Do calorie counts at restaurants affect your buying decisions?

[Renew Deal]

Poll question: Do calorie counts at restaurants affect your buying decisions?

I've had the experience of standing at a Burger King staring a 1200 calorie Whopper meal in the face and wondering if I want to eat it. I've chosen to eat the Whopper meal because I don't want my life run by calorie counts, and I'm hungry, and who doesn't like a good Whopper.

Then there's the 410 calorie cinnamon pretzel at Auntie Anne's. At $3 and 410 calories, is it really worth it? I've passed more than once. So how do you feel? Have calorie counts at restaurants affected your eating habits?

[Dappleganger]

1. For me, yes.

It's especially helpful with foods that may appear to be healthy but really aren't. I am also watching the sodium intake so that's important as well.

[Renew Deal]

2. Don't you have to go out of your way to find sodium?

The most you'll see on a menu is calories.

[closeupready]

3. Not really. I do look at calorie counts, though.

But I eat what I want.

[Brickbat]

4. Fast food, yes. Nice restaurants or pubs, no.

If I'm out someplace nice, I'm there for the experience. If I'm eating fast food (rarely), I try to be smart about it.

[Better Today]

5. Not in the way one might expect. I've only seen them at one restaurant

which my daughter took me to last week. I got so frustrated because none of the dinners were over 1000 calories. I really need more than 1000 calories in a meal or I'll blow away. So where I would've just enjoyed a meal if I didn't know, instead I got all annoyed because I couldn't in one meal consume enough calories. Okay, you can all now hate me, I'm used to it. High metabolism and skinny, though, are not all they're cracked up to be. I'm usually have terrible problems staying warm, sitting for any length of time, finding clothes that fit in age appropriate styles, and I'm generally hated by most women. It ain't as great as many would like to think. Furthermore, if I can't gain some weight and keep it on at 50yo, imagine the skeleton I'm going to be in upcoming years.

[Renew Deal]

6. Can't you add a soup or dessert?

:shrug:

[Better Today]

9. It was on my daughter's dime, so I didn't, and I'm nearly broke, so I couldn't

[Renew Deal]

12. Let her pay

She owes you. :)

[Better Today]

16. For most daughters I'd agree, but this gal has already moved back

in for a year and paid rent on a couple of rooms to the tune of the entire mortgage payment to try to uphold me. And she's still buying my groceries, got a cellphone for me on her plan which she pays for, and so on. Nope, she's head and shoulders above most daughters. Since she is just now returning to school for her masters, it doesn't seem right to pretend she owes me anymore at this time. I don't want her getting herself in debt to save my ass.

[pipi_k]

8. OK, you're right...

I hate you.


just kidding... :7



I used to be able to eat like that...my dinner plus half of someone else's as well. Cookies, candy, junk food galore. Never gained any weight.

Then I turned 50.


argh. Even looking at the stuff puts on weight now.

:cry:

[Better Today]

14. Oh, I'm jealous. When I was younger, people told me, just wait till

you have children, you'll gain weight, but I didn't. Then it was just wait till you turn 30, but alas, not then either. Then 40 and now 50, but alas, I'm just always going to have a bony butt, I'm always going to be cold, and I'm always going to have a skeletal looking face.

[Trajan]

17. Try IHOP

They post their nutritional information on the menu ....

Biscuits and Gravy ? ..... a mere 1500 calories ...

Many people make that a side dish to go along with their breakfast entree ....

[Better Today]

18. Truly, next time we will go somewhere with heartier menu, but she was

trying to take me to a real nice Italian restaurant. We'll aim a little lower next time.

[pipi_k]

7. No. If I want to deal with calorie counts I can do it at home

Because I don't go out that often, so it's a treat.

Even so, I always end up taking lots of leftovers home anyway. Depending on where I went and what I had, sometimes I have the leftovers two, or even three, days in a row.

[BadgerKid]

10. Other: consider alternative methods of preparation

that affect the calorie count even if the calories aren't listed, e.g. fried vs. grilled, dressing on the side, no sour cream, etc. Also divide the meal in half and take it home.

Calorie counts aren't entirely reliable anyhow since your portion might be +/- a few percent of a serving.

[Demit]

11. I can't imagine even be tempted by a pretzel with cinnamon on it.

[Renew Deal]

13. Have you ever tried it?

It's a soft, warm, buttery pretzel. :9

[onehandle]

15. I don't look at the numbers themselves, because I have been eating healthy for years.

And have a learned food selection process. Lower calories are just a byproduct of that selection.

My purposeful selection has to do more with the measure and type of fats than with anything else.

Vegetables and fish cooked healthily, long before cheese, meat and anything fried.

[woodsprite]

19. It should, but it really depends on what kind of day I've had.

What really ticks me off is when you go to a restaurant or fast food joint, you order what you want, then they say "But this is cheaper if we put in an order for the tremendously large meal" I don't want the extra stuff and I don't want to waste the food. OK - I understand - but I already ordered exactly what I wanted - where's the customer service. Even at the food store, I've had checkers say "those cakes are on sale 3 for the price of one. You can freeze them". I only got one because I was going someplace. If I got two more to keep in the house, we'd eat them. UGH!!!

It's never with the healthy stuff, always the junk. It happened again at the diner when we were traveling over the holiday. I wanted just a waffle, a scrambled egg, and a decaf coffee. They said it was cheaper to order the 'meal'. My daughter and son got away with the 'extras' - grits and bacon. They considered it a 'treat' because they don't get those at home.