The point of my first goal wasn’t to count calories. However, as I was eating some of my more unhealthy meal choices, I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly I was putting into my body.
One such occasion was Monday’s lunch – 2 slices from a small pepperoni/pineapple pizza and ⅔ of a tossed salad with esperanza dressing from Mellow Mushroom. It’s one of those meals that I know isn’t great for me, but in my head isn’t as bad as some of my regular lunches. However, after discovering this meal was a whopping 990 calories provided me with an opportunity to test my knowledge of my own food intake. Here is the breakdown for my “usual” orders at places I frequent for lunch:
Panera:
Plus 180 calories for the french baguette, makes the whole meal 910 calories!
Moe’s (customized Joey Junior and chips & salsa):
A total of 775 calories!
Smashburger (Spinach Cucumber & Goat Cheese- Grilled chicken sandwich and smashfries):
A total of 933 calories.
The fact that Smashburger was the highest in both calories and fat floored me, especially considering more than half of those totals were from the fries alone. Another thing that surprised me was that Moe’s was technically the healthiest, being the lowest in both calories and fat.
All of these numbers in mind, I set out to find something I would enjoy at each place for under 450 calories:
Without chips & salsa a trip to Moe’s will never be complete. Taking into considering the chips and salsa are 380 calories alone, I’m out of luck there.
At Smashburger, I assumed getting my favorite sandwich in salad form would save me from the calories, but that salad actually has more calories than the sandwich. I could order the sandwich/salad made without seasoning or butter, but at that point I could make it at home. Looks like I’ll be creating my own to bring it in under 450.
Panera fared the best with some soup/salad combinations I enjoy coming in under 450, but a sandwich (half or whole) is completely off the table.
The shock of these numbers reminded me a of a few things:
- Just because it sounds like a healthy option (ie. has the words spinach, cucumber, goat cheese and grilled in the title), doesn’t mean it is.
- It’s okay to splurge on things like fries sometimes, but calling it a “usual” is just plain unhealthy.
It also opened my eyes to how wrong I’ve been about what I’ve been eating. With all this in mind, can I really be surprised by the weight gain?
Undercover Fit 