1,600+ calories for ONE meal?!

weightforme8134
weightforme8134 Posts: 53 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I went on a date with my husband today. I love chicken fingers and fries (Im a big kid what can I say) and always get them when I go out for the most part. I ordered and looked them up on the database. For 4 tenders and fries it was over 1600 cals! When I look it up on the restaurants menu it shows the tenders plate to be 1,119 which sounds a bit more "reasonable." but I had chosen the basket not sure if there is a difference. Either way I immediately got a to go box and put half my meal away so I didn't consume so many calories. Does this sound right to you all? I know its fried but I am SHOCKED. Its a southern restaurant and I did not get the white gravy that comes with maybe it included that. Either way scary.

Replies

  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    Yep, sounds about right to me. At a local place here, 4 tenders are 750 cals. Add fries to that and it's easily over 1000 calories.
  • cbohling1987
    cbohling1987 Posts: 99 Member
    Yeah, all those oils make a huge difference in the overall calorie count. You can reduce the calories by a lot just by going for a grilled/unbreaded chicken option.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I'd go with the restaurant menu rather than a random entry in the database. But yeah...for the most part, a sit down restaurant meal is typically going to run you 1000 calories give or take, unless you're ordering off a "lite" menu.
  • Unknown
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  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Yeah. Sounds about right.
  • CourtneyUT
    CourtneyUT Posts: 48 Member
    I eat out at Chili's all the time and when I started MFP I was shocked to learn most of their meals are 1000+ calories. It's shocking, but then not.
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
    Nice job with the portion control though!
    I'm also a chicken tender fan - I often get tenders with a cup of something like vegetable soup to keep the calories manageable.
  • clayelliott847
    clayelliott847 Posts: 125 Member
    Yup they are immersed in the deep fryer. Nothing but liquefied lard.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    Have you ever looked at nutritional info on the Applebees website? LOL. Man. It's depressing.
  • weightforme8134
    weightforme8134 Posts: 53 Member
    Thanks everyone just now seeing the replies! I am so glad I split it up. Felt like I saved money too lol by having two meals out of it.
  • murp4069
    murp4069 Posts: 494 Member
    If I go out to eat, even if I order something "healthy," I pretty much count on my meal being 1,000+ calories.
  • Happysoul0317
    Happysoul0317 Posts: 119 Member
    weightforme8134 wrote: »
    I went on a date with my husband today. I love chicken fingers and fries (Im a big kid what can I say) and always get them when I go out for the most part. I ordered and looked them up on the database. For 4 tenders and fries it was over 1600 cals! When I look it up on the restaurants menu it shows the tenders plate to be 1,119 which sounds a bit more "reasonable." but I had chosen the basket not sure if there is a difference. Either way I immediately got a to go box and put half my meal away so I didn't consume so many calories. Does this sound right to you all? I know its fried but I am SHOCKED. Its a southern restaurant and I did not get the white gravy that comes with maybe it included that. Either way scary.

    It sounds about right. I'm on the road a bit for work, and of course, I eat at restaurants, hotels, etc. I find it to be very frustrating trying to stay on track. I've gotten better about where I go to eat now. I'm also sure to bring my phone in with me so I can look calories up on MFP prior to ordering. Pretty much anything fried is a no no. Anything with gravy is also a no. Salad dressings...can't have those either. I have just had to be more mindful. Grilled meats and veggies are usually safer than fried stuff I've found. It's just something to be aware of. But even in some of those McDonald sandwiches, they're packing 1100 calories and up.
  • kelly_stevens81
    kelly_stevens81 Posts: 79 Member
    I have found that unless a meal is in the lighter section or a salad, eating out portions in the USA are two meals worth of calories. Its best to just save half your meal for later, or split it with someone.
  • whitpauly
    whitpauly Posts: 1,483 Member
    I get the kids meal from Canes sometimes for lunch and its 715 calls for 2 tenders and some fries,,,sad :'(
  • Anon2018
    Anon2018 Posts: 139 Member
    I was at the airport prior to a 6 hour flight the other day and I decide to pick up a salad that I could eat (flight was over dinner time), so I head to a Chilis to-go and get some variation of a "Southwest Salad" assuming it's gonna be kind of calorie heavy for a salad, but if I take off the tortilla strips and go light on the ranch I should be OK. Well, silly me didn't read the menu carefully, and don't realize until I'm at 10000 feet that the chicken is fried and my salad is packing over 1200 calories. Needless to say, wasn't too pleased but I just chalked it up to a maintenance day and moved on. I was more pissed because like, I didn't even *want* a treat or a yummy restaurant meal - I wanted a simple boring salad. Learned my lesson there!
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    I usually log about 1200--1600 calories when I go out to eat, if I'm not being conservative on my food choice. Even then. That's without dessert or drinks :(
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    My latest go-to for eating out at chain type restaurants is a burger without the bun. Unless the patty is completely oversized for some reason, its about 200-300 cals for the meat. And then just the piece of lettuce, slice of tomato, and a pickle. If I need something else, I'll get a small cup of soup or a veggie side. The meat is the good part of a burger anyways. The bread is the throw away part. You can even keep higher calorie fillings like bacon, avocado, cheese, fried egg or sauce and it's still a reasonable meal.

    But anything that comes plated is going to be at high calorie and a massive portion. You find that a lot of restaurants offer a double serving of meat (like 8 oz, or 2 chicken breasts, or 12 shrimp, or 2 skewers etc), 2 sides (usually high carb or fat) plus a serving of bread, and extra fat is added to each of those components. So essentially, restaurant plates are made for at least 2.
  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
    The only place I can get a real food meal (not junk food) under 1000 calories is PANERA, or a salad place. If I'm going to a "real" restaurant I just consider it a cheat meal because anything other than a salad is probably over 1000 calories. If it is tasty food I probably will want to eat it all!
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    CourtneyUT wrote: »
    I eat out at Chili's all the time and when I started MFP I was shocked to learn most of their meals are 1000+ calories. It's shocking, but then not.

    For ages I thought I was making a sensible choice by ordering the quesadilla explosion salad. It's we'll over 1000 calories.

    Now I get the sirloin and baked potato.
  • weightforme8134
    weightforme8134 Posts: 53 Member
    Luckily we don't eat out much i couldn't afford it calorie wise!

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