Chocolate Milkshake Mania: Calorie Counts in Top Fast Food Shakes

Happy Chocolate Milkshake Day!

That's right. September 12 marks this delightful dairy treat day, when culinary cravings turn to bountiful blended treats. Chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup and maybe some chocolate malt make up these favorite flavored shakes for many.

How many calories do chocolate milkshakes contain?

Here's a sampling of estimated calorie totals for chocolate milkshakes at several favorite fast food restaurants across the United States.

See where your hot spot for a cool shake measures up on this list, arranged in calorically descending order.

Check out these calorie counts for popular large chocolate shakes.

Dairy Queen large chocolate malt: 1,300 calories

Jack-in-the-Box large chocolate ice cream shake: 1,230 calories

Whataburger large chocolate shake: 1,217 calories

Oberweis Dairy large chocolate shake: 1,200 calories

McDonald's large chocolate triple-thick shake: 1,160 calories

Dairy Queen large chocolate shake: 1,140 calories

Baskin-Robbins large chocolate milkshake: 990 calories

Sonic large chocolate cream pie shake: 990 calories

Burger King large chocolate milkshake: 950 calories

Fatburger large chocolate shake: 910 calories

Hardee's large chocolate malt: 880 calories

Steak 'N Shake large chocolate shake: 850 calories

Sonic large chocolate shake: 810 calories

Carl's Jr. large chocolate malt: 780 calories

Chick-Fil-A large hand-spun chocolate milkshake: 760 calories

Sonic large chocolate shake: 750 calories

Carl's Jr. large chocolate shake: 710 calories

Denny's large chocolate milkshake: 560 calories

Intriguingly, caloric contents of some fast food shakes vary regionally. For example, White Castle's large chocolate shake may contain anywhere from 850 to 1,680 calories.

Sure, large shake sizes may vary from restaurant to restaurant, but these are tall orders indeed from a nutritional standpoint.

Of course, medium and small chocolate shakes contain smaller caloric totals, making them less costly choices, calorically speaking, for those of us who are counting points and watching our waistlines. A medium chocolate Frosty at Wendy's, for instance, totals about 400 calories. Arby's medium chocolate shake totals approximately 480 calories.

What about diet chocolate shakes?

Diehard dieters can already spout the caloric totals of their favorite chocolate slim-down shakes:

Slim-Fast (190 calories)

Optifast (160 calories)

Lighterlife (125 calories)

Curves (110 calories)

New Lifestyle (100 calories)

Herbalife (90 calories)

LA Weight Loss (90 calories)

Weight loss specialists will quickly point out that diet chocolate shakes are often used as meal substitutes, rather than beverages or desserts.

Do diet drinks count on Chocolate Milkshake Day? Take your pick.

Real chocolate shakes cost calories!

Maybe they're worth it.

However you shake it, good old-fashioned chocolate milkshakes tend to be high-calorie choices at fast-food joints. Simply put, a shake is a splurge.

Still, September 12 is Chocolate Milkshake Day, so go ahead. Just be sure to get out there and shake it, so you can burn off those calories.

Sources:

A Calorie Counter, Calorie Count, Fast Food Facts, Find the Best: Fast Food Nutrition, Lifemana, LiveStrong and The Calorie Counter

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Linda Ann Nickerson brings decades of experience and a globally-minded Midwestern perspective to a host of topics, balancing human interest with history, hard facts and often humor.