What Does 300 Calories Really Look Like?

See Pictures of 300, 350, and 400-Calorie Meals

-- By Nicole Nichols, Health Educator

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Wonder what 300 calories looks like? 300 calories look drastically different when you're eating in instead of dining out. Choosing healthier, more nutritious foods--at home and away--means you can eat much more food and still lose weight. Check out these 18 meal comparisons to see for yourself, share forward this story to your friends!

Breakfast: 300-Calorie Meals & Portions
Here are three morning meals that each weigh in at 300 calories. Healthy and quick homemade meals (left column) pack whole grains, fresh fruit, and protein--a filling combination that will keep you fuller longer. You could only eat a fraction of the comparable restaurant meals (right column) for the same number of calories. Get more healthy breakfast ideas here.

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About The Author

Nicole Nichols
Nicole was named "America's Top Personal Trainer to Watch" in 2011. A certified personal trainer and fitness instructor with a bachelor's degree in health promotion and education, she loves living a healthy and fit lifestyle and helping others do the same. Her DVDs "Total Body Sculpting" and "28 Day Boot Camp" (a best seller) are available online and in stores nationwide. Read Nicole's full bio and blog posts.

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Member Comments

MICHELELENA

I am embarrassed to admit I once weighed 325 lbs. I lost 100 lbs by keeping a food diary and eating 300 calorie meals 3x a day and 100 calorie snacks 2x a day. I like your menu ideas and the best part is I get to eat almost as much of any veggie I want. - 5/3/2013 3:31:25 AM
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GRACILU

I really liked this article. I suggest more articles about anything be written like this. Now I will look up the articles other suggestions. - 4/25/2013 8:07:22 AM
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SUROSE62

WOW, these visuals hit you right between the eyes. It shows how quickly you can over eat a number of calories with the foods on the right. Was very surprisd how much you could eat by making the right choices. Thank you. - 4/10/2013 7:24:42 AM
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PATTEE13

I liked this, it was really helpful to get an idea of portion control. When I'm given units of measurement, like cups and ounces, it doesn't really register. With photos, it clicks! - 4/8/2013 3:06:32 AM
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TURKEY999

All I can say is WHOA! Very informative...tha
nks. - 3/29/2013 4:49:39 PM
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KIMBALI

This is so perfect and helpful! Makes you rethink your choices for sure. - 3/27/2013 10:32:09 AM
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BERTEEW

This was great...I was surprised at quite a few of the choices you gave. I love Panera Bread's soup but I will definitely be more careful when ordering from now on. Also Marie Calendar's pot pie surprised me. Now I see where my weight came from in the first place. Thanks so much for the article and especially the visuals!!! - 3/16/2013 10:10:07 PM
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KIBONGE

it's a great way to understand how choosing the right foods makes such a difference, the only problem is that so many of the ingredients and meals dont exist where i live so i cannot use it - most of the things do not exist. could u do a few samples of plain ingredients which are very basic please? like white bread versus brown, white rice versus brown, fresh foods grilled vs fried, something like that? thank you. - 3/10/2013 6:09:10 AM
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BBDELTA

I am a visual person, so this is a great motivation tool. I always knew that portions were the issue in my diet. Thank you for this great motivation tool. - 2/28/2013 10:03:48 PM
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PATPENDING

The Panera Bread sandwich and soup\. It's not something I would ever order because I can see it's a very high carb meal. But for that many calories I would have expected to see a rib eye or a slab of pork belly on the plate! - 2/26/2013 8:08:21 AM
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JUDEMIG

I think this is a great visual. It's amazing how many calories are in restaurant foods. When I did eat out I had a chicken taco salad with salsa for the dressing and I loved it. I drank club soda with lime. It isn't that hard, just have to stay with it. - 2/18/2013 5:02:42 PM
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RIABORDEN

Thank you for posting this. Its always amazing to me that even when we think we are eating healthy when we go out, it turns out that we are in fact not!
I found it interesting that we can eat more of the right kinds of foods to help us loose weight. I have always been told that inorder to loose weight I had to eat less.
Its true that by cooking at home we can take control of what we put in our foods and what we put in our mouth.
I am going to continue making my meals and taking them with to work. - 2/18/2013 12:59:39 PM
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LINDAGROBLER

This was really motivational and made me hungry for the healthy options. Thank you. - 2/15/2013 1:58:44 AM
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BLONDIE218145

Holy frijoles Batman! No wonder we cook at home. - 2/12/2013 10:14:36 AM
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CARI2012

Totally eye-opening! Thanks for the visual aid :) - 2/8/2013 11:29:46 AM
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