How badly have you ever misread a calorie label and got a horrible shock later?
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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 -
@torxa i just checked the subway website and they did include the bread. This is the footnote they have -
"Sandwich nutrition values include 9-Grain Wheat bread, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and cucumbers. Values do not include cheese unless noted. "
Awesome! Cause I've been eating a lot of those.
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Curious which sandwich store it is. Of course if I get a sub anywhere else it's going to be dripping cheese and all kinds of goodies so the bread is probably the only low calorie part of it lol1
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girlwithcurls2 wrote: »Ramen. What an eye opener!! And TWO servings?? Puh-lease.
Me too!
Also blender's smoothies. The nutrition facts they provide are for 12 oz, not the 24 oz size. I was sad to find that out.0 -
alondrakar wrote: »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.
I work in a supplement retailer and see this happen a lot!! I tell my customers who are new that there are more than one serving in many packages, the Lenny and Larry being a prime example. Not to mention full of sugar, gluten / wheat and lower protein0 -
Powdered Almond and powdered peanut butter. I weighed a tablespoon at 12 grams (after running out way faster by measuring than it should have),the label states 2 tablespoons is 12 grams! I was using 4 to 8 , thinking that 4 tbsp. is 100 calories and 8 is 200. 4 tbsp is 200 and 8 is 400.
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Not quite the same thing, but someone made a meal plan for me, and they put down 4 rashers of bacon. I didn't know what a rasher was, so I celebrated with 4 pieces of middle bacon (or 8 rashers).
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That's not a big loss if it kept you sustained until 5. Had it really been 250 calories, you might have consumed 350 more by then. It does suck when you don't account for the calories, though. I remember going shopping with my sister and we felt hungry, so she decided to get a couple of hot dogs to eat on the go. I glanced at the website, 350 calories. Meh, not a big deal. Something felt wrong, it looked like the bun alone would be 300 calories. When I went home, I double checked, it turned out they had two sizes and the one we had was 700+ calories.3
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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.
My good surprise was with Oreo McFlurry. I had always logged it as a regular size because they only sell one size here. Regular size in the database is 570 calories. Turns out our regular size is 340 calories, not 570, and I always thought 570 looked about right because it's large compared to my usual ice cream serving. I don't know how it did not occur to me that the cup didn't look like a 12 oz cup.0 -
A few years ago, I was looking at Subway for lunch. They had some new sandwiches that looked good so I wanted to see what the nutrition would be on the calculator. I chose one of the flavors and all my fave toppings and was happily surprised to see it was only around 300 calories! That’s when I realized that I was looking at the “weight in grams” column!
I had to pick something else; the actual calorie count was higher than what I had room for.2
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