Shockers when you started paying attention to calories?
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Hubby and I used to go to Chili's alot. I'm vegetarian and so I'd order a black bean burger on wheat bun with a side of broccoli, have half the appetizer and a couple tall beers. Doesn't sound terribly bad except:
.5 spinich & artichoke dip - 700 ish calories
Black bean burger - 650 calories
Broccoli - 80ish calories
2 tall glasses of light beer - 300 calories
1700 calories eek!! (my numbers are estimations so could be more lol)0 -
Everything falls into that category for me. My biggest shocker was finding out that a bowl of Pasta Fagioli soup (3 pts on WW) at Olive garden was healthier than a bowl of their salad (7 pts on WW). Everybody always thinks salad is so healthy, and don't realize that that dressing will do you in!! The soup has protein, fiber (beans), celery, carrots, etc.
My husband said when he started on MFP that he thought he was eating reasonably healthy and realized that he really wasn't!! It was real eye opening for him too. He would go get cheeseburger happy meals at McDonald's. Now if he goes there, he'll just get a cheeseburger, and convert it into 1/2 a double cheeseburger by cutting it in half, putting all the protein on 1/2 the bun, then discarding the leftover 1/2 bun. That way he's at least saving SOME carbs....LOL. Every little bit helps, right?!0 -
Peanut Butter is just depressing. Tortillas. Mixed drinks (especially if they have sweet and sour mix!). Restaraunt made guacamole.0
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Everything from the Cheesecake Factory. I mean everything. Appalling.
Their skinnylicious menu is delicious and under 600 calories. Just saying.
They also have some wonderful stuff on their small plates/apps that makes a meal...I don't know if they are still on the menu, but awhile back I had their 3 Vietnamese tacos for around 500 cal (total) I think -- and they were fantastic!0 -
I couldn't believe pizza wasn't fat-free!
Honestly though...a certain Wegmans cardboard pizza which I love is 2100 calories (serving calories 350 x 1/6 serving sizes per pizza). I was stunned.0 -
Double doozie chocolate chip cookie sandwich from American cookie co. at the mall has over 600 calories in it... I knew a cookie sandwich with thick icing in the middles wasn't GOOD for me, but over 1/3 of my daily TDEE? That surprised me.
This doesn't stop me of course, Just now I'll skip dinner and have a cookie sandwich instead. :P The tummy ache is WELL worth it0 -
Poutine... 900-1200 calories
Banana.. 80-110 calories
Chocolate bars... 260-360 calories
Mixed drinks... 250-400 calories
Mozzarella stick... 100 calories each
Klondike ice cream cone... 230 calories
Small theatre popcorn w/ butter... 450-500 calories
Dairy Queen small snartie blizzard... 560 calories
Lettuce... 5 calories
Mustard... 0 calories
Cucumber... 0 caloroes
1 cup of bran flakes + 1 cup 2% milk... 240 calories
The amount I was putting in my bowl... 470 calories0 -
Poutine... 900-1200 calories
Banana.. 80-110 calories
Chocolate bars... 260-360 calories
Mixed drinks... 250-400 calories
Mozzarella stick... 100 calories each
Klondike ice cream cone... 230 calories
Small theatre popcorn w/ butter... 450-500 calories
Dairy Queen small snartie blizzard... 560 calories
Lettuce... 5 calories
Mustard... 0 calories
Cucumber... 0 caloroes
1 cup of bran flakes + 1 cup 2% milk... 240 calories
The amount I was putting in my bowl... 470 calories
I am shocked that so much awesomeness can fit into 900-1200 calories. I am now craving poutine. thanks.0 -
I love eating at Panera Bread. Everything there is so so good. Today I stopped in to get a sandwich to go for lunch. After I was done eating it, I went to log and I found out it is 830 calories!! More than 2/3 of my daily calories. By lunch time I had already gone over calories for the day. I'm assuming their bread has a lot calories cause the rest really shouldn't have amounted to too much. Next time I'm getting a salad there instead of a sandwich!0
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My biggest shocker was because of my eating habits. I was already overweight but then I took a very hectic day job and I just stopped eating during the day. I would have a pot of coffee in the morning (yes that says pot) and then dinner. so I had to start making myself eat all day long. at first I was thinking there was no way that I could possibly survive of so few calories but in reality because I am eating pretty well I find it hard to use them all up. so that was a huge shock - how hard it actually is to eat my calories0
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Light canned whipped cream was a shocker for me, at around 50 kcal per serving (I thought it was a LOT more). I know it's not good for you, but it's great topped over berries if you really need to indulge
Chocolate milk - about 300 kcal in a bottle for non-fat chocolate milk AND about 60 g of carbs AAGGHH...
Amount of carbs in a banana OMG.
I know a lot of people have said this, but I guess it bears repeating... muffins and milkshakes are infuriating -.- especially because I crave them both so much sometimes
The amount of sodium in Panda Express dishes is insane (everything else about them is just as unhealthy as I had expected, I guess). The black pepper chicken is one of their "wok smart" options and has 1100 mg of sodium per serving o.O and that's not including what you get with your side of fried rice, etc.0 -
Panera bread tomato and mozarella panini. I thought it was going to be low calorie because there was no meat, but it is 800 calories! Also any nuts ever.0
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Sandwiches shocked me b/c I had always considered that a "light" meal... but in reality I could have a big chicken breast & roasted veggies for the same calories! On a similar note, how many more calories there are in a wrap tortilla than in most breads.
Muffins, pastries & ice cream... Not really surprising so much as just depressing.
McDonalds Breakfast Burrito - this was a road trip staple for me. 2 burritos, a hash brown & a Coke is over 900Cal!! O.o0 -
For me it was olive oil. I always thought it was a less-fatty alternative to butter (when cooking). But more than 80 calories for a spoonful? That's just insanity.0
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I was shocked when i did my old daily average food intake with MFP, I was easily over consuming 5,000 calories per day, and I used the wonder why I was so fat.0
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Double doozie chocolate chip cookie sandwich from American cookie co. at the mall has over 600 calories in it... I knew a cookie sandwich with thick icing in the middles wasn't GOOD for me, but over 1/3 of my daily TDEE? That surprised me.
This doesn't stop me of course, Just now I'll skip dinner and have a cookie sandwich instead. :P The tummy ache is WELL worth it
I think I need one of these.0 -
Cream based alcohol drinks were a bit of a shock. My husband wanted to share his Amarula Marula Fruit and Cream Liqueur with me. !00ml of that is 325 calories! That's just insane - I said no, I could have a pile of food for that!!0
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I was shocked when i did my old daily average food intake with MFP, I was easily over consuming 5,000 calories per day, and I used the wonder why I was so fat.
UGH...this^^0 -
More than a specific food is the serving size of things. My serving sizes were so messed up that when I'd actually measure things out I was pretty sure I was going to be super hungry in like 10 minutes.
My boyfriend and I ate a LOT of white rice almost every day and we would just fill a bowl with rice (probably 2 cups or more for each of us) and then have whatever our meat was (hardly, if any, veggies). When I started to measure things I realized how little a cup of cooked rice seemed.
Salad dressings were another big one for me when I started to eat more salads (this was a long time ago) I needed them to be covered in something cause yuck green stuff .. and putting on a tbsp or two of whatever dressing was laughable cause it seemed like it barely flavored it. I'm much better with salads now though with just some olive oil and vinegar.
Serving sizes of drinks surprised me a lot too when I first counted calories. I'd not think twice about drinking a tea or soda or an orange juice and then realized that those have more than one serving in them.0 -
I was oblivious to how many calories was in peanut butter. I used to cake bagels in it everyday!0
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I am really trying to think here...when I was a kid (about 11) I used to eat McD and have a milkshake, fries and a burger. And in context with my age, I was way over my calorie limit on that day - seeing as a snack would of been a mars bar and dinner some sort of home made dinner with veggie pies or something. Yeah. edit: roughly a days eating was close to 2,600.
Nowdays, I have a very nutritious diet and I get told that every day its boring, but they dont have to eat it. I will say though, because of it - I have maintained and/or gained muscle whist others have er....not.0 -
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?
450 calories would be about .26 pounds if it was pure sugar...0 -
I love eating at Panera Bread. Everything there is so so good. Today I stopped in to get a sandwich to go for lunch. After I was done eating it, I went to log and I found out it is 830 calories!! More than 2/3 of my daily calories. By lunch time I had already gone over calories for the day. I'm assuming their bread has a lot calories cause the rest really shouldn't have amounted to too much. Next time I'm getting a salad there instead of a sandwich!
Check the nutrition on their website first... the salads are not necessarily better... especially if you count dressing.
I'll add that huge awesome cream cheese croissant I used to eat at the bakery here. I'm guessing it's close to 800 calories (can't find the nutrition info) now that I know better. Yikes. I've been craving it too, but I'll pass (although it would probably fill me up for hours).0 -
A shock in the opposite direction: watermelon! It's so sweet you would expect it to be like mango or bananas, but it's only 46 calories per cup!0
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Definitely Ruby Tuesday's Chicken Parmesan Pasta. I use to get it almost every week for dinner/lunch. 1318 calories and 70g of fat!!!!0
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I think the biggest thing for me was how much more "bang for your buck" you get when you start paying attention. The first week I was tracking, I was so hungry, because I didn't really change what I ate, just how much I ate. Then, I started paying attention to macros and realized I could feel full, eat well and have a tiny treat.0
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Milkshakes and mayonnaise!0
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Sodium. Sodium everywhere. It's obscene.0
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biggest shocker to me is when i first started MFP and seeing how many calories i was woofing down at a fast food places on my way to work, made me disgusted.0
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Sodium. Sodium everywhere. It's obscene.
Yes! I was so surprised when I started looking at it, about how much sodium I was eating. Bread has so much - that was a big shocker for me!
I was pleasantly shocked to find that strawberries are low cal, I assumed, based on how yummy and sweet they are, that they would be higher! And fiber, I had no idea that I was getting so little fiber in my diet until I started paying attention.0
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