Get the chili -- 4 points!

Factory burger, no fries = 737 calories, 16g saturated fat, 53 carbs. It is chock full o' sodium, but otherwise, a good choice. I always get this on Fridays for lunch and pull off the top of the bun. :-)

The problem is, A, they don't have a grilled chicken salad, and B, sometimes when I have the points, I like to get something I enjoy. Knowing that a similar salad at McDonald's was within my point range, and since i had 15 points left, I thought why not at least be good AND satisfied? The problem isn't really that I don't understand that grilled is better than breaded, believe me, I do, but that they somehow manage to squeeze about 600 calories into one piece of chicken.

I have found that most fast food places have brochures that give nutritional content of their food items. Some are in a little plastic folder on the wall but sometimes you have to ask for it. I have picked them up at Wendy's so they should be available at all Wendy's. They have a wide range of salads and items and, actually, I will chose Wendy's over other places when traveling.

I remember when I was in Weight Watcher's (both when it was still an exchange program, and also after the point system was introduced), being astonished at how two similar-looking food items could have such vastly different calorie/exchange/point counts.

Battered or coated foods especially foods like "fried chicken" are among the most variable? Is the chicken light or dark meat. Is it "oven-fried," pan fried, or deep fried? Is the skin left on or ground into the patty? If the skin is left on, how thick is the skin and how much has rendered out in the cooking? How thin is the coating and what is it made of? Even the temperature of the frying oil can affect how much fat/calories are absorbed, and if it's an "extra-crispy" batter, even more calories can pile on.

You really can't take anything for granted, because how a food is prepared can be so variable. I mean look at mashed potatoes, even when you make them at home - If you're using only chicken broth and/or skim milk and potatoes or potato flakes, they'll be pretty "skinny" mashed potatoes, but if you use butter and cream you can really pack in alot of calories and fat. It's pretty hard to tell how much fat went into your mashed potatoes unless you make them yourself. In a restaurant, I can tell when mashed potatoes are made with little or no fat, but I can't distinguish between potatoes made with 1 tablespoon of butter and those made with 2 or 3. The calories can be boosted without much change in flavor.

One thing I found helpful is to keep a folder in the car of nutrition information from common chains. If we visit a chain that has a brochure, I take one and put it in the folder. I've also gone to chain websites and printed out the nutritional info and put it in the folder. There are also some really good books on the subject. I went to amazon.com and did various searches (restaurant dieting, I think was the one that yielded the most results).

I've added a few to my personal wish list, and have been ordering them from the library to preview before deciding which one I want to buy.

Wendy's does have a grilled chicken salad. When you order fried chicken on a salad, it ceases to be a healthy choice.

Yes, breaded chicken = fried.

That's a good point. And I think (I must of read this somewhere) the chicken breasts at Wendy's and other fast food places aren't real chicken breasts, just ground-up chicken made to resemble a chicken breast, so you never know what you are getting in it.

That's actually not surprising at all! Even if the rest of the salad was "similar," getting breaded and fried chicken could definitely have accounted for a huge difference.

Which salad did you get at Wendy's? And which one did you usually get at McDonalds? The chicken Caesar is the only salad that they both have, but the Wendy's site doesn't list it has having nearly so many calories as you are describing, especially if you didn't use all the dressing...

I LOVE the southwest salad at McDonalds...