Calories listed on restaurant menu

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Noelishere
Noelishere Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I’m a little skeptical about the calories listed on the official portillos menu ( its a fast food place )

It’s listing their char broiled cheeseburger at 570 calories and, well... that thing is pretty huge.

Do you feel the calories listed on the official menues are accurate?

Another example is the club lulu from jimmy johns being around 755 for the whole 8” sub when it’s drenched in mayo and cheese.

Replies

  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    I think they are as reasonable as any calorie number given for a food you didn't weight/prepare/cook yourself.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    They are a reasonable estimate....it's all estimate.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    edited November 2017
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    If they are being prepared according to the recipe used, they are reasonably accurate (I believe in the US it can be 20% off, but don't quote me on that.) But of course, if someone is preparing it for you, you have no guarantee that they're not using too much oil or dressing or whatever, especially in busy places where they're just freehand slapping stuff on.

    If you're aiming for accurate and your acceptable margin of error is small, getting the high-calorie stuff on the side or asking for light cheese or whatever might be a good idea. In a fast food place, the stuff that comes pre-prepared (like the burger patties or buns) are going to be pretty uniform, but for anything where you're trusting someone who's just trying to get through their day at work and is maybe even trying to be nice by being generous and is not concerned with your calorie intake, the possibility for error increases.

    It's never going to be perfect, but IMO if you're trying to lose weight and you eat out frequently, you do need to pay a little more attention to what you're getting and how it's prepared, because if the restaurant calculated the calories according to a standard recipe with 10ml of mayo and your prep person just squeezes on 50ml, that can have a substantial impact in your daily deficit especially if it's small.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    I always assume whoever is prepping the food is more generous than the standard serving that is calculated and adjust accordingly. Somewhat unscientific, but it's fairly easy to see where they've thrown on a handful of cheese when 1 ounce is the calculated 'portion' etc.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    edited November 2017
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    The sub doesn't surprise me. The Italian Night Club without mayo, but with cheese -- and with the fattier deli meets -- is 765, so I can see a turkey club with mayo and cheese coming in at 755.

    I'll ask this: Does it benefit you to start distrusting all nutritional data? What are your results showing so far? Do you have more accurate data than the restaurant -- AKA, are you running your own lab analysis on it?

    I obsess about this to the umpth degree. And even I accept restaurants' nutritional data (the ones from the restaurant direct, not the MFP listings), because it's not like I'm running my own lab analyses. You have to start trusting something from somewhere at some point, because obsessing to to the point where you trust *nothing* is not going to put you in a good brain space.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I eat out once or twice a week usually and am pretty particular about my measuring and logging at home, so I generally accept the calories listed on restaurant menus unless they seem really untrustworthy. For my own enjoyment and balance in life, I have to draw the line somewhere and that is where I draw it (not to judge people who choose other methods).
  • LZMiner
    LZMiner Posts: 300 Member
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    I love Portillos! I always get the Italian beef, because it's less calories than a chopped salad!
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Noelishere wrote: »
    Hi, I’m a little skeptical about the calories listed on the official portillos menu ( its a fast food place )

    It’s listing their char broiled cheeseburger at 570 calories and, well... that thing is pretty huge.

    Do you feel the calories listed on the official menues are accurate?

    Another example is the club lulu from jimmy johns being around 755 for the whole 8” sub when it’s drenched in mayo and cheese.

    I don't know about those particular examples but I have eaten out at least once a week and the nutritional information has never been off enough to change my progress so I don't distrust the calorie information.
    If you eat out every meal you might want to dissect your sandwich and weigh ingredients and enter things separately once or twice
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    If you're going to Portillo's, just get the chocolate cake. With a side of chocolate cake.
  • WhereIsPJSoles
    WhereIsPJSoles Posts: 622 Member
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    The club lulu is 790 calories according to their nutrition sheet on their website and there's no cheese on it. That doesn't seem low to me for white bread, turkey, bacon, mayo, lettuce and tomato. If you really drown it in mayo, maybe. But I did notice if you go to their website and look directly at the menu they don't give you any info about what a serving size is considered to be for that sandwich and it says 309 calories. Which must be if you get wheat bread and only eat half the sandwich? That kind of misinformation or lack of information kind of drives me crazy and is why I don't eat out often.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
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    ginababin wrote: »
    The club lulu is 790 calories according to their nutrition sheet on their website and there's no cheese on it. That doesn't seem low to me for white bread, turkey, bacon, mayo, lettuce and tomato. If you really drown it in mayo, maybe. But I did notice if you go to their website and look directly at the menu they don't give you any info about what a serving size is considered to be for that sandwich and it says 309 calories. Which must be if you get wheat bread and only eat half the sandwich? That kind of misinformation or lack of information kind of drives me crazy and is why I don't eat out often.

    Where do you see that? When I went to the website, it gave me the 755 for one sandwich that the OP said.
  • Rogstar
    Rogstar Posts: 216 Member
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    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    If you're going to Portillo's, just get the chocolate cake. With a side of chocolate cake.

    Don't forget the chocolate cake shake to wash it down!
  • WhereIsPJSoles
    WhereIsPJSoles Posts: 622 Member
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    collectingblues wrote: »
    ginababin wrote: »
    The club lulu is 790 calories according to their nutrition sheet on their website and there's no cheese on it. That doesn't seem low to me for white bread, turkey, bacon, mayo, lettuce and tomato. If you really drown it in mayo, maybe. But I did notice if you go to their website and look directly at the menu they don't give you any info about what a serving size is considered to be for that sandwich and it says 309 calories. Which must be if you get wheat bread and only eat half the sandwich? That kind of misinformation or lack of information kind of drives me crazy and is why I don't eat out often.

    Where do you see that? When I went to the website, it gave me the 755 for one sandwich that the OP said.

    Oh duh, I was looking at the serving size instead of calories.
    But this is where it says 790 https://www.jimmyjohns.com/downloadable-files/NutritionGuide.pdf
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
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    ginababin wrote: »
    collectingblues wrote: »
    ginababin wrote: »
    The club lulu is 790 calories according to their nutrition sheet on their website and there's no cheese on it. That doesn't seem low to me for white bread, turkey, bacon, mayo, lettuce and tomato. If you really drown it in mayo, maybe. But I did notice if you go to their website and look directly at the menu they don't give you any info about what a serving size is considered to be for that sandwich and it says 309 calories. Which must be if you get wheat bread and only eat half the sandwich? That kind of misinformation or lack of information kind of drives me crazy and is why I don't eat out often.

    Where do you see that? When I went to the website, it gave me the 755 for one sandwich that the OP said.

    Oh duh, I was looking at the serving size instead of calories.
    But this is where it says 790 https://www.jimmyjohns.com/downloadable-files/NutritionGuide.pdf

    Bizarre. This says 755: https://www.jimmyjohns.com/menu/#/clubs/club-lulu/

    I'd say go with the live web over the PDF -- it's faster to update a live page, so I'd call that more up to date.
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    edited November 2017
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    This came up recently on a TV news report. They ordered menu items from several chains and had the food tested. Aside from the more sensationalistic outliers from some dessert items, they found that the menu calories were usually within a reasonable range, and sometimes overestimated.

    Here's the report: https://www.today.com/health/can-you-trust-calorie-counts-restaurant-menus-t117270

    My takeaway from it was that it's not going to be as accurate as something you weigh and prepare yourself, but many chains do try to get it close. You just have to approach it with some common sense.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
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    I love JJ's. When I eat there I ask for no cheese and no mayo. Then I get the little take out packets of mayo and add my own. That way I can control how much I use. I don't worry too much about the other ingredients as they're not as calorie dense. I think they also have an oil that I don't typically add on.
  • mlsh1969
    mlsh1969 Posts: 138 Member
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    Noelishere wrote: »
    Hi, I’m a little skeptical about the calories listed on the official portillos menu ( its a fast food place )

    It’s listing their char broiled cheeseburger at 570 calories and, well... that thing is pretty huge.

    Do you feel the calories listed on the official menues are accurate?

    Another example is the club lulu from jimmy johns being around 755 for the whole 8” sub when it’s drenched in mayo and cheese.

    I am alway skeptical too. Some seem legit, but others lm just not as convinced.
  • knhigham
    knhigham Posts: 11 Member
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    Sometimes you have to read the fine print. I’ve noticed that on the MFP app, the entries will often use partial portions from what is actually served.

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