Handy, such a calorie app with barcode scanner. But when you eat out, it’s guesswork as to how many calories you’re shoving in. Of course, you can kindly ask the waiter about the nutritional values. With the risk that your table mates will find you officially obsessed. Fortunately, new research provides insight into what an average restaurant meal gives you in calories.

THE RESEARCH

Americans surveyed 223 main meals (i.e. no entrees or desserts) from 111 randomly selected eateries (both fast food and regular restaurants) in six countries: the US, China, Brazil, Finland, India and Ghana. They only looked at the energy value and the calorie density (how many calories one gram of the meal provides).

THE RESULT

The result? On average, a restaurant meal contains 1300 kilocalories, regardless of the country where you eat it. Almost all main courses that have been studied contain at least 600 kcal and sometimes even exceeded 2000 kcal. This includes side dishes that are standard with the meal (without extra costs), but excludes drinks and additional dishes, such as starters and desserts.

The results were contained in the figure below. Click on it to see an interactive version with all the data.

From: Measured energy content of frequently purchased restaurant meals: multi-country cross sectional study. Click on the image for an interactive view.

THE CONCLUSION

1300 kcal is not small when you consider that an average woman needs 2000 kcal per day and an average man 2500. The researchers therefore conclude:

Very high dietary energy content of both full service and fast food restaurant meals is a widespread phenomenon that is probably supporting global obesity and provides a valid intervention target.

As a bodybuilder you are probably a bit higher in your daily calorie requirement. But even then, eating out means that you have to keep your calorie intake very limited for the rest of the day.