HOLY... McDonalds Big Breakfast w/Hotcakes is 1300 calories?!

[JEDI]

1100 calories for the big breakfast
200 calories for the syrup

i had a coupon for $2.99 big breakfast. (normally $4.29).
surprisingly the mcdonalds i went to had the calories listed (not required in VA).
when i saw 1000+ calories, i ordered the egg white mcmuffin instead (250 calories).

:thumbsup: to McDonalds for listing calories!

 

[Crono]

Unsurprising. I always liked higher calories when I used to eat at McDonald's or other fast food places. Meant more bang for your buck. Loved to eat Big Breakfast every so often on Saturday mornings. Not the greatest breakfast, but cheap on the go food. Burger King's Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Croissan'wich with hash brown rounds was the only national fast food breakfast item/combo I liked more.

I'm a vegan now (just hit 6 month mark) so there's very few items I can eat there (oatmeal and side salad are all I know of). I like their coffee (black, no sugar) occasionally, though, still can't beat their coffee for the price.

Once you start looking at calories you can get a feel for how much most foods have. Just eyeballing foods I can usually guess close enough until I actually look up the item's nutritional information.

 

[RPD]

You should check out the calorie count on the girlie drinks Starbucks makes.

 

[Mixolydian]

Fast food - probably the single greatest contributor to the obesity epidemic.

 

[AmdEmAll]

Yep.. and sometimes I would get two bacon/cheese mcgriddles and 2 sausage burritos with a coffee.. no wonder I became fat.

 

[Crono]

You should check out the calorie count on the girlie drinks Starbucks makes.

Everyone offers those kinds of drinks now. Even McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts.

But at least McDonald's has cheaper coffee that's pretty good, and Dunkin Donuts (or Tim Hortons if you are Canadian or have locations like New York does) makes better coffee.

 

[Crono]

Yep.. and sometimes I would get two bacon/cheese mcgriddles and 2 sausage burritos with a coffee.. no wonder I became fat.

Those McGriddles are crack. They always used to make my stomach hurt afterward, though, otherwise I would have scarfed a lot more of them down.

 

[mmntech]

Fast food - probably the single greatest contributor to the obesity epidemic.

Meh, McDicks just serves what people want. And they want quick, high caloric goodness. If salads were there number one seller, they'd go salad exclusive overnight.

A lot of the problem is people being lazy. We lead sedentary lifestyles and eat too much processed food. It's fast and requires no effort. It's not hard to find time to make your own healthy meals for around the same cost. Been doing it for years.

 

[debian0001]

Fast food - probably the single greatest contributor to the obesity epidemic.

That and being lazy. Perfect Storm.

 

[darkxshade]

People need to learn to look at food and rough estimate calories. Just assuming 100 cal for each item on that pic (3 pancakes, sausage, hash brown, eggs, biscuit, pat of butter, syrup) you can already come out to 900 calories.

 

[Ticky]

People need to learn to look at food and rough estimate calories. Just assuming 100 cal for each item on that pic (3 pancakes, sausage, hash brown, eggs, biscuit, pat of butter, syrup) you can already come out to 900 calories.

Yeah... that is a lot of food on that tray. If you'd forced me to guess, I would have said 1000 cals.

 

[purbeast0]

op is an example of why america is suffering from obesity - because so many people are clueless about health.

what is more shocking to me is that you can look at that picture and not know that is is well over 1k calories.

 

[Vic Vega]

OP how do you go through life day to day?

 

[dud]

Fast food - probably the single greatest contributor to the obesity epidemic.

I used to think this way. The person who eats this stuff is to blame ... plain and simple.

No one forces people to eat too much of the wrong foods and become obese and diabetic.



OP, you were surprised by these facts? Where do you live ... under a rock?

 

[phucheneh]

I'm surprised by that number. Would've figured higher.

And if you are both counting calories and eating at McDonalds, you're doing something wrong. Let me guess, you're also one of those big mac and diet coke people?

(Not an anti-fat post. Just anti-delusional-dieting.)

 

[who?]

You should look at the nutrition information from Zaxby's.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Most fast food places actually have items that are relatively low in calories (fat, sodium, and sugar are often another story). Unlike most of my friends and some of my family, I can't eat anything I want and not gain wait, so I try to stay away from fast food. When I do get stuck going to one (everyone else decided to go, and someone throws a fit that I'm not going to get something), I make the best choice that I can. A few simple things that you can do:

- Don't get fries. Period.
- Instead of soda, get water or unsweetened tea. The artificial sweeteners in diet drinks can really screw with your hunger and metabolism - avoid like the plague (ask me how I know).
- Get a salad. Don't get a creamy (fatty) dressing like Ranch. Instead, get a vinaigrette like Italian.
- When given the choice, get grilled chicken instead of crispy.
- On a sandwich (burger, etc.), ask for no cheese and no sauce or mayo. Add ketchup or mustard if needed instead.
- Breads, sweets, and fats will often contribute to the calorie count quickly without actually filling you up. If there's an item without much of those, go for it. Wendy's chili is a good option.

You can actually eat relatively (relatively compared to making a burger gobbed with cheese, mayo, bacon, etc. at home) healthy at fast food places if you make the right choices. The problem is, most of the things left by following this advice aren't the greasy balls of flavor that most people enjoy from McDonalds, et al. Of course, that doesn't account for the preservatives and other junk, but I digress.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I stopped buying "food" there once I saw that their food wasn't really food. It doesn't mold or decompose.

The only thing I buy from McD's now is their $1.00 large hot coffee, black.

 

[Imp]

Love their breakfast shit... but holy shit, so much garbage for such a simple and pretty cheaply priced meal. I remember going to Burger King last year for hot cakes. Total cost was like $4, I finished with 2 giant Styrofoam lids, plastic fork and knife, plastic syrup, one big paper bag, and ketchup packets... Stopped going after that.

 

[Pardus]

Anyone who eats at McDonalds is aware of the unhealthy selection of there so-called food. It should be no surprise what you eat there will make you fat.

 

[Crono]

I stopped buying "food" there once I saw that their food wasn't really food. It doesn't mold or decompose.

The only thing I buy from McD's now is their $1.00 large hot coffee, black.

Not that I'm defending McDonald's for the sake of their food - I don't eat their anymore, and frankly most of it is crap for your body unless you have high caloric needs as an athlete with a limited budget or something - but their food is food.

The french fries or other items that don't go bad is simply the result of the frying process. It basically turns the outer layer into a plastic-like layer that seals out moisture and oxygen. This isn't unique to McDonald's, as even in home cooking if you fry foods the way McDonald's does you can make it not go bad for a very long time.

In addition to that, anything with a ton of sugar, salt, and natural or artificial preservatives will keep out for a lot longer. What makes McDonald's bad is that their foods are too much of a good thing - they design their foods and the flavor profiles to appeal to our craving for fat, sugar, and salt, which translates to high caloric, high carbohydrate, and high sodium meals with little fiber (well, french fries do have some fiber). Addictive foods with high caloric density that are easy to scarf down before your stomach realizes you've eaten enough. Stuff that would keep you alive if you were starving, but is otherwise crammed with more macronutrients than you need if you eat their often.

It's okay to eat there once in a while or if you are physically active, but yeah their meals aren't exactly balanced and nutritious. They aren't particularly chock full of carcinogens or bacteria or anything, but you aren't going to get phytonutrients, the best synergistic combination of vitamins, enough trace minerals and vitamins, or the anticarcinogenic compounds naturally found in fruits like blueberries or in mushrooms.

All that said, McDonald's does put a few (a very few) healthy items on their menus. But they aren't overwhelmingly successful, just going by my past visits.

 

[Anonemous]

As long as you're not eating it everyday or every meal, it's ok to eat one of the Big Breakfasts every now and then for 1-2 meals.

 

[SheHateMe]

Sausage and Egg White McMuffin. No cheese.

I actually work two doors down from McDonald's World Headquarters, there is a McDonald's next door to that...it seems like they take pride in the shitty food a bit more.

My sandwich was actually put together neatly this morning.

I drove to work and bought a Parfait from the cafeteria. Don't eat McDonald's Yogurt or Salad. They put copious amounts of sugar in that too.

Even that little sausage patty on the muffin had a bit of sugar in it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

1100 calories for the big breakfast
200 calories for the syrup

i had a coupon for $2.99 big breakfast. (normally $4.29).
surprisingly the mcdonalds i went to had the calories listed (not required in VA).
when i saw 1000+ calories, i ordered the egg white mcmuffin instead (250 calories).

:thumbsup: to McDonalds for listing calories!

I bet they charged you more for the egg white mcmuffin too. It always amazes me when I can buy a cheeseburger for less than the price of a piece of fruit.

 

[LTC8K6]

I'm shocked it's so low...