The Burger King restaurant chain was started in 1954. Its fast food establishments still feature flame-grilled burgers, called Whoppers, among other standard fare like fries, milkshakes, chicken sandwiches and breakfast meals. The nutrients and calories in the Whopper with cheese depend on the other ingredients you order on your burger.
Options
Burger King prides itself on offering a highly customizable menu. You can have any number of toppings, including tomato slices, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles and onions, on your Whopper. American, Swiss or cheddar cheese is also an optional addition. You may have a single ¼-pound patty -- based on pre-cooked weight -- a double or even a triple. Burger King also offers a smaller burger called the Whopper Jr.
Basic Order Nutrition
If you order just the regular Whopper featuring a single patty with cheese and no condiments or vegetables, you will consume 520 calories. This burger contains 26g of fat, 11g of which are saturated and .5g of which are trans fats. The burger also contains 44g of carbohydrates and 29g of protein. A Whopper with cheese will provide you with 710mg of sodium, 6g of sugar and 75mg of cholesterol.
Additions
Adding lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard brings the calorie count up to 720. The addition of these toppings increases the single Whopper with cheese's fat content to 44g, with 14g saturated and 1g of trans fat. The sodium content increases to 1,220mg and cholesterol to 85mg. Mayonnaise alone adds 160 calories, 17g of fat and 3g of saturated fat.
Bigger Burgers
Order a double Whopper with cheese and no other toppings, and you'll consume 750 calories with 43g of fat -- 19g saturated and 1g trans. The double has 780mg of sodium and 140mg of cholesterol along with 44g of carbs and 48g of protein. A triple Whopper contains 1,180 calories and an incredible 79g of fat, 30g of which is saturated and 2g of trans fat. This triple burger has 69g of protein, 11g of sugar, 52g of carbs, 215mg of cholesterol and 1,360mg of sodium.
Considerations
The American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 7 percent of total daily calories from saturated fat and less than 1 percent from trans fats. For a 2,000 calorie diet, this is about 15.5g of saturated fat daily, so the Whopper with cheese and all the condiments comes close to a day's worth. The larger burgers all surpass these recommendations. The .5g of trans fat in a single Whopper with cheese is a quarter of the daily recommended amoung, while the triple burger provides all you should ever eat in a day. The sodium content of the burgers is also quite high. The Institute of Medicine recommends consuming just 1,500mg of sodium per day. All the Whoppers with cheese provide one-half to almost a full day's worth of sodium. If you order fries and a milkshake along with your Whopper, the sodium and fat content of your meal is going to rise even higher.
Healthier Options
If you crave the taste of a Whopper, order a Whopper Jr. with cheese. This small burger contains just 290 calories and 14g of fat with 6g saturated. It has 490mg of sodium, 45mg of cholesterol, 25g of carbohydrates and 15g of protein, so the Whopper Jr. with cheese will have less of a nutritional impact on your day. Other ways to lighten your Whopper are to hold the cheese, which saves 60 calories, 4g of fat and 210mg of sodium. Consider flame-grilled chicken sandwiches that are also offered on the Burger King menu as options that are lower in fat and calories.
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