Yeah, it's a scam, huh. (I ran across your site after searching for 'chipotle calories' (^8 )

That article recommends that you ask the server to wrap the burrito into two halfs, and take one with you.

But I don't think that's really possible -- they make them by rolling them up in one piece.

Somehow along the line people came to associate "healthy eating" exclusively with ingredients, and not quantity... I don't care how healthy the stuff is -- if you eat fifty bananas, say, it's not healthy.

That's the real reason people like Atkins: it restricts what you can eat, but not how much -- in fact, it encourages you to pig out on "healthy" food. I doubt it works.

It's easier to get the three soft tacos, and then eat them three different times. Thats what I do.

Chipotle's Chicken Burrito (with black beans, rice, cheese, and salsa) weighs in at nearly 1,000 calories and 12 grams of saturated fat.

Chipotle's Vegetarian Burrito (with black beans, rice, cheese, guacamole, and salsa) weighs over a pound and provides 1,120 calories and three-quarters of a day's worth of saturated fat (14 grams).

Chipotle's Chicken Burrito Bols--burritos without the 340-calorie flour tortillas--are CSPI's only recommended "Better Bites" at Chipotle. A Bol with chicken, black beans, lettuce, and salsa, has just 430 calories and four grams of saturated fat. Rice instead of lettuce adds about 200 calories.

Who cares how many calories anything has if you burn 3500 a week by moving your body(running, gardening, walking) you will never gain any weight. 3500 calories is a pound. Noone can eat that much extra a week. Or else everyone would gain 50 pounds a year. For the average man(200lbs) thats 23 miles a week of moving. Or about 3 miles a day. Going for a walk at lunch and eating while walking easily takes care of this.

Here is the website for the nutrition facts of the burrito at chipotle http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?id=nutrition_calculator

First I gotta thank Jeff H. for posting a great article like this!

Now onto my point(s):
Aszzzbrokerman, I mean no offense, but your facts are dangerously flawed:)

The average healthy person in the US as defined by http://www.fitness.gov/fitness.html is one who does a minimum of 4+ hours of excersize a week.
(Thats 40+ minutes a day sustained excersize for 6 days straight)
And eats an average daily total of around 2000 calories, or 14,000 calories per week.

The average beginner athlete, or those on a specific or personal strength training and cardio program (like me) is someone who does moderate strength training for a minimum 20+ minutes a day and sustained medium-high intensity cardio for at least 30-40 minutes day, 6 days a week.
And eats a daily total of around 620-900 calories of SPECIFIC healthy foods and around a 60/40/40 split of Protien, good carbs, and good fats for a weekly total of around 5440 calories.
(Those on a hardcore weight training regiment eat around 1500-2000 calories a day.)

I am in the second category, and I've been tracking my results in my blog here:
http://www.ragecg.com/bushido/?page_id=17

One would think that the second category of folks would gain TONS of fat, but in reality, the motabolic rate at which this group burns through calories of the proper type is FAR greater than the first group of people, obviously.

It is correct in that 3500 calories make up one pound of body weight.

Using these facts, and the chipotle calorie counter in the previous post, here are the numbers straight up as to why folks who are part of that daily drive-thru culture are generaly more obese, and only getting worse:

Take my buddy for example, he eats at chipotle 4 times a week, and Subway, LeeAnn Chin's, BK or "Micky D's" the rest of the week.
Sadly, this is VERY common world-wide, as I used to do this myself every day for 15 years! :)
My favorite days were when Subway did thier 2 footlongs for 8 bucks, as I'd put both a footlong Meatball and a footlong Seafood away in one sitting!
Just the Subway alone is a whopping 2157 calories!
(http://www.chowbaby.com/fastfood/fast_food_nutrition.asp?ff_restid=1065)

...anyway, the first "average" american I spoke of above, when sticking to thier routine, will only burn an average of around 80-120 calories per workout, and around 180-240 calories a day total for a weekly total of around: 1540 calories.

The second category of people (like me) burn an average of 120-230 calories per workout, and around 300-420 calories a day for a weekly total of 2870+ calories burned.

With these numbers in mind, lets do the math for someone who eats like the "typical" drive-thru fan, like my buddy:

Eating at Chipotle only 3 times a week, one basic stripped-down chicken burrito, and a basic Subway 6" Turkey etc. the rest of the week will total an average of 7066 calories.
And this is JUST lunch, only ONE meal a day, and the average american eats 3 meals a day like this.
So, even if this person ate a SMALL meal for breakfast and dinner accounting for about 150-300 calories each per meal, the grand total brings us to a weekly calorie intake of about: 9866 calories.

Using the max calories burned per day from the above averages:

People in Category #1:
Consume around 9866 calories a week, and only burn off 1470 of those calories totaling to an average weight GAIN of 8396 calories, or 2.4 pounds per week!

People in Category #2:
Consume around 5440 calories a week, and burn off 2870 of those calories totaling to an average weight GAIN of 2570 calories, or a little over 1/4 of a pound per week.

The people in Category #2 have an advantage in that the foods we eat are designed and prepared for maximum energy, protien, and good carbs and fats resulting in food that is WAY easier to burn off than foods full of trans fats, saturated fat and excess empty calories.

My point to this whole rant is to show the impact one can have by making simple changes to one's daily routine and lifestyle, and how this sort of culture can spiral out of control quickly.

I had to make some MAJOR life changes to get in the grove that I'm in now, and without setting concrete goals, and sticking to them with proper motivation, I'd still be depressed and obese.

Good luck to anyone attempting to change thier life, as it is not an easy thing to do.

Ragecg - I know you mean well, but where are you coming up with these whacked out numbers?

You said that the average beginning athlete eats between 620 - 900 calories a day?? No way is that healthy, in fact it's borderline anorexic. I have never known of anyone to eat so little, and I can't imagine that anyone that did would last very long.

Then you said that the "average" folks are only buring 180 - 240 calories a day. I don't even know how to address this gross misstatement. The "average" human being burns roughly 10 calories per every pound of lean body mass per day by doing nothing more than sitting on their butt.

For example - lets say you have someone that's completely out of shape... they weigh 200lbs and have 50% body fat (50% lean body mass, or 100lbs LBM). If they don't do anything but get out of bed, walk to the couch, change the channel with the remote a few times, and maybe make a few trips to the kitchen, they are going to burn 1000 calories (10 * 100 = 1000).

Then you said that people in your category are burning 300 - 420 calories a day. Again, a person could sleep 18 hours a day and burn more calories than that.

I would suggest that you use the Katch-McArdle Formula (here: http://www.weightlossforall.com/calculate%20cals.htm ) to determine roughly how many calories you can expect to burn in a day. There is lots of other good information on that site by the way.

I don't have time to go through and point out all of your other errors here (2570 calories is about 3/4 of a pound not a 1/4 pound). Like I said, I know that you meant well, but you sound like you know what you're talking about just enough to have some of the more naive people out there trying to meet those unrealistic requirements.

I briefly checked out your blog, and I must say, it looks like you are making some good progress. Keep it up! Sadly, I haven't worked out in months, and I'm trying to get myself motivated to get back in to it.

Take care,
Marlin

Holy Crap Marlin!

My numbers were WAY off!!!
(what was i smokin??)
Sorry about that!

...guess thats what happens when you let emotion cloud ones judgement while blogin...

Sorry all!

go here for calories in chipotle menu

http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?id=nutrition_calculator

Ok, so I am not an expert.. but this is what I understand.

It is a simple calculation of calories in and calories out. One important number I didn't notice mentioned was the RMR or Resting Metabolic Rate that is specific to each person. This basically translates to the number of calories necessary to sustain life. So I am going to use myself as an example:

My RMR is 1550 calories.

This means that if I eat 1800 calories and my physical activity within the day requires 250 calories then I will continue to stay my current weight. This is because 1800-250 = 1550.

However, if I exercized 600 calories off in a day then it would take me 10 days to lose 1 lb. 1800-600 = 1200, but I need 1550, so 350 calories must come from my fat stores.

On the other hand... if I the balance is such that I consumed more calories than 1550+whatever I burned, I will store the extra calories.

I am afraid of how people eat and the lack of exercise in current society. I am not the best, but I am really trying hard to change my ways. It has been fun reading your posts!

http://www.cspinet.org/new/200309301.html

Just eat one Chipotle burrito at around 2pm or 3pm and you'll be full for a whole day. This way you do not eat more than you are supposed to and you can still eat the deliciousness that is chipotle.