One of McDonald's original menu items is the cheeseburger. The burger consists of a white bun with pickles, ketchup and mustard, a 1.8 oz. hamburger and .5 oz of American-style cheese. The calorie count of the cheeseburger is not the only nutritional information you should consider.
Calorie Content
A McDonald's cheeseburger contains 300 calories. A double cheeseburger contains 440 calories. However, changing your order to a quarter pounder with cheese increases the calorie count to 510 calories. Order a double-quarter pounder with cheese for 740 calories.
Significance
Knowing how many calories are in a cheeseburger at McDonald's helps you keep track of your total daily intake. Balancing the number of calories you eat and the number you burn daily helps you maintain your weight. If you are looking to lose weight, you should take in fewer calories than you burn.
Fat Considerations
One-hundred ten of the calories in a single cheeseburger come from fat, 6 g of which are saturated and .5 g of which are trans fat. The double contains 210 calories worth of fat with 11 g saturated and 1.5 g trans. The American Heart Association recommends you limit saturated fat to less than 7 percent of total calories daily and trans fats to less than 1 percent. For a 2,000-calorie diet, this means just 140 calories daily, or 15.5 g of saturated, and 18 calories, or 2 g, of trans fats total. Eating too much saturated fat increases your risk of developing heart disease, and trans fats negatively affect your blood cholesterol levels.
Sodium
While a plain cheeseburger is not as high in calories as other menu options, it does contain 750 mg of sodium. The double contains 1,150 mg. The Institute of Medicine recommends limiting sodium to just 1,500 mg daily.
Healthier Options
Ordering a plain hamburger saves you 50 calories, 230 mg of sodium and 3 g of fat. For 320 calories and 9 g of fat, you can have the Southwest salad with grilled chicken. The Caesar salad with grilled chicken has even fewer calories, just 200 with 6 g of fat. Adding dressings to these salads can signficantly increase the calorie and fat content, however. These salads also contain high amounts of sodium. If you are committed to a cheeseburger, hold off on a large fries and soda to keep the calorie count under control.
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