What 2,000 Calories Looks Like

It's pretty interesting to see this in picture form, but it wasn't a big secret that you could eat a days worth of calories in a single meal in most chain restaurants.

The comparison to home-cooked at the end is a little ridiculous. A 22oz steak will be a lot of calories whether you cook it at home or have it at a restaurant. They intentionally picked healthier options for the home meal, and always included large sugared drinks or milkshakes with the fast food options. It would be interesting to see the same article, but comparing each individual meal at a restaurant with a home-cooked version of the same meal (and I'd imagine you'd mostly be shaving off a couple hundred calories unless you're really messing with the ingredients.)

"It is possible to eat healthier at each chain. You can ... order from the “Skinnys” menu at Potbelly, which has sandwiches with fewer than 400 calories."

Or you could skip the chips, cookie or drink, or order the regular size (not the big size). Or have a different sandwich from the Italian, which has the highest calorie content of all the sandwiches on the menu. It's not rocket science.

Honestly I expect a little better than such a blatant false dichotomy from the article.

Would be so much more valuable if they'd show the difference between the most and least calorie-dense choices at the same restaurant. That way you'd actually help people make better choices. It comes across as poor propaganda (and is?) with their assumption that people will automagically choose calorie-sparse meals at home.

1. Why would you base this around a single meal, when ideally your daily caloric intake would be spread throughout your waking hours.

2. Even suggesting that most people need 2000 calories is wildly dangerous as this is a figure that will vary for EVERY individual. I myself need ~3000 calories just to maintain a healthy weight.

I don't understand how the steak can be 1600 calories? It would either have to be fried or a huge steak, no?

1) Show the worst food at Restaurants 2) Show Healthy food from home

Profit?

Talk about manipulating the facts to get the end result. Why would I drink diet soda at home but always order regular at a restaurant? because that's the only way to get the "oh wow" factor for the photos.

Keep in mind that all of the examples are actively shooting to hit 2000 calories. It says nothing about what is a "typical" meal at the chain. In fact, for the Chipotle example, it lists a burrito in order to hit that mark: Chipotle Carnitas burrito (945), chips and guacamole (770), Coke (276). then, in the paragraph below that, it indicates: Chipotle says burrito bowls, which leave out 300-calorie flour tortilla, even outsell burritos. Furthermore, the authors chose the guacamole for the article because it is, hands down, the highest calorie dip available. It is nearly twice as many calories as the sour cream and it is ten times the calories of some of the salsas. But most folks aren't ordering chips and guac. Chips and salsa is a far more common thing to order as a side. My firsthand observation suggests that, because the burritos are so big, people who order a burrito often do not order any sides with it.

Source of the calorie counts for the sides: http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/menu/nutrition_calculator/nutr...

There is no information in the article about where the information on calorie counts came from. Personally, they seem wrong to me, at least on some of the items. I don't think the Cowboy Ribeye from Ruth's Cris, for example, really contains 1650 calories.