Calories & Fast Food

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Here are some useful comparisons charts, which give the calories for many fast food items:
French Fries (Large) Compared
Fast Food Restaurant Type Serving Size
(g) Calories Total Fat
(g) Saturated Fat
(g) Trans Fat
(g) Carbs
(g) Sodium
(mg)
McDonald's Regular 170 570 30 6 8 70 330
Burger King Regular 160 500 28 6 6 57 820
Burger King Salt Not Added 160 500 28 6 6 57 530
Wendy's Regular Unknown 540 26 4 1 69 550
Arby's Homestyle 213 566 37 7 1 82 1029
Arby's Curly 198 631 37 7 1 73 1476
Hardee's Regular 193 610 28 6 Unknown 78 370
Hardee's Crispy Curls 153 480 23 6 Unknown 60 1190
A&W Regular 156 430 18 4.5 5.5 61 640
A&W Chili 170 370 16 4.5 6 49 780
A&W Cheese 170 380 19 5 4 50 870
A&W Chili Cheese 198 400 19 5 4 51 990
In-N-Out Burger** Regular** 125** 400** 18** 5** 0** 54** 245**
Jack In The Box Natural Cut 236 640 33 8 10 77 1180
Jack In The Box Seasoned Curly 170 550 31 6 10 60 1200
White Castle Regular 244 700 34 6 11 89 560
Sonic Regular 98 280 11 2 0 42 135
Sonic Cheese 125 380 19 7 0 44 600
Sonic Chili/Cheese 186 450 25 9 0.5 48 610
Dairy Queen Regular 280 730 33 6 5 100 1530
KFC* Potato Wedges* 102* 260* 13* 2.5* 0* 33* 740*
Carl's Jr. Regular 198 620 29 6 Unknown 80 380
Popeyes** Regular** 88** 310** 17** 7** 1** 35** 660**
Del Taco Regular 198 490 32 5 Unknown 47 380
* KFC does not have any "french fries." They do have "potato wedges" which is somewhat close, so I included this information above for comparison purposes. However, I did not take it into account when showing the best/worst since they are technically not "french fries."
** In-N-Out Burger and Popeyes had one item listed as just "French Fries." No actual size (large, small, etc.) was given. Therefore, they were also not taken into account when showing the best/worst french fries.
• Best: Sonic (regular)
Sonic's basic french fries are my pick for the best of this comparison. It's not hard to see why either. Due to having the smallest serving size of all of the other fast food restaurants, their large fries ended up being the lowest in every single one of the compared nutrition facts. Not to mention, with 0 grams of trans fat, it was one of just two large french fries that contained 0 grams. The other? Another one from Sonic... this time their cheese fries.
• Worst: Dairy Queen (regular) & White Castle (regular)
It was hard to pick an official worst choice here, as there was a lot of trans fat being thrown around. In the end, I went with Dairy Queen's basic fries for being the highest in calories (seriously, 730 calorie fries? Yikes.) and sodium. White Castle's basic fries were also picked here not so much for calories (although at 700, it was right up there in second place) but because of it containing more trans fat (11 evil grams) than any of the others. Of all of the items being compared in this entire comparison, french fries are easily one of the worst all around trans fat offenders.
• Notes: For this comparison, I tried to use each fast food restaurant's "Large" french fries. In two cases however, there was no "large" version. So, I instead used whatever that restaurant's largest size was. For White Castle it was "Sack," and for Del Taco it was "Medium."
Hamburgers Compared
Fast Food Restaurant Type Serving Size
(g) Calories Total Fat
(g) Saturated Fat
(g) Trans Fat
(g) Carbs
(g) Sodium
(mg)
McDonald's Regular 100 250 9 3.5 0.5 31 520
Burger King Regular 121 290 12 4.5 0 30 560
Wendy's Jr. Hamburger Unknown 230 8 3 0 26 500
Hardee's Regular 118 310 12 4 Unknown 36 560
Carl's Jr Big Hamburger 209 470 17 6 Unknown 54 1060
Sonic Jr. Burger 117 310 15 5 0.5 30 610
White Castle Regular 58 140 7 2.5 0.5 14 210
Dairy Queen Homestyle Burger 140 350 14 7 0.5 33 400
Jack in the Box Regular 118 310 14 6 1 30 600
In-N-Out Burger Regular 243 390 19 5 0 39 650
• Best: White Castle (regular) & Wendy's (Jr. Hamburger)
This one should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever seen a White Castle hamburger. They are tiny. And, when it comes to making the least-bad fast food choice, tiny = good. Due to the below average serving size, all but one of its nutrition facts were the lowest in this comparison. The one that wasn't? Trans fat. You'd think with a burger that size they would be able to pull off 0 trans fat per serving. Apparently not. Wendy's Jr. Hamburger on the other hand does pull it off, and combined with being the second lowest in nearly all of the other nutrition facts, they certainly end up as one of the better basic fast food hamburgers.
• Worst: Carl's Jr (Big Hamburger)
While the nutrition facts of each fast food restaurant's most basic hamburger were somewhat similar in some cases, the "Big Hamburger" from Carl's Jr is my pick for the worst in this comparison simply based on being the highest in calories and sodium.
• Notes: For this comparison I used each restaurant's most basic hamburger. If the restaurant did not have anything simply called "Hamburger," I went with their next most similar and comparable product instead. For Wendy's, I used their "Jr. Hamburger." For Carl's Jr, I used their "Big Hamburger." For Sonic I used their "Jr. Burger." And for Dairy Queen, I used their "Homestyle Burger."
Sandwiches/Hamburgers Compared
Fast Food Restaurant Type Serving Size
(g) Calories Total Fat
(g) Saturated Fat
(g) Trans Fat
(g) Carbs
(g) Sodium
(mg)
McDonald's Quarter Pounder 169 410 19 7 1 37 730
McDonald's Quarter Pounder (cheese) 198 510 26 12 1.5 40 1190
McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder (cheese) 279 740 42 19 2.5 40 1380
McDonald's Big Mac 214 540 29 10 1.5 43 1040
McDonald's Double Cheeseburger 165 440 23 11 1.5 34 1150
McDonald's Big N' Tasty 206 460 24 8 1.5 37 720
McDonald's Big N' Tasty (cheese) 220 510 28 11 1.5 38 960
Burger King Whopper 290 670 39 11 1.5 51 1020
Burger King Whopper (cheese) 315 760 47 16 1.5 52 1450
Burger King Double Whopper 373 900 57 19 2 51 1090
Burger King Double Whopper (cheese) 398 990 64 24 2.5 52 1520
Burger King Triple Whopper 456 1130 74 27 3 51 1160
Burger King Triple Whopper (cheese) 480 1230 82 32 3.5 52 1590
Burger King Whopper Jr. 158 370 21 6 0.5 31 570
Burger King Whopper Jr. (cheese) 170 410 24 8 1 32 780
Burger King Double Hamburger 164 410 21 9 1 30 600
Burger King Double Stacker 190 610 39 16 1.5 32 1100
Burger King Triple Stacker 250 800 54 23 2 33 1450
Burger King Quad Stacker 311 1000 68 30 3 34 1800
Burger King Double Cheeseburger 189 500 29 14 1.5 31 1030
Wendy's Single Unknown 430 20 7 1 37 900
Wendy's Double (cheese) Unknown 700 40 16 2.5 38 1500
Wendy's Triple (cheese) Unknown 980 59 25 3.5 38 2090
Wendy's Baconator Unknown 830 51 22 2.5 35 1920
Hardee's Thickburger 349 910 64 21 Unknown 53 1560
Hardee's Cheeseburger 254 680 39 19 Unknown 52 1450
Hardee's Mushroom N' Swiss Thickburger 276 720 42 21 Unknown 48 1570
Hardee's Bacon Cheese Thickburger 334 910 64 24 Unknown 50 1550
Hardee's Low Carb Thickburger 245 420 32 12 Unknown 5 1010
Hardee's Six Dollar Burger 412 1060 73 28 Unknown 58 1950
Hardee's Grilled Sourdough Thickburger 381 1030 77 28 Unknown 42 1910
Hardee's Double Thickburger 471 1250 90 35 Unknown 54 2160
Hardee's Double Bacon Cheese Thickburger 463 1300 97 38 Unknown 50 2200
Hardee's Monster Thickburger 413 1420 108 43 Unknown 46 2770
Hardee's Double Cheeseburger 186 510 26 5 Unknown 38 1120
Hardee's Double Hamburger 161 420 19 5 Unknown 37 670
A&W Papa Burger 288 720 42 15 4 46 1390
A&W Bacon Double Cheeseburger 303 800 48 17 4 47 1610
A&W Double Cheeseburger 288 720 42 15 4 46 1370
A&W Bacon Cheeseburger 223 570 33 10 3.5 41 1200
In-N-Out Burger Double-Double 330 670 41 18 1 39 1440
Jack in the Box Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger 338 1090 77 30 3 53 2040
Jack in the Box Bacon n' Cheese Ciabatta Burger 395 1120 76 28 3 66 1670
Jack in the Box Jumbo Jack 261 600 35 12 1.5 51 940
Jack in the Box Jumbo Jack (cheese) 286 690 42 16 1.5 54 1310
Jack in the Box Junior Bacon Cheeseburger 131 430 25 9 1 30 820
Jack in the Box Single Bacon n' Cheese Ciabatta Burger 308 870 54 18 1.5 66 1550
Jack in the Box Sirloin Cheeseburger 421 1070 71 25 1.5 61 1850
Jack in the Box Sirloin Bacon n' Cheese Burger 422 1120 73 24 2.5 63 2620
Jack in the Box Sourdough Jack 245 710 51 18 3 36 1230
Jack in the Box Sourdough Ultimate Cheeseburger 291 950 73 29 4.5 36 1360
Jack in the Box Ultimate Cheeseburger 323 1010 71 28 3 53 1580
White Castle Bacon Cheeseburger 71 200 11 5 1 15 480
White Castle Double White Castle 104 250 13 5 1 22 340
White ...