I had lost the link to the original page long ago but found it recently while googling for Garbage Plate related items. If my math is correct, and Wikipedia is as well, then there are 837.18 calories from fat in a Garbage Plate (93.02g fat × 9kcal/g fat = 837.18kcal). Now if we assume that the rest of the weight is protein and carbs, which are luckily both 4kcal/g, that is an additional 1976.04 calories ((587.03g total - 93.02g fat)g × 4kcal/g = 1976.04kcal). That would bring the grand total up to 2813.22 calories in a plate!. I'm guessing that I should account for the moisture since I don't think that should count towards the total amount (I'm clearly not a nutritionalist). That means I'd have to take the total weight of each item individually, subtract the percentage of moisture, subtract the weight of the fat, then multiply by 4kcal/g. Aw man, this is gonna require a table for me to keep track of now...
| ingredient |
weight in g |
% water |
g fat |
weight - % water |
remaining weight in g |
| burger |
103.7 |
54.5 |
21.56 |
103.7 - (103.7 × 0.545) = 56.5165 |
56.5165 - 21.56 = 34.9565 |
| mac |
242.66 |
51.2 |
47.34 |
242.66 - (242.66 × 0.512) = 118.41808 |
118.41808 - 47.34 = 71.07808 |
| taters |
151.53 |
56.3 |
23.55 |
151.53 - (151.53 × 0.563) = 66.21861 |
66.21861 - 23.55 = 42.66861 |
| bread |
89.57 |
27.0 |
0.57 |
89.57 - (89.57 × 0.27) = 65.3861 |
65.3861 - 27.0 = 38.3861 |
| remaining total: |
187.08929g |
kcal: |
748.35716 |
total calories: |
1585.53716 |
1586 calories sounds pretty healthy for what you get. So that leaves the number of calories in a Cheeseburger Garbage Plate anywhere between 1586 and 2813. Plus I would say that there is an approximate margin of error of ±50% because there are so many unknowns, I can't account for undigestables, and who knows how accurate that Cornell dude was. Regardless, chances are you'll be over your 70g/95g daily limit for fat.
PLEASE NOTE: I'm not a mathematician, a nutritionalist, or a lawyer, so please check my work and correct me where I'm wrong. Thanks!