Shockers when you started paying attention to calories?

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  • crepes_
    crepes_ Posts: 583 Member
    Sandwiches! A decent tuna melt is around 700 calories if I make it at home. That can easily go up in a diner if the bread is buttered and toasted on the grill and they're not stingy with the mayonnaise. Besides that, the melt is then typically served with a side of fries and ketchup.

    I always thought of bread as just being there to hold the sandwich. I am not willing to spend that many calories on what I pretty much just consider an envelope. Unless it's a really good envelope. Like ciabatta. Different story entirely.
  • msthang444
    msthang444 Posts: 491 Member
    My chili's compromise is the enchilada soup (440 calls) and a frozen margarita (350ish)
  • amandzor
    amandzor Posts: 386 Member
    Sandwiches and salads were my big thing. After I dropped 80+ pounds in college, I took a job in a bakery, and though i stayed away from the sweets, I had a sandwich breakfast/lunch) and salad (dinner) everyday (I was a shift manager, so it was free).

    The sandwiches had 600-900 calories each. The salads were around the same, if not more.

    At 2,500-3,500 calories a day, I couldn't understand why I was gaining weight when I was doing so well -not- eating the pastries, cookies and cakes we sold.

    America needs a serious wake up call, and nutrition classes in our educational system.
  • _cdaley
    _cdaley Posts: 79 Member
    I was shocked at how many calories were in several of the things I was eating on a regular basis. Happily, though, I was also surprised at how relatively easy it was to find lower calorie options that worked for me. Instead of 900 calories (per person) for the pizza my boyfriend and I used to split, we now get a thin crust version that has 350 calories per half to split and eat that with a side salad. I eat a lot of packaged and pre made stuff because I don't like to cook and I have found that there are tons of lower calorie but still yummy options. At this point I am not concerning myself with sodium or other things like that, just purely counting calories. So far, so good!
  • kjd153
    kjd153 Posts: 40 Member
    Chipotle burritos - tasty and made from quality ingredients - but still over 1000 calories WITHOUT the addition of meat. It pains me to only be able to eat half and getting it in a bowl is just not as fun. Also, I think anyone that has ever tracked what they put in a salad from a salad bar gets the shock of a lifetime.
  • Nedra19455
    Nedra19455 Posts: 241 Member
    Large cookie dough blizzard: 1300 calories. D:

    OMG. I had forgotten about DQ. I haven't gone there since the last time I counted calories and found out what's in a blizzard. I live about 4 blocks from one and whenever our local ice cream place (also within walking distance) is closed, my husband always suggests DQ and I'm like, "uh...or maybe we should just wait and get ice cream next week when our usual place is open."

    How do they pack that many calories into those cups? Our local place is far from low fat, but they can't even come close to a DQ blizzard.
  • tk2222
    tk2222 Posts: 199 Member
    Grapes surprised me as well, but other fruit actually went the other way - strawberries, pineapple, mango, peaches, apricots, tangerines - all fewer calories than I expected. I was a bit paranoid about sweet fruit, I guess. I also thought beef was the answer to all protein woes, but it turns out chicken breast actually has more protein than a steak.
  • arcanaconsulting
    arcanaconsulting Posts: 2
    Peanut butter. Also, bagels.
  • carlosjenno
    carlosjenno Posts: 174 Member
    Bread. Just bread.
  • AndyN87
    AndyN87 Posts: 32 Member
    Biggest shocker has been things like dressings, BBQ sauce, etc that all add up insanely quick. Thankfully I do like mustard..... but something like honey mustard has a ton of calories in it.
  • sadiebea25
    sadiebea25 Posts: 72
    bread, and shredded cheese. When you weigh it on a food scale, it's a tiny amount. I was probably using 3-4 times a serving size, and thinking I was having one serving. Those calories add up fast!
  • amwbox
    amwbox Posts: 576 Member
    Coffee creamers.
    Shredded cheese.
    Breakfast cereal. Now I just eat eggs for breakfast.
  • climbing_trees
    climbing_trees Posts: 726 Member
    Tortillas.

    How can one stinkin tortilla be 2-300 calories??? O___O
  • scarrletti_girl
    scarrletti_girl Posts: 479 Member
    hardees 1/3 western extra bacon thinkburger 1010 cals bacon cheddar fries 530 cals 5 piece chicken tenders 440 cals.

    thats a lot!!! ugh makes me not hungry lol
  • paulawatkins1974
    paulawatkins1974 Posts: 720 Member
    YES!! Everything shocked me. My Sis and I went on a healthy eating bend about a year ago buying only non processed, Cooking at home etc. Didn't lose an ounce. Then I started logging on here mid February, turns out I was eating way too much. And don't get me wrong, avacado is healthy but who knew it was like 300 cals? Id eat two sometimes in a day figuring it was the same as eating any other fruit/veg
    ETA I'm surprised everyone in the world is not fat. Portion sizes are ridiculous!
  • Aeramis13
    Aeramis13 Posts: 135 Member
    Chipotle burritos - tasty and made from quality ingredients - but still over 1000 calories WITHOUT the addition of meat. It pains me to only be able to eat half and getting it in a bowl is just not as fun. Also, I think anyone that has ever tracked what they put in a salad from a salad bar gets the shock of a lifetime.

    I eat Chipotle ALL THE TIME and it's way, way less than 1000 calories, even with meat. What are you putting in that thing!? My current favorite is a bit bland for most folks, but it's great calorie-wise, & isn't bad for protein either. I do a burrito bowl w/chicken, white rice, black beans & guacamole - all for a total of 685 calories...and I usually only eat half that! Freakin' delish! (I try to avoid their salsas when I can convince myself to do so due to the HUGE amount of sodium in them, but I do often switch between the pico and the green tomatillo salsa.)

    Anyways, it's pretty rare for me to be fully shocked by food out there. I think the biggest surprises I've found have mostly been about healthy stuff, like veggies and fruits. All that brainwashing we got in school about eating 'clean', but they forgot to mention that you can still get fat eating only 'healthy' foods...
  • ashleezona
    ashleezona Posts: 20 Member
    Milkshakes from Sonic. Even the mini milkshakes, which seemed like such a good and healthy choice, are about 450 cals. I mean, what do they make it with, pure lard?

    I bought a pint of ice cream to make shakes at home, thinking this would be plenty enough ice cream to make three shakes...but once I got it in the blender, it went down to nothing! We each had about a shot glass worth of milkshake to drink. Once I realized how much ice cream it actually takes to make a shake, I decided I would just have the ice cream!
  • metalkim85
    metalkim85 Posts: 72 Member
    Cheese sticks, I know they're dipped in grease and fried, but ohhhh god are they good.

    If I wanted cheese sticks I have to be really careful what else I eat. I'm sure a 4 piece is probably 800 calories.
  • ElvenToad
    ElvenToad Posts: 644 Member
    Cereal. Because a real bowl of cereal is not the same thing as a serving of cereal, at least not in my world. I would eat a giant bowl with lots of milk and it turns out a bowl of cereal was like 500 calories.

    This, I poured my "normal" portion in a bowl and then weighed the cereal.. it was like 4 or 5 servings.. 450 calories not including the milk. I was shocked for sure! And to make matters worse I would dump about 250 calories of granola on top because I thought it was healthy... and I was dieting..
  • ECA67
    ECA67 Posts: 802 Member
    Alcoholic mixed drinks. They add up fast !
  • twinkles2121
    twinkles2121 Posts: 137 Member
    Not really about calories, but I couldn't believe how much salt was in take-out food. I legit had no idea. One of my (former) favorites was the chicken basket at DQ with gravy. 2.6 grams (2570mg!!) of salt!! :huh:


    Edit: Spelling
  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,224 Member
    Tortillas.

    How can one stinkin tortilla be 2-300 calories??? O___O

    Because those oh so tasty tortillas are basically just flour and lard with a touch of baking powder and salt. I know, I hate it too...
  • DeterminedFee201426
    DeterminedFee201426 Posts: 859 Member
    funnel cakes ----takeout pizza ---mayonase ---salad dressing---butter----jimmydean flap sticks
    poptarts---- fast foood especially mc donalds

    snacks almost any kind of cake is packed with calories mainly >little debbies & tastycake <i cant name them all but alot of things got me eversence looking out for calories iam a strict one most times may not seem like alot 2 u but it is to me :0
  • MassiveDelta
    MassiveDelta Posts: 3,271 Member
    How many calories are actually in Muppet meat... #mindblown
  • lee91356
    lee91356 Posts: 330 Member
    splenda/ artificial sweeteners...it turns out its not the "no calorie sweetener" they claim to be, its actually 4 calories and 1 carb a packet and I use like 20-25 - I drink between 4-6 16oz cups of coffee &/or tea a day each with 4-5 packets, plus one in my oatmeal/ yogurt, etc. so needless to say that stuff adds up.
  • RageEight
    RageEight Posts: 14 Member
    The entire Cheese Cake Factory menu. Went there for a work function once, so I glanced at what was available, and insta-crapped. I figured I'd order the fish and chips, or something. Yeah, the full/dinner size is 2k calories if I remember right.
  • FlatTummyTrish
    FlatTummyTrish Posts: 88 Member
    Porridge and cereals :O
    I used to eat bowls of porridge with muesli but then found out how much 50g really is O.o
  • Woodspoon
    Woodspoon Posts: 223 Member
    Wasn't the calories that shocked me it was the portion sizes they gave for the calories.
  • chani8
    chani8 Posts: 946 Member
    Rice. Quinoa. Peanut butter. Mayo. Butter.
  • Siriku
    Siriku Posts: 22 Member
    Bread.

    Bread is also my biggest weakness...if I could kick it, this fat loss thing would go a lot smoother.

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