Hey all! I'm going out for pizza tonight, and I need help figuring out the calories. It's a local place, so there's no nutritional values to go off of, and they serve deep dish pizza.

Well, I haven't had deep dish pizza in any form in something like forever, so I really have nothing to compare it to. Sometimes if I'm not sure about something, I'll use just any other brand if the calories are similar, but I can't do that here! I was looking at Uno's and I guess I could use theirs. I'm seeing 300, 400.... Do you think 500 calories would be a safe number? I know I'm asking without giving information about the size of their slices, but I'm not sure. As I remember, though, the slices are pretty big, and one is plenty.

Anyhow, what I need help with is with guesstimating the calories, from anyone who might be more experienced in the deep dish pizza department. Can anyone help?

I would compare the bread calories to a bagel, and I know what a 4oz bagel looks like so I'd figure that part out for the slices, then I'd add a few teaspoons of oil if the crust seemed oily, and I'd estimate the ounces for the cheese based on what I know about what an ounce or 2 of cheese looks like. Unos is probably a safe comparison, too.

I've had this same conundrum. (Lou Malnati's doesn't have calorie info.) Like you, I was finding 300-400 around the net. I used 350 for a small-ish slice of Lou's. I think it really depends on the size of the piece (if it's coming from a large pizza, those slices can be WIDE) and how much cheese is used. Cheese can send that calorie count right up, and some deep dish pizzas have cheese over an inch thick! So, if there's a ton of cheese, it might even go over 500 But generally, yeah, I think 500's more than safe for once slice. Enjoy your pizza!

I did a quick Google search and got anywhere from 300 calories per slice to 800 calories per slice (for some of the meatier varieties) - Just do your best to eyeball it, and make guesses based on cheese and meats... I know that doesn't help much!

I did a quick Google search and got anywhere from 300 calories per slice to 800 calories per slice (for some of the meatier varieties) - Just do your best to eyeball it, and make guesses based on cheese and meats... I know that doesn't help much!

The easiest and best thing is to have a salad with light/free dressing on the side. However, if you want a treat night or cheat night, then I would look at 2-3 different pizza place's websites and estimate from there (that is, find a likely average between the same type of pizza and toppings at those three pizza places).

enjoy your night out!

I think there is middle ground between 500 calories (which isn't bad for dinner) of pizza and 60 calories of lettuce and tomato with light or free dressing. Salad is not "best" and pizza is not "bad."

Thanks for the help everyone! What got me was that I didn't have an eyeball comparison. Like if I've had Unos, or Dominoes deep dish, or some other brand I could say, "well, it's about the same size as...". Your input helped a lot!

I went with 600 calories from a 5th of a 12 inch pizza, and darn if I didn't have two even though one was plenty. I had one plain cheese, and one with a bunch of veggies on it. I figure if one was more calories and one was less, it's a near wash together.... if I'm even close. But one day does not blow a diet.... or much. I also drank a beer, but it's not hard to grab calories for that on line.

Filling up on salad first is always a good idea, but I did not go that route. Maybe I should have! LOL!