What food has surprised you because of the calorie content?

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  • fb47
    fb47 Posts: 1,058 Member
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    ceiswyn wrote: »
    Bread. Bread has HOW MANY calories?! Well OK then, no more sandwiches for me... (well, except for the odd one to stave off the cravings).

    Growing up, I wasn’t allowed things like banana or avocado because they were ‘fattening’. The first time I realised that having tuna mayo in an avocado half was actually significantly fewer calories than having it in a sandwich (especially one with buttered bread!) was a revelation. I blame Weight Watchers and similar companies.

    As for low... meringue. And strawberries. After that revelation I poked about the dairy cabinet a bit, and thanks to vanilla Skyr I can now bring in a big bowl of Eton Mess at around 150 kcal :)

    Bread is not bad, it depends which ones you get of course. I used to eat Country Harvest Protein bread, they were 110 calories per slice....but if you get the PC Blue ones, I think they are like 50 calories per slice.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    Restaurant food in general, especially "healthy" restaurant selections. I don't eat out much on my own but a group of friends keeps inviting me to chain restaurants. PF Chang's has a broccoli and chicken sort of thing which is a ton of calories, and O'Charlie's has a salmon and quinoa kale salad which is over 1000. What the heck are they putting in it to make salmon, kale and quinoa that fattening? If I made the same thing at home it would be less than half the calories.
  • fb47
    fb47 Posts: 1,058 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Restaurant food in general, especially "healthy" restaurant selections. I don't eat out much on my own but a group of friends keeps inviting me to chain restaurants. PF Chang's has a broccoli and chicken sort of thing which is a ton of calories, and O'Charlie's has a salmon and quinoa kale salad which is over 1000. What the heck are they putting in it to make salmon, kale and quinoa that fattening? If I made the same thing at home it would be less than half the calories.
    They probably drench it with all kinds of butter, olive oil or both at the sametime.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Restaurant food in general, especially "healthy" restaurant selections. I don't eat out much on my own but a group of friends keeps inviting me to chain restaurants. PF Chang's has a broccoli and chicken sort of thing which is a ton of calories, and O'Charlie's has a salmon and quinoa kale salad which is over 1000. What the heck are they putting in it to make salmon, kale and quinoa that fattening? If I made the same thing at home it would be less than half the calories.

    Fish is good for you, right?

    OCharley's Hand-Breaded Catfish Dinner w/Fries. & Coleslaw - 1720 calories.
  • walking2running
    walking2running Posts: 140 Member
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    Honestly, most restauarant food is surprisingly high in calories. I went out to dinner in an nicer chain restaurant. Roasted chicken dinner with veggies and baby potatoes was 1400 calories. How is that even possibe? A small serving of fries was 600 cals. Kale salad with grilled chicken was 1100 calories!! The portions dont appear huge either.
  • kbmnurse1
    kbmnurse1 Posts: 316 Member
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    I use the Hidden Valley Yogurt Dressing, few calories great taste. 2TBLS=60 cal.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Restaurant food in general, especially "healthy" restaurant selections. I don't eat out much on my own but a group of friends keeps inviting me to chain restaurants. PF Chang's has a broccoli and chicken sort of thing which is a ton of calories, and O'Charlie's has a salmon and quinoa kale salad which is over 1000. What the heck are they putting in it to make salmon, kale and quinoa that fattening? If I made the same thing at home it would be less than half the calories.

    My favorite is when people order the veggie option because they think they're being 'healthy' but in reality, restaurants load those down with so many fats, sugars, etc. to replace the meat that vegetarian dishes often turn out to be among the highest calorie items on the menu!
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    fb47 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    Bread. Bread has HOW MANY calories?! Well OK then, no more sandwiches for me... (well, except for the odd one to stave off the cravings).

    Growing up, I wasn’t allowed things like banana or avocado because they were ‘fattening’. The first time I realised that having tuna mayo in an avocado half was actually significantly fewer calories than having it in a sandwich (especially one with buttered bread!) was a revelation. I blame Weight Watchers and similar companies.

    As for low... meringue. And strawberries. After that revelation I poked about the dairy cabinet a bit, and thanks to vanilla Skyr I can now bring in a big bowl of Eton Mess at around 150 kcal :)

    Bread is not bad, it depends which ones you get of course. I used to eat Country Harvest Protein bread, they were 110 calories per slice....but if you get the PC Blue ones, I think they are like 50 calories per slice.

    Bread isn't terrible. Even great homemade or bakery bread is 'only' about 100 calories per ounce. What kills me is fresh bread when combined with really great butter...
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    CarvedTones wrote: »
    Triscuit crackers ; they aren't terribly high but I thought they were much lower.
    Strawberries and blueberries are really low in calories.
    Pie - yes, I should expect it to be high but not as high as it actually is. Some of the oversized slices you get eating out are over 1000.

    *sigh*

    Because butter is amazing and lots of butter = awesome pie crust.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    One the biggest shockers to me was thinking ordering a salad at a restaurant was healthier. Many are in excess of 1100 calories! I can piece together a burger and a side for far fewer calories.
  • golden6911
    golden6911 Posts: 50 Member
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    I am always amazed at how low calorie a good lean Steak is.

    The other day I bought an order of Donut Fries from DD. The serving size is 5 tiny sticks, and 240 calories! Those will definitely have to be a very rare treat.
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
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    fitoverfortymom wrote: »
    One the biggest shockers to me was thinking ordering a salad at a restaurant was healthier. Many are in excess of 1100 calories! I can piece together a burger and a side for far fewer calories.

    My big question with those caloric restaurant salads is where the hidden calories are? Are they drenching the grilled chicken in butter and flour? Is the salad dressing made from buttercream and sugar? Is each crouton actually a compressed bagel?

    FWIW, I order restaurant salads a lot but get a lemon wedge and no dressing, no croutons and the nuts on the side, and use a soup spoon to measure them out. I've still been able to lose weight with restaurant salads. But I really wish they would just use less caloric ingredients all in all...many people who choose "salad" may think they are making a healthy choice.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Running_and_Coffee wrote: »
    fitoverfortymom wrote: »
    One the biggest shockers to me was thinking ordering a salad at a restaurant was healthier. Many are in excess of 1100 calories! I can piece together a burger and a side for far fewer calories.

    My big question with those caloric restaurant salads is where the hidden calories are? Are they drenching the grilled chicken in butter and flour? Is the salad dressing made from buttercream and sugar? Is each crouton actually a compressed bagel?

    FWIW, I order restaurant salads a lot but get a lemon wedge and no dressing, no croutons and the nuts on the side, and use a soup spoon to measure them out. I've still been able to lose weight with restaurant salads. But I really wish they would just use less caloric ingredients all in all...many people who choose "salad" may think they are making a healthy choice.

    Salad (unless I'm having a serious hankerin' for a specific salad), just doesn't do a lot for me in terms of satiety. I have fared well with the Bolthouse dressings, which helps a lot, because for me the appealing part of salad is coating everything in dressing.

    I get the cobb salad at Chick Fil A quite a bit and can come in under 700 calories even with the pepper crispies and low-fat honey mustard dressing. For a dinner, that's usually what I'm aiming for w/ calories. If I'm feeling spendy on my calories, I'll get the regular nuggets instead of grilled nuggets. I also sneak one fry from hubby's stash and one fry from my son's stash to feel complete. (I've never logged those fries, shhhhh).
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
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    Most restaurant foods always surprise me. I'm pretty good with accurate estimations since I've been measuring, weighing and logging food for years, but somehow they always pack in cals at the restaurants.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    Running_and_Coffee wrote: »
    My big question with those caloric restaurant salads is where the hidden calories are? Are they drenching the grilled chicken in butter and flour? Is the salad dressing made from buttercream and sugar? Is each crouton actually a compressed bagel?

    Basically, yes. Also, not only is each crouton actually a compressed bagel, it's a compressed bagel that's been drenched in butter and cheese.

    And then deep fried in lard.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    Salads at restaurants. Again something pop culture perceives as "healthy", but often really high in calorie content and greatly exceeding recommended calorie allowance.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    Sonic shakes. 700 calories for a small. I still have them sometimes.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Restaurant food in general, especially "healthy" restaurant selections. I don't eat out much on my own but a group of friends keeps inviting me to chain restaurants. PF Chang's has a broccoli and chicken sort of thing which is a ton of calories, and O'Charlie's has a salmon and quinoa kale salad which is over 1000. What the heck are they putting in it to make salmon, kale and quinoa that fattening? If I made the same thing at home it would be less than half the calories.

    restaurants are very liberal in regards to using oils when cooking and in their dressings for salad. I always get dressing on the side if I get a salad. In my experience, they usually over dress the salad as well.
  • happytree923
    happytree923 Posts: 463 Member
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    Craft beer. I only buy individual 24 oz bottles now, one at a time, because I love love love the taste of very hoppy beer and if I bring home a six pack the one or two beers I planned for will turn into three or four plus some salty snacks. Never have this problem with any other alcoholic drink.

    I was surprised at how low in calories bacon is. I grew up in the aughts when the obesity epidemic was getting lots of media attention and I remember reading/seeing on tv a lot of "swaps" to help with weight loss. Regular bacon was always "swapped" for turkey or back bacon so I always just assumed it was a calorie bomb. The calories per gram is probably not fabulous but it's really not bad for a breakfast side dish.

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