How badly have you ever misread a calorie label and got a horrible shock later?
nooboots
Posts: 480 Member
Today has not been a good day for me.
I set off for work knowing that I would be in court most of the day and thats really difficult. I have lots of calories left over from yesterday (not on purpose) so I thought well I might have a mcdonalds for breakfast, lunch and then a fish and chip tea.
I dont use mcdonalds for food a lot, I just get a cup of tea now and then when Im on the road so I dont really know their menu.
So I pulled up and saw this breakfast wrap thing. I thought it said on the big menu sign that it was 253 calories and thought, thats a bargain.
So I ordered it and it was jam packed with bacon egg, patty thing, hash brown thing. I happened to glance at the label which seemed to say then it was 254 calories, fine I thought.
So I have just got in to log the food for today so far to find out that I must have been looking at the kj amount which was 2531 if you have tomato sauce or 2546 with brown sauce. The ACTUAL calories are 605!!! What a bloody difference!
But I really could have sworn it said that on the sign because I was comparing with other things like the breakfast bagel which was about the same and I thought the wrap seemed better value calorie wise.
Not to mention by the time I got there, the trousers I put on this morning, feeling pleased they fit me since losing a bit more weight, have ripped right along the inside of the leg and I had to walk around in them all day as I didnt get a chance to get out at lunchtime. So no lunch.
I did happen to wonder how 250 odd calories had kept me sustained until about 5 and now I know. It was over double that amount!
I set off for work knowing that I would be in court most of the day and thats really difficult. I have lots of calories left over from yesterday (not on purpose) so I thought well I might have a mcdonalds for breakfast, lunch and then a fish and chip tea.
I dont use mcdonalds for food a lot, I just get a cup of tea now and then when Im on the road so I dont really know their menu.
So I pulled up and saw this breakfast wrap thing. I thought it said on the big menu sign that it was 253 calories and thought, thats a bargain.
So I ordered it and it was jam packed with bacon egg, patty thing, hash brown thing. I happened to glance at the label which seemed to say then it was 254 calories, fine I thought.
So I have just got in to log the food for today so far to find out that I must have been looking at the kj amount which was 2531 if you have tomato sauce or 2546 with brown sauce. The ACTUAL calories are 605!!! What a bloody difference!
But I really could have sworn it said that on the sign because I was comparing with other things like the breakfast bagel which was about the same and I thought the wrap seemed better value calorie wise.
Not to mention by the time I got there, the trousers I put on this morning, feeling pleased they fit me since losing a bit more weight, have ripped right along the inside of the leg and I had to walk around in them all day as I didnt get a chance to get out at lunchtime. So no lunch.
I did happen to wonder how 250 odd calories had kept me sustained until about 5 and now I know. It was over double that amount!
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Replies
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Well, I once made myself a delicious tuna sandwich. After lunch I checked the can for the nutrition label. There was none. It was then I realized I had eaten Friskies seafood medley. My pet cat Tina was quite amused.
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I picked up one of those Bert & Ernies (or whatever they're called) "protein cookies", because one of the threads here went on and on about them. I though, oh wow, thats not bad til I realized a single cookie was 2 servings. Come on, guys? Seriously?!!!!!21
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Oh, and I seem to have managed to only put deodorant under one armpit and I was wearing a chiffon top (ie polyester) in a very hot court building. I tried to walk around with my arms clamped down beside me, walking carefully so my ripped trousers couldnt be seen.
What a day.22 -
Not recently but ramen noodles for me. One little innocent looking square of noodles is a lot of calories.
Also Trader Joe's used to have a good ready to eat Thai chicken noodle meal. I saw many people on here talking about it as so low calorie....they were logging it as one serving and it was really 2 servings. So sneaky to have it that way. They changed the recipe and packaging now so it's gross and no idea the calories.
I've read labels for years but not always number of servings. Boy do I read it all now.9 -
Most of my whoopsies have been serving-size related. I glance at the nutrition info, see calories that fit, assume a serving size similar to other versions of the food, then realize when it's too late that what I assumed was 1 serving was really 2 (or 3!)
I've also gotten fooled by flavored yogurt cups fairly often. In some brands the packaging differences aren't obvious to me between the lower cal and higher cal ones, and I'll buy the wrong one.9 -
springlering62 wrote: »I picked up one of those Bert & Ernies (or whatever they're called) "protein cookies", because one of the threads here went on and on about them. I though, oh wow, thats not bad til I realized a single cookie was 2 servings. Come on, guys? Seriously?!!!!!
Lenny & Larry's... they have 2 different size cookies (2 oz and 4 oz). I rarely see the 2 oz. size but they exist.4 -
The serving size thing is something I look for, though I still get caught out by it sometimes.
I once got a sub from a sandwich chain and thought the calorie counts on the menu were suspiciously low, but went with it anyway. I later checked their website and found that those numbers were for the fillings only, the hoagie roll was separate and not included in that total.5 -
My recent surprise was actually a good one. I've been eating guacamole on a piece of mini Naan almost daily for weeks. A few days ago, I just happened to notice that the serving size I've been logging all this time has been for two pieces, when I only eat one. I'm not going to pat myself on the back, though. Hopefully this has just been helping to even out the multiple other mistakes I've been making that are not in my favor.9
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I remember one time my wife brought home some ice cream cones. Either Nutty Buddy or something (can't remember which), full sized. She was so proud, "Look, only 130 calories!"
From fat.
That was calories from fat. 350 calories total.
Ended up being OK, it just ate into my exercise buffer, but it was seriously disappointing.7 -
springlering62 wrote: »I picked up one of those Bert & Ernies (or whatever they're called) "protein cookies", because one of the threads here went on and on about them. I though, oh wow, thats not bad til I realized a single cookie was 2 servings. Come on, guys? Seriously?!!!!!
Do you mean the Lenny and Larry cookies? Because same. I had been eating them as a night snack for WEEKS before realizing I was eating two servings instead of one. Never had them again.
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putting the calories for HALF a cookie is just bad faith and misleading. As is even listing calories from fat only...
i mean i know customers need to be smart but it's hard to blame society when companies make money off misleading us.6 -
loralenoxx wrote: »Well, I once made myself a delicious tuna sandwich. After lunch I checked the can for the nutrition label. There was none. It was then I realized I had eaten Friskies seafood medley. My pet cat Tina was quite amused.
Well the closest comparable I could find was Friskies Savory Shreds Ocean Whitefish/Tuna in sauce which would have been 133 calories with 15 grams of protein, 6 grams of fat, and 5 grams of carbs. You're welcome
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For me, it was the old dry weight / cooked weight thing. I THOUGHT that bowl of dhal was suspiciously big, but I was tired...4
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loralenoxx wrote: »Well, I once made myself a delicious tuna sandwich. After lunch I checked the can for the nutrition label. There was none. It was then I realized I had eaten Friskies seafood medley. My pet cat Tina was quite amused.
I hope at least your coat was a bit more shiny the next couple days.
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I used to simply LOVE this frozen sausage gravy, I'd eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. And at only 260 calories, no need to give up what I love! Took me 4 months of frustration before I realized that it was 260 calories per serving... and that teeny tiny sealed bag supposedly held 4 servings! That was over 8 years ago, and I STILL say that's a one person portion, they just knew no one would buy it that way, so the broke it down to improve sales! 9
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loralenoxx wrote: »Well, I once made myself a delicious tuna sandwich. After lunch I checked the can for the nutrition label. There was none. It was then I realized I had eaten Friskies seafood medley. My pet cat Tina was quite amused.
Well the closest comparable I could find was Friskies Savory Shreds Ocean Whitefish/Tuna in sauce which would have been 133 calories with 15 grams of protein, 6 grams of fat, and 5 grams of carbs. You're welcome
Hmmm, those macros are pretty good...
:laugh:8 -
poisonesse wrote: »I used to simply LOVE this frozen sausage gravy, I'd eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. And at only 260 calories, no need to give up what I love! Took me 4 months of frustration before I realized that it was 260 calories per serving... and that teeny tiny sealed bag supposedly held 4 servings! That was over 8 years ago, and I STILL say that's a one person portion, they just knew no one would buy it that way, so the broke it down to improve sales!
Yikes, that's a massive difference!1 -
99clmsntgr wrote: »I remember one time my wife brought home some ice cream cones. Either Nutty Buddy or something (can't remember which), full sized. She was so proud, "Look, only 130 calories!"
From fat.
That was calories from fat. 350 calories total.
Ended up being OK, it just ate into my exercise buffer, but it was seriously disappointing.
Yes the fat calories thing is SO misleading and for some reason it's highlighted on some products instead of actual calories. It's almost gotten me a couple times.4 -
I can't recall one for me, but I do recall my husband telling me he drinks his coffee with half-and-half, because it's only 15 calories per 2 tbsp. serving. I was like, On what planet? That's 40 calories. He's been drinking 8 tbsp. per day, thinking it was only 60 calories, turns out he was drinking 160 calories. Not huge, but I'm STILL trying to figure out how he got the one wrong.1
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What really irked me about the protein cookie thing was the front label said X grams protein per COOKIE, while the back label said Y calories per SERVING, when COOKIE =/= SERVING.
Twenty years ago, back before food labels were a thing, I stopped at Burger King every day on my way to work to get a "small" breakfast of orange juice, French toast sticks and miniature cinnamon rolls. Was always hungry again by lunch time, just figured the combination was maybe 400-500 calories or so.
Nope.
The day I learned that combo was actually almost 1200 calories I was completely floored. It was almost a decade before I ever set foot in Burger King again (and that only because my pregnant wife had a craving for the place).6 -
Clarisse_McClellan wrote: »I can't recall one for me, but I do recall my husband telling me he drinks his coffee with half-and-half, because it's only 15 calories per 2 tbsp. serving. I was like, On what planet? That's 40 calories. He's been drinking 8 tbsp. per day, thinking it was only 60 calories, turns out he was drinking 160 calories. Not huge, but I'm STILL trying to figure out how he got the one wrong.
I think we underestimate how much we might need something to be true to the point of missing the obvious. I mentioned it in the "unexpected downsides of losing weight" thread but some of us, maybe most of us, might actually grieve our carefree calorie days before weight loss and with grief can come denial/bargaining. That can help explain how some of us have had wishful thinking on some calorie counts that turned out to be false.
That doesn't explain all the mistakes I have made. Some of them were just simple oversights. I imagine the serving size thing has gotten most of us at one point or another especially when the serving size should so clearly be the entire package in some situations.
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The servings size thing that got me was Amy's enchiladas they are frozen together in one tray and it's 2 servings..you cant even cook just one.7
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Ramen. What an eye opener!! And TWO servings?? Puh-lease.3
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For a month or so years ago I stopped at Sonic a couple of days a week for a chicken salad. Since I don’t eat salad dressing, and lettuce, tomatoes and chicken are all low calorie, why even worry about how many calories. Then I looked it up. Then I realized, if the chicken is breaded, deep fried chicken nuggets, it’s probably not low calorie.
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The serving size thing is something I look for, though I still get caught out by it sometimes.
I once got a sub from a sandwich chain and thought the calorie counts on the menu were suspiciously low, but went with it anyway. I later checked their website and found that those numbers were for the fillings only, the hoagie roll was separate and not included in that total.
The sandwich chain got me too. Who would've thought it wasn't counting the bread online!0 -
One of the local supermarkets makes dinner for two to go and one night I picked up crab cakes with a yummy sauce, a roll, and asparagus. I couldn’t find a nutrition label so I looked it up on here and it said 600-something. I know the database here isn’t always accurate, but the portion was bordering on small so I thought that sounded about right. Cleaning up after eating I found the label on the outer bag. 1800 for one half of the meal for two. That was a sad day.3
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The serving size thing is something I look for, though I still get caught out by it sometimes.
I once got a sub from a sandwich chain and thought the calorie counts on the menu were suspiciously low, but went with it anyway. I later checked their website and found that those numbers were for the fillings only, the hoagie roll was separate and not included in that total.
The sandwich chain got me too. Who would've thought it wasn't counting the bread online!
I am another victim of a sub shop not including the bread calories.0 -
cdudley628 wrote: »The serving size thing is something I look for, though I still get caught out by it sometimes.
I once got a sub from a sandwich chain and thought the calorie counts on the menu were suspiciously low, but went with it anyway. I later checked their website and found that those numbers were for the fillings only, the hoagie roll was separate and not included in that total.
The sandwich chain got me too. Who would've thought it wasn't counting the bread online!
I am another victim of a sub shop not including the bread calories.
This is ridiculous and should seriously be illegal. So annoying.1 -
Bought a bottle of “diet” raspberry lemonade. A large, for the family, sized bottle.
Drank entire bottle in one day cuz it was so so Delicious and only 50/100 cals or something for entire thing.
Hubby pointed out later that night (after I raved about how good the lemonade was) that is was not diet at all.
Full cals, full sugar 🤦🏼♀️
The bottles look exactly the same!
Now I’m an avid avid checker lol3 -
cdudley628 wrote: »The serving size thing is something I look for, though I still get caught out by it sometimes.
I once got a sub from a sandwich chain and thought the calorie counts on the menu were suspiciously low, but went with it anyway. I later checked their website and found that those numbers were for the fillings only, the hoagie roll was separate and not included in that total.
The sandwich chain got me too. Who would've thought it wasn't counting the bread online!
I am another victim of a sub shop not including the bread calories.
It's not Subway is it? I've been getting a 6" turkey with no cheese and thinking I'm eating 300 calories... because that's what the website says. Am I wrong?0
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