Calories and the chipper

Recon

For the last 10 years or so I've been exercising fairly regularly (couple of years in the middle of that though where I got a bit lazy!), weight goes on, weight comes off, but generally I think I'm fairly fit. I was unemployed for the last few months, started a new job last week , and got a bit lazy and this new job will have me doing a good bit of driving. So I've started calorie counting, just to help me from over eating when I'm on the road or anything like that.

The problem is I like going to the local chipper (the same one that had the queue cam thread in After Hours last year), not too often, maybe once or twice every 2 or 3 week. When I do go it would be for my dinner (not an additional late night snack!).

What is the best way to figure out the amount of calories in the food there?

seamus

Figure out the number of calories that would be in it if you cooked it yourself (i.e. burger & chips). Then multiply it by two. Seems like a safe bet.

Recon

Thanks for the reply, didn't think they'd have that many calories!

seamus

Depends I guess on how you cook them at home. You're talking deep-fried chips + fried burgers. And big portions. Most people at this stage would most likely grill their burgers and bake their chips. Think about how many chips you get in a bag of chips compared to what you'd cook at home. At home you'd probably cook enough chips to fill the plate to one layer of chips. Empty a chipper portion out, and not only will they fill the plate but they'll be piled into a little mound too.

Theoretically you don't have to completely avoid them but just be aware of their content. If I know that I'm getting a takeaway of any kind for dinner (if the wife is out) I will consciously have a leaner lunch to account for it.

I tend to avoid chippers as I consider them the worst of the worst because everything is deep-fried. You get big portions of stuff in Chinese takeaways and Indians, but you can always eat half and keep it for the next day. That said, they often deep-fry stuff, but at least you have the option of boiled rice -v- fried rice and you don't have to get battered chicken balls .
Pizza can be surprisingly heavy on calories. Dominos have a calorie guide which will probably surprise you somewhat. Your bog-standard small (9.5") margherita pizza from Dominos is 900 calories worth of deliciousness. More than a third of most men's daily calorie requirements. And IMO is just barely a meal.

eilo1

Hiya,

I have type one diabetes so I count all my carbs, a dietition at my clinic told me that a portion of chipper chips is approximately 100g of carb.

There are 4 calories in every gram of carb so that would be 400 calories but then you need to factor in the fat they are dripping in.

Id guesstimate another 150-200 calories for that considering a tablespoon of butter is 100 calories.

Blatter

eilo1 wrote: »

Hiya,

I have type one diabetes so I count all my carbs, a dietition at my clinic told me that a portion of chipper chips is approximately 100g of carb.

There are 4 calories in every gram of carb so that would be 400 calories but then you need to factor in the fat they are dripping in.

Id guesstimate another 150-200 calories for that considering a tablespoon of butter is 100 calories.

The problem is that chippers vary with their portions quite a bit.

I'd estimate the average bag of chips to be around 600 calories. Some around 500 others closer 700.

eilo1

SOCCER4LIFE wrote: »

The problem is that chippers vary with their portions quite a bit.

I'd estimate the average bag of chips to be around 600 calories. Some around 500 others closer 700.

yeah that can be a problem,

Generally as a rule of thumb I will take 12 units (which is enough to cover 120g's of carb) for a snack box.

The extra 20g's of carb is coming from the chicken breadcrumb.

I havnt had too much difficulty with this as most of them use a standard size scoop and bag.

hmmmm this is making me hungry..................................nom nom nom

Recon

Thanks for the replies, I knew junk food was heavy on calories (I was always surprised before many calories bread had), so it's no surprise about pizza. Looks like going to the chipper once will take me around 3 days of exercise (3 mile jog and some weights) to burn off!

Amtmann

Thanks for the link to the Dominos cal count, Seamus. Good to know!

newbee22

Recon wrote: »

For the last 10 years or so I've been exercising fairly regularly (couple of years in the middle of that though where I got a bit lazy!), weight goes on, weight comes off, but generally I think I'm fairly fit. I was unemployed for the last few months, started a new job last week , and got a bit lazy and this new job will have me doing a good bit of driving. So I've started calorie counting, just to help me from over eating when I'm on the road or anything like that.

The problem is I like going to the local chipper (the same one that had the queue cam thread in After Hours last year), not too often, maybe once or twice every 2 or 3 week. When I do go it would be for my dinner (not an additional late night snack!).

What is the best way to figure out the amount of calories in the food there?

On a diet so resisting KCs:( The pittas wouldnt be too bad if they didn't deep fry the bread!

rubadub

SOCCER4LIFE wrote: »

I'd estimate the average bag of chips to be around 600 calories. Some around 500 others closer 700.

I'd be pissed off with that small a bag!

rubadub wrote: »

Bag of chips from Italian chipper 455g

Going off mc-cains site their premium chips are 253kcal and 7.2g fat sat per 100g

So 1,151kcal and 33g sat fat so 24.5points for the bag.
http://points.ogo.ms/

There is an interview with the italian chipper association guys on youtube, one guy said they used lard, another said a typical fish & chips has about 800kcal! no way in hell!

Just back from the Chinese now, chips weighing in at 395g, so 853kcal, 4.3g sat fat, so 13.5 points. Again that is conservative using the McCains figures which are probably lower than usual to appear lower in cals.

YOu can get values for burgers on mcdonalds, their chips are far smaller than a chipper would have.

I got a rogan josh from letseatin, combined weight of rice and lamb & sauce was 960g, over twice what most ready meals would be.

I got a singapore chow mein last week, weighed 800g.
Using this calculator http://points.ogo.ms/
I hit 5.5 points at 370kcal presuming zero fat (and it was fairly greasy)
That means if this was true then it was 46.25kcal per 100g. I would estimate it at 250kcal per 100g though, this is comparing it to supermaret ready meals and the fact that the noodles are much denser, i.e. not boiled to death where they take up lots of water. A single pack of 80-100g dry supernoodles can be 550-600kcal. I would also conservatively estimate 5% fat since it was fried noodles & meat and quite oily, so 40g of fat, and 20g goes in my calculator. So using the same calculator I would estimate 33.5points.

My usual was chicken balls, curry sauce, chips (I know not chinese!).

I got it and it weighed loads, always did. So I got home and weighed each to see what I used to be eating.
Chips- 520g (no joke! my scales is fine)
Chicken balls- 350g
Sauce- 200g.

I reckon the chips are ~250kcal per 100g, chicken ~300kcal/100g, sauce 150kcal/100g. Those are probably conservative figures, chicken balls are really just donuts, and sauce is probably loaded with oil.

So probably at least 2500kcal in all.

back from "lets eat in", the portions looked small compared to the usual chinese/indian takeaways huge helpings. They are in cubic boxes so it is deceiving. I am in work & had a scales handy, I also like to calculate calories to show people the reality of takeaway portions, rice was 310g, korma was 520g. 830g in total, now most microwave kormas are 300-400g, so it is over twice that. The rice was the size of a decent mug.

I would guess at least 1200kcal, will have to have a look at some rich korma sauce labels and try and figure it out better.