What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

You’ve probably heard that 200 calories is about right for a snack, but finding something that comes in at or just under that number isn’t always easy. Unless a food comes in a box or a bag with a handy nutrition label, knowing how many calories one serving can have could present a challenge example —is that a large apple (110 calories) or a medium apple (90 calories)? And how much are you tacking on if you scoop out a tiny bit more than 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (188 calories)?

Some foods have significantly more Calories than others but what does the difference actually look like. To get a better sense of portion sizes, WiseGeek created a smart series of photos, each of the photographs below represents 200 Calories of the particular type of food; the images are sorted from low to high calorie density.

When you consider that an entire plate of broccoli contains the same number of Calories as 1/2 a Blackberry Pie. When making decisions about the calories you choose, after having Lap Band surgery the goal is to choose more often foods with higher nutrient density to help the Lap Band be more effective at keeping you full between meals. So selecting foods near the top of the list more often is more beneficial to your progress and keeping the foods at the bottom of the list to a minimum as a “occasional treat”

While the portion sizes are all perfectly relative to each other (the same photographic set up was used for each food shot. The plate is 10.25″ (26cm) in diameter and the bowl is 6.25″ (16cm) )This article deals with Calories only. Don’t forget that there are other considerations when choosing which foods to eat, such as nutritive value and diversity of your food choices. Peanut butter, for example, is loaded with protein and healthy fats and may be a good choice even thought the volume of food is very small in compared to eating celery. .

Still, the list is eye-opening, especially on some of the foods that you may have a tendency to grab a handful of or take a few say gummy bears or chocolate kisses every time you pass them on your co-workers desk. Those are the calories that often get over looked when estimating your daily totals. Having an idea of how easily those calories can add up in a single day or over a period of a week can help you make a better choice at your next meal or snack.