First, I LOVE PANERA!!! So props to you for enjoying it there haha!

Second, I find their website extremely useful for seeing what I know I can eat on their menu without regret, because they do have some tasty, fulfilling options. I am not sure if this is everywhere, but at the Panera restaurant here they show the calories on their menu in the store, the rest of the info is online. As far as pastries I just walk right past them, every now and then I will get a smaller treat if I can fit it into my caloric budget or plan for it. Otherwise I just enjoy all of their other yummy options!

Frankly, it was only when I accepted that perhaps all foods outside my direct control where either (1) lying about their calories or (2) not at all accurate, was when I finally got the key to losing all my weight.

I did a weight loss program with prepackaged food. The first film they showed you at orientation was what happened when they went into a hospital and got a muffin at the cafeteria. It did not seem massive. They tested it. How many calories? 1100. No one... no one would have thought that. It was also some crazy amount of fat.

The diet program called this "the gap" -- the difference between what you might think something is, and what it actually is.

Even with the alleged calorie counts you just can't know exactly how much each thing is.. it is just a rough estimate.

And if you wanted to be really negative about it... you could argue that it isn't in the best interest of food makers or eateries to really be honest about the calories... that their food tastes amazing because it has gads of sugar in it, but, the calorie count says it is 400 cals... when really likely 600.

That's why when people say, "I measure everything" there's only so much you can measure. I 'measure' everything too, but when I say I eat a fuji apple, how many calories is that really? Fujis are HUGE, but not always. That goes for any fruit.

Now, cheese. Let's say I want a 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. How do I know if that is a loosely 'sifted' cheese or a packed in cheese?" is 2% milk always precisely 2% and so on.

So, I never know for sure how many calories I ingest, so I know I have to be flexible in my thinking on it. Falsely believing I have 50 extra calories for the day for a bite of a snack when in reality I might be over by 150 calories.

A few years ago in my area a local news outlet tested fish at local shops and restaurants. Guess what? Most of the fish was NOT what it said it was. You thought you were getting haddock. Sorry, you were getting a completely different fish - much cheaper and less healthy. And guess what.. after this story came out and there were pledges to change, the outlet did the testing again, nothing had changed.

With that in mind, how can anyone really be sure what they are eating is what it says it is? I mean in the 1990s they required the nutrition facts on food. But does anyone ever check those? I doubt it. The very idea that the FDA could keep up with testing even 20% of the food is imho super unlikely.

Yet a lot of my calorie counting friends just can't give up the ghost and say but I am eating 1200 cals.. why am I not losing... um ... how do you really know that? It really does a wammy on their head too because they feel hungry if they go down to what they think is 1000 cals but I bet if we tested the food it might be 1500 cals. So they shouldn't be hungry but the power of suggestion makes them think they are.