Calorie Counters Beware!  You May Be Eating More Than You Think.

by Shin Ohtake on Thursday, February 18, 2010 • 29 Comments

If you’ve been diligently counting calories in hopes of cutting down your caloric intake so you can lose weight…you may be in for a rude awakening!  Apparently all is not what it seems as indicated on the labels of packaged or canned foods. 

According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, prepared foods may contain an average of 8% more calories than what’s stated on their package labels and restaurant meals may contain a whopping 18% more calories than they claim.

And as far as the FDA is concerned, it’s completely fine. 

So let’s say you’re on a 1200 calories per day diet.  8% is only about 100 calories a day.  But add that up and you’re looking an additional 3000 calories a month and 36000 calories a year.  Remember, there’s 3500 calories in 1 lb of fat.  At an extra 36000 calories per year…that’s about 10 extra pounds of fat!

If you can’t trust the information on the label, what are you supposed to do? 

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