Which food calorie count shocked you the most?

I have really had my eyes opened a lot since being here :) and thought it might be fun if we each shared one thing that shocked the heck out of us when we saw the amount of calories.

For me it was breadsticks. I didn't eat them often but I figured hey, only dough right it should be less calories than eating pizza or hamburgers or something... Wrong! Each breadstick depending on its origin carries a 110 - 200 calorie punch per stick, add on to that sauce etc and those calories get out of control fast.

Needless to say that's one treat that will be very very few and far between now. Shame too because they were one of my weaknesses ;) Oh well.

a salad from Arby's! The Santa Fe salad has 845 cals!!! I ate half of one without the chicken today and it is like 350 cals. I about died when I came home and entered it in! Thank God my hubby told me to only eat half! So Ive had 623 cals for today, Im eating a REAL salad tonight, ya know the 90 cals type :)

About a week before I started here I was thinking about counting calories.... as a stocking stuffer I got a Lindor Chocolate bar... 600 Calories for ONLY 3 squares of the bar (there's got to be at least 15-18 squares!!)

Youch! yeah that's a painful amount of calories for a salad lol. Is it the dressing that does that? maybe it wouldn't be as bad without dressing. I haven't had one of those, but I guess I won't be trying one ;) lol.

They rock! The salad without the dressing is 530 cals! Without the chicken its still 200 cals. It was delicious, well half of it without the chicken that is! But I did use the dressing 190 cals that I could afford to have today!

ooh, that seems like a lot for chocolate too, even a really good chocolate ;). That's one thing I do indulge in a bit though because I love it (but don't crave it now like I used to) and also I've heard if you get a good blend of chocolate it actually has some anti-cancer benefits :)

I read in Family Circle last month that dark chocolate can actually be good for you, it's "heart healthy" supposedly. Although, you would have to still watch your calorie, fat and carb intake in order to add it into your day of calories, but sounds like something worth adding to me, hee hee hee!

Oh, and cereal was my eye opener. A serving size is 1/2 cup, for anywhere from 120-220 calories depending on the cereal. Pour a half a cup of cereal in a baggy and see, it's not much. My hubby and I did an experiment last night with his cereal bowl and filled it with it like he would normally, then poured that into a 4 cup measuring cup. It was 3 cups, which is 6 servings. Heck, that would almost be my days calories right there just for breakfast. It's amazing to me, what we in America have come to call a "serving size" and what is an ACTUAL serving size. We all way over eat. UGH!

I would say my largest shocker was how little calories lettuce has. I mean I knew it was low but 3 calories for a leaf... Hell I'll eat salad for all meals and then some cookies... tee hee. Also egg whites... great protein and only 30ish an egg. My other shocker was learning how much pizza (my other vice) has... I mean why is junk food so calorific! well I guess we can all attest to that. I just ate chex mix. sigh. the cycle is so hard to break.

What shocked me and still stings is having so much problem selecting things on restaurant menus. Everything is so high calorie. You actually really have to think about your selection carefully. Even sometimes I come home thinking my selection was good and come to find out I actually did not choose well at all. I have kinda thought about when I go out to restaurants just choose as well as I can, eat slowly, feel satisfied, then stop. I think when you get that satisfied but not stuff feeling you will do ok. What are your ideas on that friends? Huggers to all that have been shocked.

tortilla chips!!! that and generally any mexican food (that i love). it sure does not take much to put me way off schedule with those foods!

I still remember seeing the calorie count for walnuts - I immediately thought it was wrong and filed a request to correct the information. But it's true...

They do have a good side though - plenty of omega-3 fatty acids (more info).

OH MY on the walnuts...ya'll need to check that out....I have some almonds in my cupboard and you can have 28 for 170 calories and they are good for you too....that is one of my snacks on occasion...huggers to all the nuts ooops I mean all the nut lovers....

Igor,
that calorie count on walnuts is lower than on the bag of them I have isn't that insane? mine say 200 per 1/4cup

I have a tablespoon of them a few times a week for the omegas but that tbsp costs me about 50 calories each according to my calculations :) yikes!

200 per 1/4 cup is pretty much on the spot. Our site says 784 calories for 1 cup - which scales down to 196 calories per 1/4 cup. Either way, those are quite a few calories, but they are good calories.

The problem for me is nuts in general are just so good & it's hard to stop at just a few!

Pizza was my eye opener. I always thought it was relatively healthy...without the meat. Some cheese (good protein), tomato sauce (vegetable) and some veggies...all baked on a dough...like a slice of bread. WRONG. Little Caeser's Pizza and Dominos are 250 for 1 slice...small slice. When I ate pizza, I never ate just one slice. We're talking at least two and often three...that's 750 calories at one meal????? I haven't had pizza in 6 months. Now you all know why.

Ramen noodles higher in calories then I would of thought.

1/2 package 190 Cal :O


Janie

What about the high fat content in the walnuts? Does that matter? I know the Omega-3 is good, but is it worth it to have that much fat intake? I am curious?

for all you nut lovers you can have about 25 pistachios for about 80 calories......I find that that is usually sufficient because you have to take the shell of and they take longer to eat than say a handful of nuts.....but not having mexican food and pizza is killing me lol

This one is shocked in a good way... my favourite Hot and Sour soup is only 50 cals for 250 ml (1 cup) serving.

Brand: Soup's On

And, it's low fat!.... little high on the sodium though.