Eating Out Calories

It’s so easy to underestimate the amount of calories that go into commercial foods. While perusing the menu at a popular food chain or walking down the line of steaming entrees and veg at a tried and true cafeteria, I think of how I might perhaps fix similar items at home. I think about the ingredients I might use to make that same dish, thinking that, well it can’t be that bad, what would be on it/in it that would make it so high calorie?

I decided to check out my latest edition of The Calorie King Calorie Fat & Carbohydrate Counter book. If you haven’t got one, run to your nearest bookstore or on-line seller and buy it. You’ll be glad you did. It’s invaluable. Anyway, in the back of the little pocket-sized book is what I consider a pretty reliable nutrition list of menu items from popular restaurants and fast food chains. Some of it will scare you! I’m not saying don’t eat these things or go to these places. What I am saying is to be sure you know what you’re getting. More information allows you to make an informed decision.

Listed below are a few items I found in the book with their calories written alongside. If you're limiting your calories to around say 1500 or even 1700 a day, many of these dishes would be totally out of the question. Check it out.

Appleby’s – Fiesta Lime Chicken – (entrée with sides and sauces) – 1285 calories! (at least Appleby’s does have a listing of Weight Watchers items on their menu which are not too bad.)

Burger King – Original Whopper sandwich – 680; Whopper Jr., (no cheese) – 370

Cheesecake Factory – per slice - Brownie Sundae – 970; Original Cheesecake – 630

Chili’s – Classic Nachos – with fajita chicken – 1630; with fajita beef – 1740

Dunkin’ Donuts – Powdered Cake donut – 310; Bagel – plain multigrain - 410

IHOP – Buttermilk pancakes – short stack (3) [without butter and syrup] - 330

Macaroni Grill – Primo Chicken Parmesan (dinner size) – 2220!

P.F. Chang’s – Lo Mein Beef (per whole dish) – 1375

Ruby Tuesday – Lemon Grilled Salmon (entrée without sides) – 505

Zaxby’s – Chicken Finger Plate – (regular entrée without sauce) – 1055

Lighter Menus

Last night, being Saturday night, my husband suggested we go out to dinner. Never one to turn down such an offer, I readily agreed. But immediately after saying yes, my thoughts turned to where, because where is an important factor when you're calorie counting. Luckily, right down the road is a Chili's Grill & Bar, and since my husband is also calorie counting these days, that was a great choice for us.

Like an increasing number of chain restaurants, Chili's offers a small section of its menu as lighter fare. The "Guiltless Grill" offers four entrees that include chicken, vegetarian, and fish. Granted, four doesn't sound like much, and it isn't, but if you go to Chili's website and click on the menu, at the very bottom there is the link to nutritional information for its entire menu. Everything offered in the restaurant is listed and you can then find what suits your taste and your calorie allowance. I will add that on the selection I made, the Guiltless Grill Chicken Sandwich, the restaurant menu says 490 calories, whereas my favorite calorie counting book, The Calorie King's Calorie Fat & Carbohydrate Counter, lists the same entree at a higher 535 calories. Such discrepancies do happen sometimes. For my money, I'm going with the menu listing, and not just because the number is lower. The booklet I have is 2 years old, there might have been an ingredient change since then that has lowered the calories. It's also possible that it's a typo. And finally, it's my understanding Calorie King gets their information from the restaurant chain, so why not go by the original source? If the menu gave the calorie count as higher than listed in the booklet, I would still go with the menu listing.

Other restaurant chains are beginning to offer lighter fare listed on their in-store menus, too so you can know at a glance and make an informed choice. (If in doubt as to whether the calories listed include everything on the plate as in the sides too, your server should know.) They include: Applebee's, Red Lobster, La Madeleine, Smoothie King, Luby's, and even Carvel ice cream stores. And of course, thanks to Jared, everybody knows about Subway. Restaurants owners are realizing that while there is a part of their customer base that still wants the biggest food serving of what ever they can get because they think it gives them better value, there is a growing number of customers who want lighter more normal servings with the nutrition information posted either right on the menu or at least on the restaurant website. By picking a place that offers lower calorie entrees, or taking the time for just a little research before you go, you can easily find something that fits your daily allowance so you can have just as good of a time as everybody else at the table!

Fast Food Nutrition Menus

The good thing about all this talk these days about America's obesity levels, healthy vs. non-healthy foods, and calorie counting, is that a great number of chain restaurants and fast food places now have their nutrition information easily available. On a recent trip to Chili's, my husband wanted to know the calorie count of a certain menu item that wasn't among their Guiltless Grill choices. The manager was very accomodating, took only a few minutes, and after apparently being on the computer to their home office, came back with the calories, fat grams, and carbs of the entree he was curious about along with the sides that went with it. Lovely!

But a sit-down meal isn't always possible when you have hungry kids in the car, perhaps headed to or from a soccer game or swim meet, and you need to pull in to grab something fast. It's even tougher when those kids will only eat 3 items from one particular place and refuse to consider anything else. What do you do then? Combine your efforts.

If you know your children will only eat at a one or two places, provided they're chains, you can go on line to those websites ahead of time, find the restaurants' menu and nutrition listings and print those off to have with you in the car or in your purse all the time. Or, you can just take a look at the list and make a mental note as to which items are lower in calories so when you do have to swing through the drive-thru, you'll know ahead of time what to select for yourself.

Yes, calorie counting takes some planning. It takes some effort. You might argue that you don't want to have to think that much about what you eat. But not thinking about it is what got you to this point, isn't it? Not thinking enough about it? And you are worth that extra effort, aren't you?