That has how many calories???

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135

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  • WonderWhitney11
    WonderWhitney11 Posts: 78 Member
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    Yup. I really like going to restaurants that have the calories up on the menu!

    Noodles & Co is good... but avoid the Mac and Cheese! 1800 calories for the regular size! Yikes. I usually go with the Japanese Pan noodles (a small at 360 cal) and add tofu (100 cal). Filling and tasty!

    The biggest problem I find with restaurant food is the salt. There is literally nothing at any restaurant I've come across that has less than 800 mg of salt- over half a day's worth!

    I also like Red Robin's mobile app... you can build your entire meal and figure out nutrition before you order! Salt is still an issue here, but I actually figured that a Gardenburger with steamed broccoli has way fewer calories than one of their salads. Crazy!
  • pdank311
    pdank311 Posts: 137 Member
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    I think when I started it didn't matter what I looked at. I was blown away with everything (non vegetable). I had never looked at cal count + scaled portion size. Quite eye opening to say the least.

    So triscuits, bread, pasta, cheese, oils, everything made my head spin. I tried to have a serving size of triscuits on day 1 and after that decided cals vs fullness it wasn't worth it. RIP crumbs and salt at the bottom of the bag...You are missed, you are missed. Same with the bottom of a pretzel bag. :sad:

    When eat out it's a treat and at a place where I have specific favorites so I tend to indulge in them and even out the rest of my week cooking.
  • jraymond
    jraymond Posts: 25 Member
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    Here are my recent bad surprises (all trying to eat out):
    #1) The "appetizer" of Southside Rib Tips at Famous Dave's BBQ. ("BBQ ribs are caloric and fattening, so I will indulge a little but get the little appetizer portion and only the tips," says I. The Appetizer turned out to be 1,655 calories, versus the entire dinner entree portion of the exact same thing (Southside Rib Tips) is less at 1,300 and the lunch portion is 770. I wrote them and asked if the data on their website was a mistake (!) nd they never wrote me back.
    #2) The "healthy" Turkey burger with lettuce and tomato at Ruby Tuesdays. It logs in (according to their website) at 810 calories (I validated this with other sites, some of whom reported that over half the calories are in the bun which is injected with butter for enhanced taste). The grilled zucchini side was an additional 40 calories.
    #3) Edamame with shells at a Japanses restaurant. Its green so how bad could it be? Might even be good. "I hope this is not one of those surprises," I said to myself. Ha! One cup is 200 calories and it doen't take much to make a cup.

    Yes, the MFP app goes everywhere with me now!!:smile:
  • jraymond
    jraymond Posts: 25 Member
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    I LOVE Indian food and miss it, but the calories are just too much for my daily intake. Even the vegetable dishes are caloric. I look forward to going back to my favorite neighborhood Indian spot for some Tandoori or something (no rice) as a treat when I have reached some milestones.
  • lavendy17
    lavendy17 Posts: 309 Member
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    Outback Bloomin Onion - 1948cal
    bloom.jpg?w=1140&h=759

    My dad loves this! And me too!!!
    But we typically split it between 5-6 of us. It's still a lot, though I think we never finished one entirely.
  • rsoice
    rsoice Posts: 212 Member
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    My devil is at mexican where they keep bring chips and salsa.

    ^^^ This for sure, especially if you get queso dip!

    All of this and worse if there are either margaritas or beer involved.

    My worst was at Cheesecake Factory and I had the Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. I knew with the cheese sauce it would be bad but over 1,800 calories?
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I just want to add that I am so thoroughly disgusted with chain restaurants because the food is so unhealthy and not even that good. If I were skinny and ate out only twice a year, I STILL wouldn't eat at Chili's, TGIF, Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs, Applebee's or Red Lobster. The crap they pawn off as healthy is loaded with artery-clogging saturated fat. The food isn't even that good! I mean really, I'm sitting here 50 lbs overweight and I can say with conviction that the food is too salty and oily to be palatable. It's just too damn much of a "good" thing. Not to mention the employees are often underpaid wage slaves with poor food handling hygiene because could they really give a s#!t? Does their boss give enough of a s&#t to train them? If they can't even wipe down tables between customers, what on EARTH are they doing in the kitchen?

    Also, "cooking" to them is throwing frozen food that has traversed hundreds of miles from the mass slaughter house to the flash freezer to the deep fryer. I'm no vegetarian but I get disgusted when I think about the mass production of that food. But yeah, let's fry it for good measure, take highly saturated photos of it and call it something creative to sell as much as possible.

    you're delusional if you think that a mom and pop store is any better.

    also for those of you freaking out about calorie counts- you do realize- things that taste good are going to have a high percentage of fat in it - and basic fats are 120 calories a tablespoon- on average.

    And let's be honest- you have to eat something... the stuff has to 'count'... why eat food that doesn't have much of a calorie count- totally unsatisfying.

    My biggest sticker shock was the hunka chunka peanut butter sunday at Friendlys 1770 calories.
    and yes- I can eat the whole thing. So it's problematic for me LOL. I don't order it often needless to say.
  • alyssamaryw
    alyssamaryw Posts: 84
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    I went to Outback recently expecting to splurge on the apps and dessert, so I wanted to get a healthy entree to balance it out. I got the salmon and veggies.

    First of all, it was $15.99 and the servings were SOOO tiny! What a rip off! It ended up being 484 calories, which isn't too bad, but OMG I am never eating there again!
  • imtoosexyforyou
    imtoosexyforyou Posts: 2
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    I just want to add that I am so thoroughly disgusted with chain restaurants because the food is so unhealthy and not even that good. If I were skinny and ate out only twice a year, I STILL wouldn't eat at Chili's, TGIF, Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs, Applebee's or Red Lobster. The crap they pawn off as healthy is loaded with artery-clogging saturated fat. The food isn't even that good! I mean really, I'm sitting here 50 lbs overweight and I can say with conviction that the food is too salty and oily to be palatable. It's just too damn much of a "good" thing. Not to mention the employees are often underpaid wage slaves with poor food handling hygiene because could they really give a s#!t? Does their boss give enough of a s&#t to train them? If they can't even wipe down tables between customers, what on EARTH are they doing in the kitchen?

    Also, "cooking" to them is throwing frozen food that has traversed hundreds of miles from the mass slaughter house to the flash freezer to the deep fryer. I'm no vegetarian but I get disgusted when I think about the mass production of that food. But yeah, let's fry it for good measure, take highly saturated photos of it and call it something creative to sell as much as possible.

    On a rare occasion where I ate at applebees I got a salad and I have to say it was really tasty. Not only that but I saw the servers wiping down tables and what not. Do you honestly think that other, fancier restaurants are any better with their procedures and food handling? Are you in the back kitchen watching how things are handled and prepared? I highly doubt it

    And as for flash freeing items there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, my home freezer has a "flash freeze" button. The reason food is flash frozen is to keep the ice crystals small which prevents moisture loss when it's thawed. It is a common practice in the food industry.
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,222 MFP Moderator
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    I went to Outback recently expecting to splurge on the apps and dessert, so I wanted to get a healthy entree to balance it out. I got the salmon and veggies.

    First of all, it was $15.99 and the servings were SOOO tiny! What a rip off! It ended up being 484 calories, which isn't too bad, but OMG I am never eating there again!

    Outback has these amazing milkshakes, but they're tiny. ONE oreo milkshake is 618 calories. :sick:
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    It wasn't recent, because I learned my lesson about doing a bit of research BEFORE eating the food, but I had a fried, stuffed jalapeno appetizer at a Mexican restaurant about a year ago. I figured each one would be about 200 calories (I thought I was overestimating). Turned out each one was 400 calories for one fried, cheese stuffed, medium sized jalapeno of deliciousness, only 100 cals less than a big mac. I was surprised and I went over my calories that day.

    At least it was absolutely delicious and I was of the mindset by that point that I hadn't 'RUINED' all my hard work. I got wide eyed, then laughed and learned to research ahead of time.
  • martinel2099
    martinel2099 Posts: 899 Member
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    Outback Bloomin Onion - 1948cal
    bloom.jpg?w=1140&h=759

    I'm all about that.... lol.
  • TheStephil
    TheStephil Posts: 858 Member
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    My brother works at Applebee's and he tells me nothing but good things about them. He was worried when he started working because its a typical staple for us and he didn't want to be grossed out by what he would learn from working there. He has no complaints. He said the staff cleans quite often, the food is fresh and stored safely and the kitchen is kept clean.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    My brother works at Applebee's and he tells me nothing but good things about them. He was worried when he started working because its a typical staple for us and he didn't want to be grossed out by what he would learn from working there. He has no complaints. He said the staff cleans quite often, the food is fresh and stored safely and the kitchen is kept clean.

    good to know- I actually really like Applebee's- it makes my office peoples crazy b/c we do a lot of coastal work- and they are big on "eating local" and big on seafood- but coastal fare is terrible in the cow department- and inconsistent- and little to no nutritional tracking so I much prefer going to a chain- and they all get bent at me for not wanting to eat at local place.

    meh- I'm totally happy at Applebees- something for everyone- it's consistent- and you have no surprises.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    You can gently remind them that Applebees employs local workers.
  • dianastepheny
    dianastepheny Posts: 650 Member
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    Could not believe the calories in the Stop and Shop Confetti cake (chocolate chip blondie brownie base with vanilla pudding/whipped cream/and funfetti cake) It was a small bar cake. Apparently the cake is meant to be divided into 36 pieces! I had 1/12 of the cake...a VERY skinny slice. It turned out to be 1800 calories according to the label!!! aaaahhhhh!!!! It was good though. So, apparently this small bar of cake is 21,600 if you ate the whole thing. Doesn't even seem like a real number.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    that bang bang stuff is so good but def the devil, the sauce is typically mayo based.

    I have never had these restaurant entrées but I saw something on Pinterest last year that was supposed to be a lighter version of Bang Bang Shrimp, I'm sure it's easy to find...anyway, we eat it regularly in my house. Basically dressing a salad of cabbage, lettuce, green onion & shrimp with a mixture of mayo (or light/olive oil mayo), Thai chili sauce, and Sriracha. You control the amounts but it's REALLY good!

    My biggest restaurant shocker was last summer when I had only been on MFP for awhile, and went to Chili's with friends. I opted for spicy shrimp tacos with black bean side and ate only one of the 3 tortillas, thinking I was making a fairly good choice. It was around 1000 calories even with just 1 tortilla. Such a let down.

    Another surprise was this apple crumble pie that my mom served once. It was a frozen premade pie and it had like 400 cal per slice, and it was not that good or even that sweet at all. It almost tasted "light" and/or sugarfree. Never eating that again, that is for sure.
  • jwooley13
    jwooley13 Posts: 243
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    Outback Bloomin Onion - 1948cal
    bloom.jpg?w=1140&h=759

    Literally salivating. Love these.
  • coco2811
    coco2811 Posts: 1
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    Yes!!!

    Last night, I thought I was behaving by having a Crackled Cauliflower dish from Wholefoods, the contents sounded so agreeable; cauliflower, red onion, green peas, garlic & cumin. Was shocked to find out it had a total of 800 calories. So shocked. I still ate most of it, and focused instead on the nutrition benefits.
  • tawnybird11
    tawnybird11 Posts: 4 Member
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    Hardee's monster burger. Monsterous calories. Very scary

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