Use the Chipotle Calorie Calculator For a Dose of Reality

I’ve mentioned numerous times before how a part of my current diet strategy is taking my old standard meals that I am used to eating and optimizing them to find the perfect portion sizes that still satisfy me.  See Even More Paring Down at Noodles & Company as an example.

Another restaurant where I eat quite frequently at is Chipotle.  Now this can be a dangerous place to eat because their food is so good, and they love to make BIG portions.  It’s pretty much a burrito place, although they do have a few other items you can get.  But those BIG stuffed burritos are what they are famous for.

I used to get a burrito and a bag of chips and now I just get a Burrito Bol (it’s a burrito in a bowl without the tortilla) without any rice or beans either.  I thought I was doing well.  Not well enough though.  Lisa from IowaAvenue recently wrote about the Chipotle Calorie Calculator which is an interactive calorie counter that allows you to see very quickly where your calories start to stack up as you add ingredients to your burrito.  It’s really very cool.

I ran a couple of recipes through the calculator.

First up, my old standard – the loaded Barbacoa Burrito with tostada chips with a side of salsa and guacamole.

13″ Flour Tortilla, rice, black beans, shredded spicy beef, tomato salsa, hot red tomatillo salsa, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, romaine lettuce, chips, side of guacamole side of hot red tomatillo salsa

According to the calorie counter that bad boy clocked in at 2141 calories with 103g of fat and a shocking 5,094mg of sodium. (I’m not turning into a sodium nut, I’m really not.  Just been writing about it lately!).  That’s obscene.  Glad I stopped eating those!

Here is the Burrito Bol I have been eating lately:

a bol, peppers, onions, shredded pork, tomato salsa, hot red tomatillo salsa, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, romaine lettuce

That one is 785 calories with 55g of fat and 3,146mg of sodium.  That’s still surprisingly bad!  I have some additional optimization to do on this meal and the Chipotle Calorie Calculator will help me determine how best to do it.  Sour Cream is definitely going, that’s 120 calories right there.  We’ll see where it takes me.

If you eat at Chipotle, check out the calorie calculator.  How does your burrito stack up?