It’s hard to track calories
One reason groups are pushing for better calorie counts on foods ordered from fast-food and other restaurants is because of the difficulty people have in estimating it themsleves, according to Calorie Labels May Clarify Options, Not Actions, in NY Times. Even dietitians have problems.
And it’s not just average diners who have a hard time estimating the calorie content of food in restaurants. Even trained dietitians have failed miserably at the task, according to Dr. Wootan. (Margo Wootan, director of nutritional policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest)
A study by her group and New York University found that dietitians consistently underestimated the calorie content of restaurant food, figuring that a typical meal of hamburger and onion rings in a sit-down restaurant would have 865 calories. It had 1,550.