :noway:

Honestly this feels like a nanny state thing, and not everyone is on a diet or even cares.

So because it doesn't matter to you, sod everyone else?

So because it matters to you make the restaurants have more work to do and print new menus when some of the small non chains are struggling as it is? What about those that change their menu weekly or even daily?

Yeah lets open them up to lawsuits because the cal count isn't accurate. Nice attitude.

Edit: I'm just as entitled to my opinion as you are.

Course you are, never said you are not.

Using your logic - Why put calories on food packs as well?

And who the smeg said anything about a lawsuit - I don't see that happening anywhere at any point at any time, ever.

And "most people" are overweight and health in this country is declining as a whole.

I don't want it to make me a "no" person every time my family wants to eat out...but I can't eat "normal choices" every time we do or I'll NEVER lose weight as I'm not a body builder or weight lifter (yet).

Counts remind me that if I want to eat my next meal while on a diet, I cannot have EVERYTHING on the menu, but I CAN enjoy friends, my kids, and a treat outing and eat SOMETHING without killing the rest of the day.

My kids need them. They had no idea the consequences of eating out...and they sometimes HAVE to eat out more than is truly healthy due to school activities and...gasp...SPORTS. They are using them!

I really miss it in restaurants and love that McDonald's is doing it. Oddly, it's had the reverse effect on me. Everything eating out is not "bad" at McDonalds. I now know that my Egg McMuffin is okay, my Oatmeal is okay, my fruit parfait, and my hamburger or 4 Nuggets will be okay most days. I like not being surprised with the calorie count later and having regret. My family eats out at least twice a week for McDonalds breakfast with groups and I can enjoy going, knowing the "cost", and for those times when I need fuel without regret, I can make a decent choices. If I'm not wanting to count the cost, I used to just ignore it...didn't hurt me.

I'm in England too!

/waves! :bigsmile:

Honestly, though, how hard WOULD it be?

Most restaurants SHOULD have some sort of portioning system in place anyway. You'd just have to measure out the portions once to know what the calorie count/macros are for each dish assuming that your restaurant employees follow the proper portion sizes when cooking the meals.

Certainly there is a portioning system, but for example when you make sauces/ marinades from scratch there are potentially a dozen or more ingredients in each sauce or marinade of which there are probably a dozen. Not to mention when a restaurant makes a sauce they are making a huge portion to serve a large number of people over the next few days. Depending on who is making the meal different amounts of sauce are used. Proteins are marinated for different periods of time. While there is a recipe, if it doesn't look "right" additional ingredients will be added. Also, who is going to calculate all of this? The chefs? The servers? the managers? None of whom have experience with measuring caloric content? A food scientist would have to be hired, which most restaurants (aside from large corporations) don't have the money to pay for. Of course it would be NICE to see calories at my favorite local restaurant but it is not something is going to happen any time soon.

I agree on the grounds that the consumer should know what they are purchasing. If it was up to me, all food producers and sellers would be required to divulge every single ingredient in the food they are selling. For example, if there is beaver urine in my food, I would really like to know that and personally I don't think its right for something like that to be secret.

I'm in England too!

/waves! :bigsmile:

Hi:drinker:

Just addressing the entire world comment - can you imagine a French michelin starred restaurant being told to put a calorie count on its menu - Ha as if! :laugh:

Some of those don't even have prices :noway:

You will never know exactly how many calories you eat nor exactly how many you need.


This is about estimation. And after you've logged your food for a few months, you should be able to do the numbers in your head.


It's not rocket surgery.


If you feel the need to be that controlled at all times, buy a digital food scale, set it to grams and eat at home.

Even at home you will never be %100 accurate. Calorie counting is always estimation

I think you are missing the point

I happen to oversee a small restaurant, on the side of my full time job. Part of bring a SUCCESSFUL restaurant is knowing the food cost-OF EVERYTHING we offer. It's not difficult to assess the caloric values at that time at all.

Actually, yes it is. If you change distributors, or if your distributor starts carrying different brands, then your previous calculations could be off - sometimes considerably off. Thus, you'd have to recalculate (labor $) and possibly reprint menus (material $) - thus either make less money or raise prices to offset those costs.

In addition, many places have daily or weekly specials. If daily, is someone really going to sit there and try to calculate all the new numbers each day?

Finally, as previously mentioned, if you're that worried about it, don't eat out. Or use your own resources to guesstimate your intake.

And who the smeg said anything about a lawsuit - I don't see that happening anywhere at any point at any time, ever

Matt, you don't live in the USA. Here was have people suing each other for farting in the workplace. I'm not even joking.

Heck, McDonald's has openly published their cal information for years, long before it was the law anywhere, and they STILL get sued by every anti-obesity group in the world.

So it seems we are fairly split LOL!

TBH I do use my iPhone when out and searching for somewhere to have my cheat meal - anywhere that gives me a break down usually gets my dollar!

This is what I do as well. Sometimes my co-workers want to go to the local cafe or whatever for lunch but I try to steer it to some chain type place where the cals are in MFP. If it doesn't work, whatever, it's just one meal.