I actually am all for calories on menus?

[Acatnamedfox]

I hate to be that person and post in AIBU when maybe it belongs in another section BUT…

Am I the only one that is sort of looking forward to this?

I get it when you’re out and having a good time maybe birthday/party/celebration whatever you don’t want to know.

But I genuinely have no idea of the calories in things and sometimes pick a salad not realising with all the dressings I could have had the fish and chips for the same calories..

I know I’m going against the masses here but I believe it will help me make healthier decisions when out and I’m not against it!

Yes - I’m being unreasonable no one needs that kind of negativity

No - I’m looking forward to a bit of guidance.

No I think it's absolute bollocks. Telling people that what they are eating as a treat is unhealthy doesn't stop them eating it. If it did, we wouldn't have the obesity levels we do.

Whoever said it's all down to exercise - no it isn't. Try eating a full meal, then working out how much exercise it would take to work it off. You can't outrun a bad diet.

People are overweight because in their everyday diets they graze and snack on sugary shit, and generally eat too much of the wrong things (processed food) and not enough natural foods. Not because they have a big meal when they go to a restaurant. You don't need to count calories to know what a healthy diet looks like.

Nonsense. Calories in is the major reason for weight

Actually, it isn't. You can eat thousands of calories a day, but if you burn them all off with strenuous exercise or heavy manual labour, you will not get fat. The reason for weight gain is the excess of calories in over calories out.

I went to a Greene King pub today and was genuinely shocked at how high some of the calorie counts for some of the dishes were. Quite a few at around 1,500 to 2000 kcals.

@TrickorTreacle

Go back to 1990. The school served chips every day of the week, pizza, burgers etc. 6 vending machines in the school, plus a tuck shop. And yet in a class of 24, only 1 kid was fat.

Fast forward to the 2020s, there are no vending machines, no tuck shops, chips only sold on a Friday and lunch boxes are policed. And yet half of the kids are now fat.

The same goes with adults.

It's an exercise issue (or lack of), not calorie intake.

Portion sizes are bigger, constant grazing, consumption of calorific drinks are a factor. Takeaways are ordered more frequently, tv dinners or not sitting at a table to eat is more likely

I'm not bothered about the calories on a menu particularly, but I do look at the nutritional info on food packets, If it is something like a sandwich, the calories and protein will indicate how filling it will be for me

The traffic lights system is not great because they list a 'portion size' based on what will give a green or amber light, not what a person would eat as a portion

All this pure mathematics of energy in over energy out is no doubt logical, but it totally fails to take into account all kinds of stuff about real food and real people. For one thing, it kind of implies that eating 400 calories of sweets every day for lunch would have the same effect on your weight long-term as eating a 400 calorie healthy balanced meal. It wouldn't, because it would mess with your blood sugar / insulin response and make you ravenous well before dinner time, probably making you reach for the biscuit tin.

As for exercise, it's largely a red herring weight-loss wise imo. Most people don't have the time or inclination to do enough exercise to burn off the calories in a small slice of cake never mind a few days' worth of bad diet. The vast majority of calories you burn are burnt through your body's normal functioning (even at rest). Not that exercise isn't really important for health in other ways.

I walk about 5000 steps a day. I'm early 40s. Even with a run on top, I apparently rarely get up to 2000 calories in a day. A 5kn burns off about a glass of wine. People defintely overestimate how much exercise burns.

For me as someone with a previous eating disorder it terrifies me tbh. It won't take much for me to slip into my old habits and I really don't want to go there again.

A lot of the positives people are listing are things I would do as part of my eating disorder and I would argue aren't positives, they can be part of a very unhealthy attitude and way of life.

For me, it's not just about chosing the lowest calorie option. I'd look at the calories a week in advance, plan my meal and then not eat anything to accommodate the 1000kcal I was going to eat. I'd obsessively research calories on everything. I spend hours calculating calories to work out how I was going to eat something, hours in the aisles of tesco calculating and recalculating my meal plans calories.

I am a lot better now. I don't count calories, yes I fatter but mentally and physically so much better. I used to faint at work, I'd spend half my life feeling woozy and sick. I'd spend weeks at a time being anxious about the calorific meal I was going to be 'forced' to eat out. Calories were my every thought. None of this was healthy or good for me, now I can actually exercise, I can have fun with my friends. I can drink the cocktails that I used to be so jealous of. I want to be able to do these things without having the niggle of calories in my mind, without haring myself or feeling guilty because I overate.

Weight and calories are not the be all and end of all of health. I don't think that people who are overweight will necessarily change their behaviour because something is calorific, I just think it will add additional guilt and shame around eating food

You are not being unreasonable in the fact that you are happy to have them.
I don’t like them. I eat a healthy diet most of the time, I go out to eat and I enjoy myself and eat the crap I don’t normally eat. I’m not counting the calories!

It’s also problematic for those with a history of eating disorders. Also low calorie isn’t always more healthy than higher calories.

I think realistically there are people who are a little bit overweight who may get into the 'healthy' weight category as a result of this. Mostly it will be used by people who are slim as a way of feeling better about themselves because they choose the low calorie options

But I think that people who are more 'obese" probably have a deeper problem than not knowing they eat a lot of calories when in a restaurant. I doubt they will go to a restaurant and chose a lower calorie option and this will change their life, bearing in mind that a lot of restaurants and food already have calories available. It just piles more feelings of morality, of judegment, shame and guilt into eating that does not help people lose weight.

YANBU - I chose a garlic naan instead of a cheese naan this afternoon, purely because it was 230 calories fewer!

The new law only applies to food premises that employ over 250 staff, and their menus are generally pre made by outside suppliers and simply reheated, so more reason to support your local independent restaurants and cafes where you are more likely to get fresher home cooked food.