A calorie range signals that the menu entry can cover different choices. The midpoint is not automatically your order. Identify the size, sides, drink and available options before treating the range as a number you can compare.
Ask what produces the endpoints
An example combo marked 600–1,000 calories may include several side and drink options. Taking the average gives 800, but your selection might not correspond to any 800-calorie combination. Without the included choices, the average is just a mathematical midpoint.
Build the order instead
Imagine the selected entrée is 420 calories, the listed side is 180 and the selected drink is 120. That exact example sums to 720. Choosing an example drink listed at 0 would change the total to 600. The calculation needs the actual component figures, not a guess about which combination sits near the middle.
What if the detail is unavailable?
Keep the displayed range and its assumptions visible, or choose a record with a defined serving. Do not enter the lower endpoint as though it applies to every version. U.S. menu-labeling requirements have a particular scope; a menu page is not a universal guarantee that every restaurant or every country publishes the same detail.
For a useful comparison, name the complete order and excluded extras. “Entrée, small side and drink” is more informative than the combo’s marketing title. The FDA menu-labeling source provides the regulatory context; all figures here are fictional. GetMacros works best with defined orders, so its results should not pretend that a variable menu range is one measured meal.
Sources and example boundaries
- FDA: menu labeling
Written nutrition information and menu-labeling scope.
All food figures and prices in the worked example are invented to explain the method. They are not restaurant nutrition, tested recipes, shopping prices or personal dietary advice. Use the current label for the product you actually have.