1,160 Calories!

My office is out near the Pueblo Airport and, because of this, I have a tendency to rarely leave for lunch.  On occasion, I will join a group of people to grab something in town.  But, usually, I grab my food and take it back to my office and work through lunch.  Not very sociable, I know.  It's not that I dislike fraternizing with my co-workers... I actually really like the people I work with. It's just that I don't like wasting that time.  That is why I don't leave the office.  I don't want to drive 40 minutes and add whatever time it takes to eat my lunch, grab a lunch, or run an errand.  I just feel too busy in both my work life and home life to spend time traveling or chatting in the lunch room... he says as he spends at least 15 minutes a day blogging incessantly about his life.  In the end, this is probably good for me as I tend to eat a lot slower at my desk than I do in the lunchroom or any restaurant.  I get busy with stuff and take an occasional break and it slows me down from the usual break-neck pace that I eat at.

Today, I broke away because I just plain felt like getting out of the office.  I went to a favorite place of mine to relax and take a break, Barnes and Nobles.  I could spend hours in B&N, actually more like days or even weeks.  I think the magazine rack alone could interest me for a month straight.  By the time I got through reading most of the magazines, they would be re-stocking the shelves with the latest month's issues.  Maybe not quite as soothing as yoga, but I can always find solace and plenty of good reads at B&N. 

Not sure why I am telling you any of this other than to explain how I found myself at the Burger King nearby.  I wanted something quick.  There I was in line watching one person after another order something bad that looked oh-so-good.  My mind wandered between the Double Cheeseburger, the Whopper Jr., and my favorite Original Chicken Sandwich.  In the end, I got two tacos.  Maybe not as good as a side salad, but these tacos were still only 230 calories combined.  Given the fact that I am now on my third straight day of eating all day and still not getting to 1,000 calories, I was fine with that number and probably should have eaten two more!

While it is too late to make a long story short, here is the gist of my story.  While I was waiting for my food, I noticed that there was a nutritional chart on the wall for the entire Burger King menu.  Very cool!  Not sure if this has always been there and my Original-Chicken-Sandwich-loving brain just never registered it.  But, I have never seen this before.  As I glanced rewardingly at the nutrional information of all of the items I had passed, something caught my eye.  The chocolate shake was 960 calories.  Almost 1,000 calories for one drink!  I immediately thought of the nights in the summer when Niko or Kelsea would go on a Sonic/McDonald's run to pick up Slushes and shakes and the times I would order the large chocolate shake at Mickey D's.  No wonder I weigh over 280 pounds!

So, I sent Lori a text asking her to look up the McDonald's version.  She found the McDonald's nutrional information on a nifty little site.  If you frequent McDonald's and are curious about what you are eating, then this is a great URL for you.

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutritionComparison.do

So, the verdict?  The 32 oz. McDonald's Chocolate Triple Thick Shake is 1,160 calories!  Seriously?!  1,160 calories.  That makes my head spin.  One shake, that we sometimes had a couple nights in a row, is more than the calories I have eaten each of the last three days.  The standby when I wasn't feeling like drinking something so fattening was the Sonic Route 44 Lemon Berry Slush.  Good choice Einstein... that drink is only a measly 617 calories!  Oops.  Well, now I know better.  Here's to becoming educated and all of the resources available online to help you do just that...