Walk into a fast food restaurant at meal times and you’re really hungry. Your first instinct is to order the biggest and juiciest burger they have on the menu. Now, that’s really understandable, but take a minute and check the nutrition facts of some popular burgers. While that juicy, lip-smacking meal is a treat for your taste buds: your heart, waistline and butt might have a different opinion. Along with the taste, these meals do not only have a generous amount of calories, but they also have sugar, salt and fat in proportions not quite advised by your doctor.

Which are the juicy treats you need to watch out for? Take a look at the list below. It starts off with the somewhat tolerable ones to the definite no-nos to avoid. If you absolutely must go for them, share them with a friend, and add a salad to go with it. Cutting down on the portions you eat could help a little.

Hardee’s Monster Thickburger

Available in options of half pound, a third of a pound or a quarter pound, the chain rightly calls them El Diablos. The biggest of them can pack a monstrous 1380 calories most of which come from the Angus beef patty and bacon strips. But, the real culprit here is the enormous amount of sodium at 3830 mg. Have one of the burgers and you will be packing about 120% of the daily salt doctors will recommend to you.

Sonic SuperSONIC Bacon Double Cheeseburger

This sinful burger packs two 100% beef patties, two slices of cheese, crispy bacon and a generous helping of mayo. A bunch of ingredients that completely overwhelm the goodness of the lettuce and tomatoes. What will it cost you? 1,240 calories a sandwich combined into 35 grams of saturated fat and 70% of the salt you can safely consume on a given day.

Image credits: foodpixer.com

Whataburger Chop House Cheddar Burger

It’s a treat for steak lovers as the restaurant calls it. And it is. All the way. Sink your teeth into one and you’ll enjoy the taste of two juicy beef patties, crispy bacon, and shredded cheddar cheese with a yummy topping of creamy steak sauce with a flavoring of grilled onions. If your calorie target for the day is 2000, you’ll be consuming a fourth of it in one sitting with this meal. They also offer you sides of onion rings or apple slices and mouth-watering shakes. Watch what you order!!

Wendy’s Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy

Wendy’s offers you these burgers in three specifications, the quarter pounder, half pounder, and the massive three-quarter pounder. Each patty is made of a quarter pound of beef. Add to that slices of cheese and vegetables and you have an awesome meal. Do keep in mind that the Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy Triple Burger packs 1110 calories along with 1990 mg of sodium.

Carl’s Jr. Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger

It’s actually hard to resist these burgers layered with two patties of pure beef, strips of bacon, crisp onion rings, and two slices of cheese. A delightful combination spiced up with a Tangy BBQ sauce. The calorie content? “Just” 920 calories with 50 gms of total fat of which 21 gms are saturated, and an amazing 1730 mg of sodium.

Jack In the Box Sirloin Cheeseburger with Bacon

So why is this sinful? Where shall we begin? A quarter pound beef patty with a generous pat of melted garlic herb butter. That’s not all. It also has strips of smoked bacon, and Swiss cheese topped with creamy bacon mayo. Before you reach for your phone to order this one, take a look at the nutrition facts. It’s more compact than the Burger King’s Triple Whopper, but don’t let its small size con you. This burger actually packs 1030 calories with 23 grams of saturated fat.

Burger King Triple Whopper Sandwich

It’s called a whopper for a reason. Talk about three beef patties at a quarter pound each along with creamy mayonnaise. But, it had salad too like tomatoes, white onion slices, lettuce, crunchy pickles and ketchup. Together this monstrosity packs 1020 calories and contains 23 grams of saturated fat (that’s your permitted amount in a single day).

Dairy Queen FlameThrower GrillBurger

This burger is perhaps a complete meal by itself because it weighs close to three quarters of a pound. What goes into it? Let’s see now. Two quarter pound beef patties, pepper jack cheese, and jalapeno bacon. There’s also the mayo flavored with Tabasco, tomatoes and lettuce. All this served in a toasted bun. The problem is possibly the sodium at 1670 mg. You’ll be putting away 1010 calories at one sitting with this one.

Five Guys Bacon Cheeseburger

The basic Bacon Cheeseburger comes with two beef patties, crisp bacon and cheese. The fun part? You can choose from the amazing range of toppings that can be added at no extra cost. Go for grilled onions, tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, pickles, lettuce and the sauces you like. One of these burgers can cost you about 920 calories.

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McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese

Two quarter pound beef patties alternated with slices of cheese along with onion and pickles. Pretty simple when you think about it, but can set your diet back by 750 calories and 43 gms of fat.

With this list in hand, you’ll now know what you should (or shouldn’t order) when you visit your favorite fast food restaurant.

So tell us. Have you any other diet-killers to add to this list?