How Many Calories In McDonald's Big Mac - Mirror Online - The Mirror

How many calories in McDonald's Big Mac - and how it compares to the new giant burger

There's a new Big Mac on the block, but how does it match up to the infamous original? We take a look at the calories for McDonald's new offering

CommentsLifestyleJo-Anne Rowney Audience Growth Editor and Joshua Barrie11:16, 07 Feb 2018Updated 08:10, 09 Feb 2018

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We don't really have to tell you that fast food isn't the healthiest option, but it may come as a surprise to you to learn just how much your favourite burgers are really packing away.

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With the new McDonald's Big Mac sizes on sale we took a look at just how much of a difference there is between the burgers - and what's your best option.

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While it's obvious the largest option will have the most amount of calories, the difference between all three may prove more surprising. The Mac Jnr isn't really that much less than the original, but the Grand may prove a treat too far.

Of course, sometimes only a Grand Big Mac will do - don't worry, we won't judge you.

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McDonald's are launching an even bigger Big Mac in the UK - but you'll have to act fast

How many calories are in a Big Mac?

The original Big Mac comes in at 508 calories according to McD's.

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What else:

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Fat 25g

Saturated fat 9.5g

Sugar 9g

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Salt 2.3g

...but how does it compare to the new Big Macs.

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How many calories are in a Grand Big Mac?

The new Grand Big Mac has 741 calories according to McDonald's. That's 233 more than the original.

It also has:

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Fat 37g

Saturated fat 15g

Sugar 12g

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Salt 3.5g

READ MORE: Fitness expert reveals what he would order at Greggs, Nando's and McDonald's - and it's not just salads

How many calories in a Big Mac burger?

Inside world's fanciest McDonald's

How to make special Big Mac sauce

How Big Macs were invented

What about the Mac Jnr?

The little version has 400 calories according to McDs, 20g fat and 7.4g saturated fat. That's 108 less than the original.

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Are the calories accurate?

Ultimately, it's reasonable to want an idea of how many Big Macs you can eat, right?

Helpfully, these days fast food restaurants are required to list the nutritional information on their website, menus, and sometimes packaging so it's easier to keep an eye on those calories.

But what if we told you the amounts listed by some of these companies are not quite right?

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An investigation by Business Insider took some famous and popular foods from McDonald's, Chipotle, and Pizza Hut down to Colombia University in the US to test four popular meals for calories.

To measure the given calories, scientists used something called a bomb calorimeter. It's chemistry and there are equations involved. Importantly, it's accurate.

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The results were upsetting.

READ MORE: If you're a McDonald's or Domino's pizza fan we may have some very bad news

McDonald's

McDonald's says that there are 508 calories in its Big Mac. The bomb calorimeter found, however, that the sandwich actually has 702. That's an extra 23 per cent.

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If you were to eat an additional 23 per cent on a 2,000 calorie per-day diet over the course of a year, you'd consume and extra 167,000, which would mean you'd put on nearly three and-a-half stone. Oh dear.

In the UK a large fries comes in at 444 calories.

According to the study, McDonald's also lists them incorrectly - the portion comes in at 594 calories when tested.

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"Our website details nutritional information for all UK products and is up to date and accurate," a McDonald's spokesperson told Mirror Online.

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Pizza Hut

Instead of the dish coming in at 640 calories, as Pizza Hut notes, it actually contains 865. That's 26 per cent more calories to burn. If you had one a day, you'd eat an extra 190,000 calories a year, and put on a lot of weight.

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A Pizza Hut spokesperson told Mirror Online: "Each of our pizzas are made individually and fresh to order.

"While we strive to keep the calorie content as consistent as possible, there may be some variation from slice to slice."

Chipotle

Over at the burger bar, one of your favourite grab-and-go lunches, the chicken burrito, fares badly. Chipotle says it has 1,315 calories. The real figure? 1,670. That's 21 per cent more.

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"Our food is prepared in our restaurants and assembled to order by the people who work there (not by machine as you would have in a packaged food production facility), so there is always the possibility of some variation in calories, though we work hard to be sure portions are consistent and correct," a Chipotle spokesperson said.

Salad, anyone?

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Mirror Online contacted the restaurants about the Business Insider Investigation at the time of release.