Hidden Calories! :(

mrudzinski
mrudzinski Posts: 17 Member
edited September 29 in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone else been absolutely shocked at the amount of calories in some foods? Today I had about a cup of potato salad, guess-timating it to be at about 400 calories. After I ate it, I logged it in at about 700 CALORIES. Thats more than half of my daily caloric intake. BUMMER.

At least I learned my lesson for next time and now how much I need to burn at the gym.

What foods have you experienced with these "hidden" calories?

Replies

  • JenBrown0210
    JenBrown0210 Posts: 985 Member
    I still sometimes get caught with calories per serving vs the calories in a package. Like kraft fruit snacks. Only 80 calories per serving but 2.5 servings per bag. That one got me the first time.
  • Kiwi_09
    Kiwi_09 Posts: 65
    I still sometimes get caught with calories per serving vs the calories in a package. Like kraft fruit snacks. Only 80 calories per serving but 2.5 servings per bag. That one got me the first time.

    I hate when packages do that. I've had the opposite happen before too. I thought these little bagels I bought were 140cal each but turns out it was for 2, so that was nice.
  • shassen
    shassen Posts: 16 Member
    Stay away from anything that has a white creamy sauce, it's always contains more calories than you think. The more simple the food you are eating, the better it will be for you. For example, tuna salad vs. tuna from a can. the difference between the two choices in terms of caloric intake is drastic. Another example could be an omelet vs. sunny side up eggs. The omelet probably contains cheese and other things will the sunny side eggs are simply plain and have far fewer calories.
  • ReadingHeart06
    ReadingHeart06 Posts: 2
    Went to Chili's Bar & Grill with some friends one day, I thought "I have to do good here & not blow it with a burger or something". So I got the Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad & water with a lime, which was very good. I felt good about my choice until I got home & entered it into my daily foods. HOLY COW!!!! It came back as having 1190 calories in it. I was completely in shock, it was a salad for goodness sakes. Needless to say that I will never order that again & will check the calories before I order from now on. That was almost my entire days worth of calories in one salad..
  • hyde1977
    hyde1977 Posts: 476 Member
    What Potatoe Salad did you eat? That is a lot.....
  • debdptg
    debdptg Posts: 94 Member
    One thing that I have started to try is to log in calories BEFORE I eat it. There are a lot of things I was going to eat, which I didn't after I checked the calories. It is starting to be kind of fun for me to guess, log, and then eat.
  • kimberlyAjohnson
    kimberlyAjohnson Posts: 136 Member
    What Potatoe Salad did you eat? That is a lot.....

    Ditto this. Even the Walmart potato salad doesn't have that many calories, and it's pretty fattening!
  • milaxx
    milaxx Posts: 1,122 Member
    What Potatoe Salad did you eat? That is a lot.....
    Potato salad is nothing but mayo and potato, fat & carbs. Sounds about right. Calories haven't surprised, but the the sodium levels in things have.
  • kel7298
    kel7298 Posts: 1,542 Member
    What Potatoe Salad did you eat? That is a lot.....

    I am thinking the same thing. I had some store bought kind yesterday. It was 170 calories in 1/2 cup
  • kimberlyAjohnson
    kimberlyAjohnson Posts: 136 Member
    What Potatoe Salad did you eat? That is a lot.....
    Potato salad is nothing but mayo and potato, fat & carbs. Sounds about right. Calories haven't surprised, but the the sodium levels in things have.

    Some potato salads don't even have mayo but are made with just mustard instead (although that causes a high sodium content as well).
  • tarrox
    tarrox Posts: 47
    chocolate covered espresso beans :(
  • realme56
    realme56 Posts: 1,093 Member
    You have to read, read, read!! Then eat!! The food companies are not our friends, they want to deceive us, get us hooked and don't mind if we get fat as well.

    Eat unprocessed as much as possible!
  • Rilke
    Rilke Posts: 1,201 Member
    Went to Chili's Bar & Grill with some friends one day, I thought "I have to do good here & not blow it with a burger or something". So I got the Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad & water with a lime, which was very good. I felt good about my choice until I got home & entered it into my daily foods. HOLY COW!!!! It came back as having 1190 calories in it. I was completely in shock, it was a salad for goodness sakes. Needless to say that I will never order that again & will check the calories before I order from now on. That was almost my entire days worth of calories in one salad..

    That is one of those salads that isn't really a salad. Fried chicken, cheese, bacon, those crispy strip things and creamy dressing. Salads can be an excellent choice when eating out, if done right: Choose an actual salad -- mostly vegetables, grilled meat or seafood -- and always get the dressing on the side. Put on just enough to flavor, or use it like a dip.
  • HotMamaByVday
    HotMamaByVday Posts: 343 Member
    Like those "single serve microwavable" soup bowls. Most are TWO servings! What, am I suppose to give my friend a spoon to dig in? Crazy.
  • cblack51
    cblack51 Posts: 20
    How long did it take you to lose the 18 lbs. to 156. I just started and would love to see that much loss.
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
    Like those "single serve microwavable" soup bowls. Most are TWO servings! What, am I suppose to give my friend a spoon to dig in? Crazy.

    lol, that's how i feel.
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
    Like those "single serve microwavable" soup bowls. Most are TWO servings! What, am I suppose to give my friend a spoon to dig in? Crazy.

    lol, that's how i feel.
  • suzooz
    suzooz Posts: 720 Member
    One day, I was having a craving for ice cream, so I went to Culvers and bought a small dish of their flavor of the day, which was some sort of mint flavor. Got home, and it was 700 calories! OUCH! It was good, but not what I really wanted, which was something chocolatey . . .

    Knowing this, I noticed that the June flavor of the month at Baskin Robbins was Chocoloate Toffee Pecan Crunch advertised in April. I thought I would splurge with 1 scoop of this on a day when I mowed the lawn (my only 1000 calorie burn day). I looked it up before I went, and it was only 300 calories a scoop. So that day, I splurged with a two scoop in a waffle cone, and was still under the little Culvers cup of custard.

    Go figure !
  • Jenlynphi
    Jenlynphi Posts: 183 Member
    I try to prelog my food so that I can see the calorie amount and decide if I still want to eat it. There are also apps that you can use for eating out.
  • amayzingamanda
    amayzingamanda Posts: 254 Member
    How about foods that you have to prepare! Like microwave popcorn (terrible i know) or even just some pasta, or one of those rice sides things. Even cake mixes etc... They all have the calories for dry or uncooked and then another much much higher number for the final product. I mean seriously, I really want to chew on some uncooked pasta, or down an entire package of dry cake mix? lol
  • kristen11joy
    kristen11joy Posts: 114 Member
    I just logged my usual lunch: peanut butter and crackers, and a handful of raisins -- over 700 calories (even with the "light" peanut butter) I knew peanut butter was high in calories, but I was surprised by how it all added up. Time for a new "default lunch"
  • mrudzinski
    mrudzinski Posts: 17 Member
    I normally do count my calories before I eat them, but I was at a BBQ today and decided to write everything down really fast and log when I got home.

    The potato salad was from the deli of a local grocery store.

    And that's absolutely a good tip about the "white" sauces!

    It just stinks because without the evil potato salad I would have been under my calories for today.

    But I guess I just have to look at the bright side: I survived the fourth of july UNDER my BMR at least and I've learned my lesson :)

    PS: Some of those restaurant salads have tricked me too! Thankfully we have MFP to help us out or I would have never lost weight.
  • zorbaru
    zorbaru Posts: 1,077 Member
    what i dont get is that the serving size changes

    ie, you buy a can of coke, it is 375ml and it is 1 serve

    you buy a 600ml bottle of coke and it is 1 serve

    you buy a 1.25ltr botle of coke and it is 5 serves of 250ml each

    HOW MUCH IS A SERVE?
  • W0zzie
    W0zzie Posts: 262 Member
    I think everyone has an "incident" at some point that teaches them the hard way - live and learn.

    Mine was a pasta salad - 260 cal - hey that's not bad - *eats it* - log Dang! 2 serves per package :(

    So moral now - if I'm comparing two foods - check 100g stats against each other
    If I'm wanting to eat - check the serve stats and double check serves per pack.
  • LauraMarie37
    LauraMarie37 Posts: 283 Member
    One time, when we went out to eat somewhere the in-laws picked and I didn't have much say...

    The Olive Garden unlimited salad - it's like 95% iceberg lettuce, so I figured I could eat that and fill up on something light, rather than pasta or breadsticks, right? WRONG!!! 1 bowl of that was 1400 (!!!!!!!) calories! I would have been better off with the breadsticks! Must have been the dressing (there aren't even many croutons!)...sigh. Never again.
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
    Yeah, wow, that makes sense... potato salad is all potatoes, plus relish (usually sweet so the sugar is lots of calories), plus LOTS of mayonnaise (lots of calories in a fattening dressing) and probably eggs and other things.
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