Shockers when you started paying attention to calories?

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  • rowlandsw
    rowlandsw Posts: 1,166 Member
    My shrink and i were actually talking about this the other day, it's when you read the package for something you used to eat a ton of only to realize the calories in a serving. I forget what it was the other day but this one tiny packet was 400 calories. i could have eaten 2 cans of soup for that.
  • Mangopickle
    Mangopickle Posts: 1,509 Member
    Skim milk. 86 calories a cup!! I should be able to visually see each little booger. 4 cups of eggplant is only 80 calories!
  • kerricus
    kerricus Posts: 165 Member
    Tortillas. I make mine at home with just maseca and water, but they still pack too many calories to be worth it. Now they're a treat rather a daily staple.
    Bread.
    Most fruits, like bananas.
    Nuts.
    I just looked up a DQ buster bar. *sob*
  • alemonada
    alemonada Posts: 28 Member
    So incredibly sad that bread is such a splurge.
  • culo97
    culo97 Posts: 256 Member
    Three big shockers since tracking on MFP:

    Granola has a ton load of calories. The oil and nuts added to the oatmeal is what does it. This reality makes me sad. I miss my hippy food.

    Serving sizes. Food manufacturers are a bunch of rat finks with their fake serving sizes. Just this evening I ate a frozen dinner that claims to be 2 servings. Interestingly, the food actually came in only 1 bowl. So which is it Food Company? 2 servings or 1 serving per container?

    I got a juicer a few months ago and I've been shocked by how naturally high in sodium greens are. Fresh, raw greens with nothing added. That's why apples and citrus fruits are usually added to juiced greens. To help cut the saltiness.
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  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
    Really good beer battered onion rings. 100 calories each, yea thats one, this was teds montana grill but im sure Blooming onion is a million.
  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
    And firehouse subs you can get a meatball sub for less calories than chicken salad.
  • _KitKat_
    _KitKat_ Posts: 1,066 Member
    1 small Pillsbury chocolate cookie is 150 calories, that was the shocking one for me. Restaurants and fast food I sorta figured. The other one was 2 all beef hotdogs, 2 x 2/3 buns and mustard were 200 calories more than a BLT with double the bacon than I used to put on. I Knew hotdogs were not healthy but figured the bacon with mayo sandwich would have been more calories.
  • Letshopeforthebest
    Letshopeforthebest Posts: 85 Member
    Gnocchi ... 35 calories for one price of gnocchi pasta.. for ONE piece!! I used to enjoy it a an italian bakery, and had a full plate full.. And boy did I underestimate the cals
  • _KitKat_
    _KitKat_ Posts: 1,066 Member
    Gnocchi ... 35 calories for one price of gnocchi pasta.. for ONE piece!! I used to enjoy it a an italian bakery, and had a full plate full.. And boy did I underestimate the cals

    This almost made me cry, I love gnocci.....this is now officially my biggest shock.
  • nsimon24
    nsimon24 Posts: 115 Member
    Store-made bakery items. It is NOT that I expect them to be low-calorie by any means, but I was surprised by how off they were in their nutrition info on the package. I purchased a package of "four" pre-cut brownies listed at 150 calories each (box was marked as having four brownies inside). I weighed one out of curiosity and the serving size they presented was three times the amount listed on the package. So one brownie as packaged was 121g, one serving as listed is 42g. That could throw your calories off fast!

    I just started weighing my food as a way of making sure I was portioning correctly - it really irritated me that the store was so lazy with its labeling.
  • realdusi
    realdusi Posts: 10 Member
    My weakness: dove chocolate squares. About 50 calories a piece and I use to eat about 5-6 of them because I thought they were tiny.
    Alcohol: my family drinks, a lot. So for every holiday I have a few drinks with them. Tiramisu martini, delicious but about 300-400 calories.
    Chipotle: I eat a naked burrito bowl, no cheese no Guac and still 1200 calories!
    Wawas fresh baked cookies: 500 calories a piece
    I always thought I was a decent healthy eater but these foods proved me wrong.
  • realdusi
    realdusi Posts: 10 Member
    Cheese. I was grossly underestimating what an ounce was until I got a scale. Now I get a LOT more cheese :) Yum.

    I've also discovered if I weigh my shred cheese I get more than if I use the measuring cup. Food scale for the win!

    I just bought a food scale and I love cheese. So excited!
  • 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.

    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...

    Add those same ingredients in a burrito and you've got almost a 1000 calorie meal (per the Chipotle nutrition calculator). Goes to what everyone else has been saying about the darn tortillas being a real calorie budget buster!
  • lottewiegeraad
    lottewiegeraad Posts: 64 Member
    Zaanse mayonaise - it's like normal mayonaise, but even fatter. It's my oldtime favoriete (i could eat it with anything), 106kcal per small spoon, needless to say I ate several spoons with 2 of my meals a day
  • jzs20
    jzs20 Posts: 58 Member
    Cracklin Oat Bran is 200 calories for 3/4 cup. My favorite cereal and damn near impossible to stop eating them :/
    Peanuts, orange juice are also on the list of shockers.
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
    The calorie difference between beer and whiskey!!!
  • sjbtiger
    sjbtiger Posts: 105 Member
    Zaxby's large chicken finger plate: Calories 1592

    That's over my maintenance calories!

    That was my first shocker as well. I ordered the Big Zax Snack and it was over 1000 calories. I about died!
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    My wee afternoon pick-me-up from my work's canteen, a small slice of Rocky Road - 560 cals! More cals than a Big Mac, mental. My other surprise was portion sizes. I was eating 2-3 portions of pasta in one sitting. It's amazing how little you actually need to fill you.

    I agree!

    5-6 years ago I used to prepare lunch or dinner for my ex and I with Aldi beef & bean burritos. Each "portion" was 2 burritos, extra shredded cheese, sour cream, black olives, and a scoop of Spanish rice on top. That meal was filling, but didn't seem crazy-huge...I now realize it had 1000-1300 calories!

    Now I still occasionally have those burritos. ONE for lunch with a tiny sprinkling of extra shredded cheese, 1/2 tbsp. of picante sauce, and a lot of shredded lettuce on top. Plenty of food and just a little over 400 calories.

    Shredded cheese is something I really overused in the past. If making large homemade pizza I'd top with 2-3 cups of cheese. My husband makes it now with about 1/2 to 2/3 cup on the whole pizza and it is equally as delicious.
  • amperry328
    amperry328 Posts: 21
    1500 calories in the Firehouse Subs beef and cheddar brisket sandwich! Wow!
  • amperry328
    amperry328 Posts: 21

    Chipotle: I eat a naked burrito bowl, no cheese no Guac and still 1200 calories!

    I'm not trying to argue with you, but 1200 calories without cheese and guac seems very unlikely. Hopefully this will make you feel better! According to Chipotle's nutrition info guide a burrito bowl with steak, white rice, lettuce, cheese, and corn salsa (this is what I always order) is only 560 calories. The burrito vs the burrito bowl will add an additional 300 calories from the tortilla.
  • Lalasharni
    Lalasharni Posts: 353 Member
    Whilst in Texas visiting my g/f some years ago, I learned the joys of Cinnabon.
    they opened an outlet here in the UK some months ago and whilst shopping with my son I told him "you just GOT TO have one of these" - and we did, with a latte grande each.

    I looked them up later - 800 CALORIES EACH for a regular cinnabon. 32 grams of fat!

    I love 'em, but only when I reach maintenance, and then once a year!!
    Jeeezzzzzzzzzzzz!!
  • BarbieAS
    BarbieAS Posts: 1,414 Member
    There's not much that shocks me, really. But one that keeps getting me (on the VERY rare occasion I go there) are cheese curds from Culver's. I mean, duh, it's deep fried cheese. It absolutely should NOT be a shock that it's a calorie bomb. But it's over 600 calories for the SMALL side order! I always go "well, I can share a small with the kids and just have a few and it won't be too bad," but by the time I eat my portion that's still 200-300 calories for like 10 pieces. And you HAVE to dip them in ranch or else it's just a waste of time :laugh: . I'm more than willing to work a LOT into my day if it's tasty, but I really need to remember that these aren't worth it.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    When I first started my shockers were salad dressing, and my favorite sandwich at Quizno's was 1200 calories.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    "Everything. A standard meal at a fast food joint consumed 90% of the calories I should eat every day.

    It's why America is overweight. No one pays attention to calories and if you eat "normal" food based on hungry/not hungry cues you will almost certainly be eating a surplus, and it only takes a few years to be overweight. It can easily happen to you before you are even old enough to be in charge of what you eat. " - maillemaker

    This is precisely why, when one needs to get a serious handle on just how much and what one is eating, preparing one's own food at home at least 90% of the time is essential, and by that I don't mean so-called "gourmet" recipes either. But you know, a WHOLE lot of people now literally don't know anything about food prep other than "nuking a burrito". Also, take a look at what's in people's grocery baskets the next time one is at the store. Chances are, at least out in the mainstream, it's a whole bunch of processed foods and not much in the way of fresh, one-ingredient foods, when it should be in the reverse at least. If you handed them a potato, they'd have little idea what to do with it. Learning how to prepare one's own food is one of the most valuable skills in more ways than one. Then one has to look for health-conscious recipes of which there are bazillions now, fortunately, no matter what dietary pattern one prefers. omnivorous, vegetarian, vegan, flexitarian, Paleo. Primal. low-carb, whatever.
    Save the restaurant meals for the very occasional big treat meal, or a very special occasion. That's kind of the way it used to be, before fast food and everyone and his relatives eating out in general so many times a week.

    Processed food fearing and the one ingredient crap.
    You aren't original, nor are you more correct than eating however you want in moderation.

    If we have to be original to say something we should all just shut up.

    I didn't get the anti-processed food rant from this. What I did get is that the majority of the people in western culture give no thought to what they are eating. And that preparing food is becoming less and less common. I'm always shocked by the ladies in the office who are surprised to learn that I know how to cook. (Thank you Boy Scouts) I have also told my daughter that when she starts dating if the guy can't cook she should dump his *kitten*. Think about it: Out of all the things humans should know how to do, preparing food is the most basic task next to finding water and breathing. As a western culture we've moved away from preparing our own food, and the statistics are very clear that we as a culture are paying the health price for that.
  • MelanieMamaof5
    MelanieMamaof5 Posts: 75 Member
    The first time I ever started counting calories? Jolly Ranchers. Just about killed me to learn that only 3 had 70 calories! I was a HUGE candy freak back then....and a bit compulsive...and would eat sometimes 15-20 a night. (Don't ask). That's 350-500 calories just in "harmless" jolly ranchers, right? I might as well have consumed something worth it. :)
  • OfficiallySexyVal
    OfficiallySexyVal Posts: 492 Member
    Chipotle is my favorite place to eat and recently I decided to log what I get on it and oh boy!!! 1,295 calories for a burrito with barbacoa, black beans, rice, salsa, corn, lettuce, sour cream, cheese and guac. but its so good!
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
    My shocker was how many calories I squander on lattes, frapuccinos and all those delicious coffee drinks!!! Not to mention the money I've squandered on them too;)

    I keep it in moderation now. My bank book and belly are much happier this way:wink:
  • joannaphipps00
    joannaphipps00 Posts: 21 Member
    My favorite take out burger used to be the Triple O's burger from a local chain. On day the family was in a hurry so I have a Wendy's bacon ranch with fries and a drink, then I nearly dropped dead when I put it into MFP 1400+. Holy hanna that's nearly my entire days calorie allowance. Needless to say now its pick and choose and stay away from fast food as much as possible.

    Many things that I used to like have been pushed to the side because of the calorie hit.

    Jo
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