I like Subway and I think they offer some great options when you need to eat out for convenience. It may be considered fast food, but I don’t put it in the same category as McDonald’s or Burger King. However, you can’t just walk into Subway and order anything off the menu if you want to eat healthy (no matter what Jared wants you to think). Here are some quick facts from the Subway menu to help you make wise decisions the next time you are there. (Official Subway nutrition facts)
17 Tips to Cut Calories at Subway
- The nutrition values for the sandwiches on the ‘6 grams of fat or less‘ menu do not include cheese or condiments. Be aware of the calories and fat cheese and condiments will add to these values.
- Ordering double meat on the ‘6 grams of fat or less menu‘ will help you to feel a lot more full without adding lots of extra calories and carbohydrates.
- It’s true that you can eat relatively healthy at Subway if you are careful, but any time you eat deli meat you are consuming large amounts of sodium- about half of the recommended daily intake from just a 6 inch sandwich.
- The Veggie Delite is the healthiest choice on the menu (of course it has no meat).
- My favorite Subway sandwich (a 12 inch Spicy Italian) contains well over 1,000 calories.
- If you want mayonnaise, order light mayonnaise -light mayonnaise saves you 60 calories and 7 grams of fat per serving.
- Mustard and vinegar are your best condiment choices, with about 5 calories for 2 tbsp of mustard, and 0 calories per serving of vinegar.
- Regular mayonnaise and ranch dressing are the worst condiment choices- Ranch has 120 calories, 13 g of fat, 210 mg sodium per serving and mayonnaise has 110 calories, 12 g fat, 80 mg sodium per serving.
- The lowest calorie cheese is American, with 40 calories per 2 ‘triangles’.
- The highest calorie cheese is Cheddar, with 60 calories per 2 ‘triangles’.
- Do you know the serving size of condiments the sandwich artist is putting on your sandwich? Someone getting generous with mayonnaise could cost you a lot of calories.
- The lowest calorie bread is regular wheat or white at 200 calories per 6 inch serving.
- The highest calorie breads are Honey Oat and Italian Herb & Cheese at 250 calories per 6 inch serving.
- The lowest calorie sandwiches from the ‘6 grams of fat or less menu‘ are the 6 inch Veggie Delite at 230 calories and the 6 inch Turkey Breast at 280 calories *does not include cheese or condiments.
- The highest calorie sandwich from the ‘6 grams of fat or less menu‘ is the 6 inch Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki at 370 calories *does not include cheese or condiments.
- The lowest calorie sandwich from the regular sandwich menu is the 6 inch Subway Melt at 380 calories *includes cheese, no condiments.
- The highest calorie sandwich from the regular sandwich menu is the 6 inch Chicken and Bacon Ranch at 580 calories *includes cheese, no condiments.
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November 28th, 2007 at 5:38 am | Mrs. Micah said:
Or you can save half your sub and get half the calories, fat, etc.
Good tips, especially about condiments and the like. I knew Ranch had calories, I didn’t realize how many!
November 28th, 2007 at 5:53 am | Clever Dude said:
I’ve been following your weight loss for a while now and I want to say congratulations on your progress so far.
One thing to note about Subway’s claims is that they never talk about the amount of sodium in their subs. They trumpet about their low fat compared to McDonald’s, etc., however all but 2 of the 8 subs on the 6 grams or less menu have over 1000 (often over 1200) mg of sodium. You’re only supposed to have about 2500 in a day! Get the 12″ sub and you need to drink water and eat lemons for dinner!
Watching fat and calories is important, but one way that restaurants, and any other food maker, adds flavor to a low calorie item is by adding salt. It’s a killer, literally, if you already have problems with high blood pressure. And don’t get me started on retaining water!
November 28th, 2007 at 7:44 am | Frank said:
Hey Mrs. Micah, good call on the half sandwich, but I don’t think I am strong enough mentally for that.
@CleverDude - Thank you very much. I’m trying to keep the weight loss going but it has been tough lately.
About the sodium- I agree, it is a major hazard these days. I didn’t really become aware of it until recently and I was shocked to see how much sodium I was typically consuming. The health effects of too much sodium were rather frightening too. Being fat AND consuming too much sodium is a major recipe for disaster.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:40 am | Sandy said:
When I noticed that I didn’t really even taste the cheese on my Subway sandwich, I started ordering it without the cheese, knowing this would save me the calories and fat grams.
As far as your weight loss goal, you might want to consider joining Wt. Watchers. I say this because there are men in my class, doing well. The best part is that you do not have to buy any of their food, unlike Jenny Craig or NutraSystems– I don’t. I suggest this to you because your debt step #8 is EXACTLY why you will become successful — accountability. You take a easy test to determine how many points you get per day, then create your meals up to those points. And you get 35 extra points a week to use for a hot fudge sundae or whatever you want, so you don’t have to feel guilty if you cheat, beacause you are not. It’s like being on a budget then. I like the satisfaction of knowing that I can enjoy eating all week long, knowing that at the end of the week, I’ll show a weight loss, just by staying within my points. Being weighed publically (no one sees the numbers) holds me accountable, so that during the week, when my will power lessens, I think about that weigh-in at the meeting. Just like with money, we have to manage our weight too - something very difficult since eating 100 extra calories a day will amount to a 10 lb. weight gain in a year’s time! I was like you - not really getting anywhere on my own, and I don’t mean that badly, it’s just because you gained a pound; that is what was happening with me. Intellectually we both knew what to do re #of calories equal a lb. etc. but it is the ACCOUNTABILITY that gets results.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:26 am | Sandy said:
The last thing I wanted to say (and then I will shut up and disappear) is that the reason why we like financial blogs is because it’s gratifying to read others like us, mostly making the effort to reduce our debt and stay out of debt in a society that wants us to spend. We feel supported by others knowing they aren’t out there maxing out their charge cards either. The same holds true w/ a weight group. I can’t tell you how nice it is to see people once a week who also are making an effort to not overeat all week, like me, or not too much of the high caloric things. At home I sometimes feel like I’m the only one. So when I go to a weekly meeting, it’s encouraging to see others also making the effort. When we finally set up a budget, we feel like we are in control of our money instead of it being in control of us. Same thing happened when I joined Wt. Watchers. Finally I felt like I was in control of the food, instead of it being in control of me. You deserve to become debt-free and you deserve to reach your goal weight and stay there! You can achieve both.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:29 pm | Laura said:
Thanks fo rthe tips. I do eat at Subway occasionaly as it is the healthiest place to eat by campus. I wish they had some more choices on campus, but the proposed changes will happen next year. I’ll be gone by then. Oh wel
I fought the good fight for the future students.
November 28th, 2007 at 6:58 pm | Frank said:
@Sandy - Thanks for the well thought out comments. I appreciate your advice. I must admit I never would have considered weight watchers- for some reason it seems like an odd thing for a man to do. Not that I have any experience to base that on, just a perception. I absolutely agree on the accountability. Believe it or not, I actually find a great deal of accountability on this blog. Even though I went in the wrong direction last week, I’m working hard this week to get back on track. We will see how it goes.
@Laura - I have a wide variety of options for lunch at work (when I don’t bring my own), but I generally eat out so infrequently now that I tend to choose something unhealthy (but really tasty) when I do eat out. I guess I shouldn’t do that!
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm | Jen said:
On Australia’s Biggest Loser. They suggested scooping out the inside of the bread and then loading up the sandwish with lettuse.
You still taste the bread, it’s just as filling AND you can save 200-300 calories per footlong sandwich.