But HOW can less than 8 oz. of steak and 6 slices of MUSHROOM, onions have 1800+ calories???? we are NOT counting the guac. It must be marinated in oil/butter. don't tell me the flour tortillas are packing real killer calories too. and sodium content is huge too....my hands float when i washthem.
the Quasidilla salad was WORSE.....over 2300 calories.
I think some of the biggest changes I've made are in how I eat out. I used to order whatever I wanted and usually ate all of it.
I am not good at ordering food and eating only half, so in general I order a lot less, and food that's a lot less fattening.
For example, at my fav Mexican restaurant I would order a chicken chimichanga and sometimes even with an enchilada or something. Of course it came with beans and rice and all the chips and salsa you could eat. Now, on the rare occasions I eat Mexican, I get only a single taco or an enchilada, replace the rice and beans with a salad and keep the chips away...
Occasionally I miss the chimi... or maybe I miss the "idea" of it... I might have one again (or 1/2) someday, but not right now...
I've always been kind of a picky eater when it comes to eating out, believe it or not, and most chain restaurants gross me out a little. I like little hole-in-the-wall ethnic places, usually, especially Thai or Vietnamese ones. The Cheesecake Factory -- don't get me started. When my brother comes to visit, he always wants to go there, and I've always thought their food was enormous and yet bland. They can really screw up a supposedly "Thai" dish. Their cheesecake isn't that great, either, compared to the kind you'll find at a nice little family-owned restaurant somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I can always find something to eat at any restaurant when I really want to!! I just always preferred high-quality stuff and hated spending a lot of money on chain stuff.
As for those KFC Bowls, I refuse to believe anyone eats that! It looks like the slop my grandfather used to feed his hogs when I was a kid.
It is pretty insane how many calories we used to eat before we paid attention to it, isn't it?? No wonder I gained all that weight!
Even at my most careless times of eating, I would never have thought that any of those things were "healthy", but I also would never have guessed they were that high in calories!
LisaMarie, I've always thought the KFC bowls look like all the leftovers scraped together too. Not something that appealed to me.
I like eating out! and chile's is my savior right now! i was suprised to see all those shocking high cal and fat cals in ruby tuesdays as well, for dishes that sounded reasonable! anyhow, I'm all for the guiltless grill menu section at chiles!!!!!!!! 1000 cals? no!
the guiltess grill menu chicken platter comes with a half chicken breast, rice, broccoli and corn on the cob...........all for 580 cals! I dont eat my corn either. I love it! I order extra lemon wedges on the side for the chicken, dry? no! At what, 7.60 price wise? you realy get the bang for the buck!
The fajitas, as marble mentioned, I love those too. I got them 1x last month and even did a search on them before going! I got the chicken ones though! I recently read an article that they use a lot of oil on the fajita dish, then add the tortillas and toppings, voila, the cal accumulation. THey do use soy sauce in the fajita dish as well and though I generally love it, last time i had it it was heavy on soy and i could really taste the salt! it did not help my weight loss that week ladies nor my feeling of well being the next day. anyways, please do consider the guiltless grill chicken platter i mentioned, it really is good and at such a price and cal intake, well worth it!
I wish more people or restaurant would consider a health section of this sort! oh, also.........careful, that dish i mentioned.........seems like they sprinkle the broccloli with a spice of sorts and very salty, you could ask they omit this if your watching your sodium. Also, could save about 200 cals. on the dish if you ask them to omit the rice and put extra veggies instead. I love the rice with the chicken though and so i go for it! I just dont do the corn so as not to ge the double starch.
I will never eat at Cheesecake Factory again. Not only is their food extremely fattening, it's also very expensive. My hub and son and I went there for LUNCH one day and it cost us nearly $70 for 2 and a half people.
I actually love everything I've ever had at the Cheesecake Factory. My whole family loves that place. Unfortunately yes, the portions are insanely huge and everything is over-the-top calorie-wise.
It's funny I saw Chili's mentioned, I was just saying to my fiance the other day, why do people hate so much on McDonalds - when Chili's serves you three times the amount of food and calories in one meal?
All this talk about butter-soaked steak is making me hungry.
Thank God the mature, reasoning, logical portion of my brain has been running since I've started eating healthier (outside of one oops). I am doing the calorie counting so eating out for me is not something I can do on a regular basis. That, and I quit smoking the same day I decided to start eating healthier (49 days strong ! My body actually feels better now so I'm kinda scared to put junk into it.
With all that said, however, I think eventually when I lose another five pounds and have five more to go I am going to try to account for daily life and have the occasional (once every two and a half to three weeks) treat whether it be a piece of cheesecake or french toast or a cheeseburger. I just think it's important like several others have mentioned that you don't overdo it. For instance, don't eat an entire meal at the Cheesecake Factory -a slice of cheesecake and coffee should suffice, don't get the three egg omelet with 2 sausage and 2 bacon and the french toast, don't get four pounds of fries with the burger. Everything in moderation is game in my book.
Eating healthier has actually made me angry at some of these places. Most people will eat whatever portions are put in front of them. Eating is a mindless activity for many people. It's a vicious cycle with both parties to blame. Have you ever noticed the portions at a high end French place?? You can have a four course meal and not filled stuffed to the gills yet the chef used good cuts of meat, full flavoured cheese, and heavy creams and such - it's all in the portion size.
Research has shown to satisfy a craving it only takes the first few bites - yet we continue to eat the rest.
I also prefer the non-chain restaurants, and there are literally hundreds in New York to choose from. It seems like a lot of areas around the country only have these high calorie high fat sit-down chains. But hey, when I go traveling to FL, I enjoy this rare treat to eat Denney's hash browns! I have it for a few days and then I'm like, yuck, I need to get back to regular food.
I guess I'm one of the odd ones out...When I go to Cheesecake factory, it's for their drinks. They have the BEST peach bellini. But I only have one, and the fiance and I go there maybe once every 2-3 months. It's probably high calorie, but that's my indulgence rather than the fattening cheesecake, which is good, but not "gotta have it" for me. Their food is good, just really really expensive. I usually get a chicken sandwich without cheese, bacon, or mayo. All that comes on it is chicken, tomato, and avocado. It's delicious, and I always have half of it to take home (big portion) but it's not something I couldn't make at home for less than half the price.
Someone mentioned the portion sizes. I ordered a healthier selection at Olive Garden one day and it was maybe a THIRD the size of their normal pasta meals. Just like the WW selections at Applebees are much smaller. But aside from portions, I still wouldn't see any of that as low calorie. I think of low calorie as lean meats with no sauces, no gobs of cheese and goo, whole grain pasta, veggies without any butter or other junk they might add to the cooking, small amounts of whole grain breads.
I certainly wouldn't find anything loaded with grease, cheese, bacon, pepperoni or other greasy meats to be healthy. I wouldn't even find the chicken and broccoli pasta healthy as it's not whole wheat and it's likely loaded in some kind of sauce. And what is it they cook the chicken in? Just plain grilled? Usually not. I have to specifically request plain grilling, no seasonings, nada...just the chicken please. As for the burger, I stopped thinking of any kind of burger as healthy. Now a turkey burger is less UNhealthy, but it's still not the healthiest fare out there. And while I love ice cream and cheesecake, I ruled those out as healthy many years ago.
So while I've never known the exact cals in any of this stuff, I just don't eat it and so I don't concern myself with the cals. If I decide to have an off day and eat something not on my usual plan, I don't count cals anyway, so again, I wouldn't be concerned with how many are in it.
But it is surprising to find the lasagna is way under the chicken and broccoli pasta.
It's also surprising that one of the Applebees WW meals will fill me up. Use to I'd have an appetizer and dessert with a meal, and the meals were much larger.
and so i go for it! I just dont do the corn so as not to ge the double starch.
