A Tale of Two McFlurries...

So, yesterday I took my two darling girls for a treat at the local McDonald's (a place we rarely go) in our little German town, and we all ordered McFlurries with Smarties (the german M&M equivalent).  I love soft ice cream and I thoroughly enjoyed my McFlurry.  And, like a good caloriecounter, I came home and logged it...620 calories!  Yes, I knew it would be bad, but not that bad.  Feeling guilty, I decided I would skip dinner, but when dinnertime came around, my stomach was growling and I caved to it, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep that night with a growling stomach, and I ate some chicken and rice.  Later, it occurred to me that perhaps a German McFlurry was not exactly the same as an American McFlurry, so I checked the calories on the German McDonald's site, and get this, 160 calories!  An American McFlurry has 4 times the calories of a German one!  I'm guessing it's mainly due to portion size, but come on, FOUR TIMES THE CALORIES!!  No wonder Americans have trouble keeping their weight down.  You people are soooo being taken for a ride.  Although, if it's any consolation, our German Hamburger Royals still have the same amount of calories as a Big Mac...

I wonder if it's a case of Nerds vs. Smarties.

In Romania we don`t have the Smarties McFlurry anymore. I just looked up the nutritional info for the ones we do have:

Apple McFlurry 320
Flurry Kit Kat 305
Flurry Lion 305
Flurry Kit Kat - Caramel 390
Flurry Kit Kat - Chocolate 380
Flurry Lion - Caramel 390
Flurry Lion - Chocolate 380

(I haven`t been to McDonald`s in so long so I`m not sure whether a Flurry and a McFlurry are the same thing, but I assume so?)

Either way, our portions are pretty medium to small sized, it`s hard to imagine that Germans have them halved. Maybe the nutrition data you found was assuming there are 2 servings in a container?

Anyway, don`t beat yourself up about your treat. You enjoyed it at the time, and you`ve learned a valuable lesson too - log before it goes into your mouth. :)

P.S. It was a wise decision not to skip dinner.

ETA: Sorry, I misread! I thought you had eaten an US sized dessert. :s

So exactly how small is that McFlurry?

It's amazing that there is THAT much of a difference.  I recently splurged and had a Snickers Blizzard from a local Dairy Queen  (basically a McFlurry mixed with Snickers candy).  It was 620 calories for the smallest size!!  I'm lucky I consumed it before I started officially counting calories! ;)

Portion size is absolutely out of control here. It disgusts me, truly. It's almost impossible to eat out at any restaurant because every dish is overflowing with fatty calories.

For example, we have buffets that are insane. I went to a Golden Corral for the first time a few weeks ago.. and I almost cried when I saw the amount of food and obese people stuffing their faces there. It was a buffet of fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, stuffing, steak, cakes, brownies and other desserts! It is unnecessary for these places to exist. We do NOT need this much food!

Original Post by ebrew17:

I wonder if it's a case of Nerds vs. Smarties.

 LOL!

Smarties = M&Ms.  I'm not sure what Nerds are?  And I would estimate the portion size as about 1 cup.  My 5 year old polished it off, no problem.

That's strange that it is so few in Germany when here in Italy the smallest size for the smarties one is around 400 calories.  The one with kit kat is less with 338 calories...but still way more than what it is in Germany.  I can't imagine it is much different though....

So I checked a couple of other websites, and for a 6 oz McFlurry with smarties, the calories listed is 198.  American McFlurries with M&Ms are 12 oz, so should be 496 calories?  But here on the calorie count database they're listed as 620 calories?!?  Weird.  Maybe there is more sugar in an American McFlurry?  Europeans generally like their desserts less sweet than Americans.

Sorry, 396 not 496 cal for a 12oz McFlurry!

Original Post by ebrew17:

I wonder if it's a case of Nerds vs. Smarties.

hehe :X

Huh.  I find that the German McFlurry with Smarties is 415 cals.

I live in Germany too, and love the fact I can take my baby out to ice cream a couple times a week  (it's practically a requirement here in the summer) but know that my one scoop is max. 70 cals. The portions are soooo different, Americans would have a hissy fit if they were served such small scoops of ice cream. I never had a mcflurry, but the Italian place on the corner is so amazing I need a tiny scoop and I'm satisfied.

Original Post by jenningermany:

Huh.  I find that the German McFlurry with Smarties is 415 cals.

Which website did you find that?

Whenever I go for food, I offer to share food. We save money and we eat just the right amount of food. But rarely do these offer get accepted. Why is that?? I really don't need a whole thing, even if it is small. 

I've just looked at the website www.mcdonalds.de that states that for 100g of McFlurry w/Smarties it's 444kcals.

ok This picked my curiostity so I went on to the German website. The 160 calories is for one portion of smarties ONLY, when you ADD the ice cream, it comes up to 415 calories.

Original Post by anijig:

ok This picked my curiostity so I went on to the German website. The 160 calories is for one portion of smarties ONLY, when you ADD the ice cream, it comes up to 415 calories.

Agreed, 415 kcals.  Is it just a smaller portion size? Do you get 100 grams in Germany?  In that case, it seems more calories per gram than the US one.   The US one is 348 grams (12 fl oz cup) at 615 kcals.

The UK version of the Smarties McFlurry is 330kcal per serving (178 kcal per 100g). All the nutritional info is on their website.

What I can't understand is how is that the German Smarties McFlurry is only 160kcal per portion? I think this figure is wrong on their website.

I think the figures for portion and 100g column are the wrong way around. The Smarties McFlurry in Germany is more likely to be 444 kcal per portion and 160kcal per 100g.

The US version is 620kcal per 12 oz portion. Which is most likely due to the fact that they use ounces. I think 100g portion of the US version would be about 180kcal.

I think as long as you enjoy these things as an occasional treat, it doesn't really matter overall. I find that sharing it with my wife and kids helps a lot. I find that often if you buy one whole portion for yourself, you end up eating it all so as not to waste it. After all many of us were taught from childhood to finish our food. 

When I lived in Sweden I got a small McFlurry and it was 1/3 the size of the small McFlurry in the states.  I wish the US McDonalds would offer smaller portion sizes!!

Fast food?  A big no-no

This is like rule 1.  And giving kids this crap is even worse!

I take my child to a local homemade ice cream shoppe.  It's good quality stuff, and you are giving your money to local companies, not some behemoth devil like McD's!