Restaurant meal guessing game

[DrQ]

As I've mentioned in another thread, I'm on a diet. For the most part, we have been eating home cooked meals where I have control of the ingredients and portions and have a scale to measure components.

We have eaten at restaurants that publish the nutritional values of their meals and some have a nutritional calculator which is really handy.

Now for the game:

We like Mom and Pop local restaurants that do not publish nutritional data. So here are the ingredients and a photo.

Calculate the:

• Calories (kcal)
• Fat (grams)
• Carbs (grams)
• Protein (grams)
• Sodium (milligrams)

Huevos Rancheros with Hash Browns​

Here is a photo:

The plate is 12" square to give a sense of scale​

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (poached)
• 2 corn tortillas
• Salsa
• Cheddar Jack Cheese
• Hash Brown Potatoes

I would appreciate the help and how you determined your answer (Show your work )

 

[Luanne]

Huevos Rancheros - 1 serving

• Calories 644.
• Total Fat 43g 55%
• Saturated Fat 13g 65%
• Trans Fat 0.4g.
• Polyunsaturated Fat 8.9g.
• Monounsaturated Fat 17g.
• Cholesterol 237mg 79%
• Sodium 1561mg 68%

Hash browns - 1 serving

% Daily Value
Amount Per Serving
Calories	185
Protein 2g	5%
Total Fat 8g	11%
Total Carbohydrate 25g	9%
	Sugars 1g	0%
	Dietary Fiber 3g	9%
Sodium 440mg	19%
	Trans Fat 0g	0%
	Saturated Fat 2g	8%
	Monounsaturated Fat 2g	0%
	Polyunsaturated Fat 5g	0%

My work consisted of looking up nutritional information for each of these.

 

[VacationForever]

830 calories
- 2 eggs (160 calories)
- 2 corn tortillas (120 calories)
- Salsa (50 calories)
- Cheddar Jack Cheese (150 calories)
- Hash brown potatoes (200 calories)
- Oil (150 calories)

Carbs is usually what I am focused on, and it's probably about 50g carb (20g from the corn tortillas, 5g from salsa and 25g from hash browns)
Calculated from my experience/memory.

 

[zentraveler]

Sub a salad for the hash brown and it will be much healthier.

 

[DrQ]

Sub a salad for the hash brown and it will be much healthier.

It wasn't an option - fait accompli

This is how to add the meal in my diary.

You can start a new game of "Judge the Meal"

 

[zentraveler]

It wasn't an option - fait accompli

This is how to add the meal in my diary.

I always ask; surprising how often is not "an option" on the menu but how often they will give you that or some sliced tomatoes etc.

 

[DrQ]

I always ask; surprising how often is not "an option" on the menu but how often they will give you that or some sliced tomatoes etc.

It's SO easy to be judgmental, but I have lost 60 pounds since April of this year.

My body's baseline calorie consumption is ~2200 kcal/day w/o exercise. I have a budget of 1650 kcal/day which will give me a deficit of 500 kcal/day. This was a cheat, not a regular occurrence and was done early in the day so:

• I could compensate with my other meals
• My day's activity would offset the "cheat"

I have a Fitbit to measure my caloric output and use a food diary to measure my caloric input. I created a Google Sheets Spreadsheet to analyze to make sure that I am in a 400-600 kcal deficit (green background fill), greater than 600 kcal deficit (blue background fill), less than 400 kcal deficit (red background fill) as a dashboard:

I have also set a goal of protein > 99 grams a day (green text)

I'm an engineer, so I am of the mind that you can't control something if you don't MEASURE it. THAT was the point of the game. I am an ADULT and can make my own dietary choices. Where I was asking for help was how to measure a meal.

I have made my calculations and wanted to see if I was reasonable in my assumptions.

My answer:

I think that the sodium is probably off by a factor of 2, otherwise I think its pretty close.