I’m not quite the cook that my wife is, but one thing I do like to make is Breakfast Burritos. In an effort not to gain (more) weight while unemployed, I’ve reduced the portion size to what I affectionately call my TTBB (Teeny Tiny Breakfast Burrito). I decided this evening to compare the health content of my product with that of the McDonald’s Sausage Burrito which seems to be about the same size.

TTBB Ingredients:
1 High-fiber burrito
1 slice reduced fat cheddar cheese
2/3-3/4 helping of Lite Spam
2 “Large” eggs

You can imagine my shock when I calculated up the calories and fat grams and discovered that my TTBB’s are worse than McDonald’s. Holy cow, I wondered, if I’m using lower-badstuffs and higher-goodstuffs ingredients and I am worse than McDonald’s, what in the world are they using?! Where do they get their low-calorie, low-fat sausage and eggs?! Do they have some sort of Superfarm? They should totally advertise that!

Comparison:
TTBB: 330 calories, 21g of fat
McD’s: 300 calories, 16g of fat

The good news is that TTBB did comparatively well on saturated fats (TTBB=5, McD=7). The saving grace, I guess, is in total grams my TTBB is apparently larger than McD’s sausage burritos, and not by an insignificant margin (TTBB=199g, McD=111g). Which is weird, though, because despite the small size of the Sausage Burrito, my TTBB really does not seem that much larger. But I guess it has to be. And I do have to say TTBB is more filling than the Sausage Burrito, one of which does not constitute even a small meal (2 is borderline). I guess theirs is smaller than it looks and mine is larger.

So I guess I come out ahead.


Category: Kitchen

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4 Responses to Losing To McDonald’s

  1. Kirk says:

    Have you thought about just working out? You should be able to burn up about 10 calories a minute on a treadmill. Just do an hour on one, and you’re good for 600 calories.

  2. Brandon Berg says:

    The treadmill is a device invented solely for the purpose of making people hate exercise. I’d rather be fat than spend an hour a day on one of those things.

    Fortunately, lifting weights and sprinting are more effective and less tedious.

  3. rob says:

    Trumwill, try adding some vegetables sauteed in butter to the burrito: They taste better than straight up veggies, but seem to be just as filling.

    Brandon, lifting weights less tedious? Do you think lifting is more boring than running outside? I find weights just super boring. Eh each his own.

    Treadmills are especially miserable because the sweat stays around.

    In my experience, unemployment is a great time to start trying new habits in general. The time is there. New habits take attention self-discipline and effort, and so does a job, so normally they compete. Scheduled exercise creates some structure, and I’ve found having even just a little structure in one area, I get more done in others. If you’re tired and sore for a week or to, it doesn’t much matter.

    Also, lots of exercise makes quitting smoking easier, especially switching to snus. I highly recommend it, and quitting snus was much easier than quitting smoking.

    When I don’t have much to do, I overeat as much from boredom and easy access to the kitchen as depression.

    But really Trumwill, you married a physician. You hit the geek lottery! Why do you even want a job?

  4. trumwill says:

    I think treadmills and exercise bikes are great things. You can watch TV to distract yourself from the fact that you’re exercising and so you can go longer without getting tired.

    I looked into buying a treadmill a long while back, but I found that I was too tall, too heavy, and my leg-stride too long for an affordable one. I bought a recumbent bike instead. I use it periodically, but exercise is hard with the smoking and it’s hard to build up new habits. It has long been slated to be a significant part of my anti-smoking regimen when I quit.

    Rob, I believe that working is good for the soul. When we have kids I may become a SAHD, but even then I would need something to do to get me out of the house. Even as it is, I leave the house every afternoon to do something. I’ve gone to the store more times in the last month than in the previous three or four!

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