How many calories are *really* in my cup at Yogurtland?

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It's strange when reality begins to mirror old Seinfeld episodes.

In this case, my curiosity involves the newest hot-spot or frozen yogurt, Yogurtland. If you've never been to a Yogurtland or don't have one near you, you're missing out.

I LOVE Yogurtland! Each shop always offers 10 different flavors of yogurt, and their yogurts are invariably delicious - far better than some recent knock-offs. They also offer a topping bar with a variety of fruits, nuts, candy, cookies, and syrups to complement the yogurt. And, best of all, YOU decide what you want and how much. Grab a cup and fill it or don't fill it to your heart's content -- as many flavors as you want, as many toppings as you want, as much or as little of each. You pay based on the weight, and there's a scale at the checkout counter that tallies your bill.

It's a fantastic place to get dessert and their yogurts are low calorie, and the fresh fruit can be low calorie, too. Of course, even too much of a good thing isn't so smart, but that's not the issue.

You decide on a simple dessert of Vanilla Wafer yogurt, and since the nutrition information is right on the machine ("30 calories per fl. oz."), you decide to get 6 ounces and have a 180-calorie dessert.  You bravely avoid the many seductive toppings (you really should add some blueberries or pineapple -- they're even lower in calories per ounce than even sugar-free yogurts), and arrive at the scale. If you're very clever and/or super nerdy, you know that the smaller of their two big cups weighs 0.75 ounces*, so you're happy when the scale reads 6.75 ounces (6 ounces of yogurt) and you pay the cashier for your yogurt and dig in.

OK, so how many calories is REALLY in your cup. Here's where it gets a little complicated and it's due to differences between weight and fluid measures. You can't just multiply the number on the scale (a measure of weight) and the calories per fluid ounce (listed on the machine and the nutrition chart) to reach the answer.

If you read the fine print on the Yogurtland nutrition chart, you'll see that a serving of yogurt is listed as 1/2 cup (a liquid measure) and it's equivalent 83 grams (a weight measure). So, the really important column of the large nutrition chart is not the first column, "Calories per 1 Fl. Oz." (also listed on each machine), but really the second column which is "Calories per [83g] serving). And for the Vanilla Wafer yogurt, that number is 130 calories.

So, 83 grams of Yogurtland Vanilla Wafer yogurt is 130 calories. How many calories are in 6 ounces as the scale measured? 6 ounces is just a shade over 170 grams, and at 130 calories/83 grams, 6 ounces of yogurt is REALLY 266.26 calories.

Yes, 266 calories is still less than the 300 calories in a Small Hot Fudge Sundae at Dairy Queen, but it's still 47.7% more than the 180 calories you thought you were eating for dessert. And, if you enjoyed this dessert once a week for a year, those phantom 86 extra calories per week would result in an extra 1.25 pounds on the scale.

For the record, this applies to all of Yogurtland yogurts, not just Vanilla Wafer. I usually opt for the No Sugar Added, Non-Fat French Vanilla (listed as 20 calories/fl. oz.) and 6 ounces of that isn't 120 calories, but really 163.8 calories (36.5% higher than I originally thought).

For your convenience, here's the math for all of the standard flavors listed on the Yogurtland nutrition chart (there are almost always special flavors, so you'll have to do those yourself).

Flavor	Cals/Fl. Oz.	Cals/83g	Calories/Scale Oz.	Difference	Cals/6 scale oz.
Arctic Vanilla	25	110	37.6	50%	225
Blood Orange Tart	25	90	30.7	23%	184
Boysenberry Tart	25	90	30.7	23%	184
Boysenberry	20	80	27.3	37%	164
Chocolate Coconut Truffle	30	110	37.6	25%	225
Chocolate Twilight	20	80	27.3	37%	164
Devil's Food Cupcake Batter	30	120	41.0	37%	246
Double Cookies & Cream	30	120	41.0	37%	246
Dutch Chocolate	25	110	37.6	50%	225
French Vanilla	20	80	27.3	37%	164
Fresh Strawberry	25	110	37.6	50%	225
Green Apple Tart	20	80	27.3	37%	164
Guava Pineapple Tart	20	90	30.7	54%	184
Juicy Peach Tart	20	90	30.7	54%	184
Kona Coffee Blend	25	110	37.6	50%	225
Lychee Tart	20	80	27.3	37%	164
Madagascar Vanilla Bean	30	110	37.6	25%	225
Mango	25	100	34.2	37%	205
Matcha Green Tea	30	110	37.6	25%	225
New York Cheesecake	30	120	41.0	37%	246
Peanut Butter	30	120	41.0	37%	246
Pecans & Pralines	20	80	27.3	37%	164
Pineapple Tart	25	100	34.2	37%	205
Pistachio	30	120	41.0	37%	246
Plain Tart	30	110	37.6	25%	225
Red Velvet Cake Batter	30	120	41.0	37%	246
Superfruit Tart	25	100	34.2	37%	205
Taro	30	110	37.6	25%	225
Toasted Coconut	30	120	41.0	37%	246
Vanilla Wafer	30	130	44.4	48%	266

Takeaways:

• Yogurtland yogurt is great tasting and still relatively low in calories.
• The small cup weighs .75 ounce, so deduct that from your scale reading to know how much stuff you're actually eating.
• Don't just multiply the calories listed on the machine times the weight on the scale to determine your calorie count for dessert, look at the chart or do the math yourself.
• If you haven't tried Taro yogurt at Yogurtland, you're missing out. Even better, it is the same calories in the cup as some yogurts listed as only 25 calories/fl. oz.!
• Fruits/toppings ARE listed per ounce, not fluid ounce, so there's no complicated math involved in toppings -- it's just scale weight * calories/ounce. And some fruits are lower calorie than yogurt (blueberries, and pineapple being just two of them), so enjoy some fruit with your yogurt!
• For the record, Red Mango yogurts tend to be slightly lower in calories; their lowest calorie yogurts are 80 calories per 93 ounce serving, but I like the greater variety of flavors and ability to control my own portions that Yogurtland provides.

* I've never weighed the large cup, since I don't eat that much at one sitting. The large cup is HUGE! Even the small cup is BIG!