Wendy's Calories

 I remember when Wendy's first came to town. Two things stood out, their drive through and their huge hamburger. At the time most fast food hamburgers were pretty small, much less than a pound. Wendy's was huge in comparison, and used only fresh meat, never frozen. And in those days Wendy's calories were not a consideration.

It's difficult to find any fast food hamburger that is loaded for under 500 calories. The reason is the add on sauces or extra ingredients like cheese or bacon. Wendy's is no different, a single with everything, a medium fries, and a medium soft drink will hit about 960 calories for one meal.

Anytime you add a medium fries order to a meal, add 430 calories. Since the sandwich will average 500 calories, and a soft drink around 100, the basic meal is going over 1000 calories.

The lowest calorie choice on the Wendy's menu is the Ultimate Grilled Chicken sandwich, coming in under 400 calories. If you go the spicy chicken version which is fried, kick it up about 200 calories.

The one good thing about Wendy's is you can custom order any selection. That gives you some options to leave out the high calorie items. A small chili and 5 piece chicken nuggets combo is only 450 calories. And the Sour cream and chives baked potato is only 320 calories. Add Ice tea instead of a soft drink and you stay below 500 calories for the meal.

Wendy's calories are no worse than competing fast food chains, but as with all fast food restaurants you have to be selective when ordering. I love Wendy's French fries but you will pay in calories. One way to knock down the calories is to split an order with a friend.

Another way is to down size the meal as a whole. A Junior Cheeseburger is only 360 calories, split the medium order of fries and that's 210, and drink water or unsweetened tea and you stay under 600 calories. Not quite low cal but half of the calories from regular order.

Wendy's is offering more choices of sandwiches, which many people think are less calories. Not always the case. The Chicken Club sandwich is 540 calories, add a couple of condiments (like Honey Mustard at 70 calories a tablespoon) and the numbers go up.

Any of the go wraps are very reasonable at 320 calories and below. The grilled chicken version is the low one at 260 calories. The large chili is only 280 calories. Add a drink and a Strawberry Yogurt Squeezerz (70) for dessert for a good meal under 500 calories.

Another good choice at Wendy's is the BLT that you can order with 4 slices of bacon, lettuce, and tomato that drops down to 260 calories and only 5 grams of fat. Not bad for a good sandwich and even if you add fries and a drink you easily stay below 550 calories.

And lets not forget the famous Baconator. This bad boy holds the record other than the triple meat choices (960 calories). The Baconator comes in at 830 calories and 51 grams of fat. Add a large fries (550 calories) and Vanilla Bean Shake (500 calories) and you just had 1880 calories in one meal. That's more calories in one meal than many people have in a day! You better jog home after that meal.

And then there are those that order a salad. The only catch is the salad dressing. The Thousand Island comes in at 290 calories, the high, and the low fat choices come in as low as 70. Add the salad and a high calorie dressing and you have as much as single with everything. In fact you can easily hit 600 calories on a salad (Taco salad alone is 400 calories).

The key to keeping the Wendy's Calories count reasonable is to make smart choices. You can have a good meal for under 650 calories if you pay attention to what you order and watch the portion size. If you're craving one of the higher calorie choices, split it with a friend.