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It's no mystery why Americans are fatter. We're expending less energy to work, play, travel and acquire food. And we're taking more calories in.

And how!

New York City's recent law requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus has revealed some intriguing — and appalling — information. Some observations:

Studies have shown that even dietitians often underestimate how many calories dishes contain, and no wonder. Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken packs 1,290 calories. Pizzeria Uno's Individual Chicago Classic (serves one) has 2,310. Bear in mind that to maintain their present weight, most men should consume from 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day; most women from 1,500 to 1,800.

But it sounds so healthy . . .

Salads come so embellished these days, they may as well be dessert. The Pecan-coated Chicken Salad at T.G.I. Friday's (garnished with mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, glazed pecans, celery and blue cheese) is 1,360 calories. California Pizza Kitchen's Grilled Vegetable Salad is 1,020, or 1,490 with sautéed salmon. (California Pizza has several restaurants in the Phoenix area.)

Sandwiches can be a caloric bargain in comparison. At Shea Stadium's Metropolitan Club, the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad is 807 calories; the Grilled Chicken Sandwich is 340. As veteran dieters know, dressing sends salads to the moon, calorically. Some menus helpfully point out options: Uno's honey mustard has 300 calories per serving; its fat-free vinaigrette has only 30.

Surprisingly, one of the lowest-calorie options on some menus is the unadorned sirloin steak. The 9-ounce sirloin at Applebee's is 310 calories. The 10-ounce at Friday's is 290.

"I actually prefer a roast-beef sandwich to tuna salad — and it turns out the tuna has almost twice the calories," says New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, who spearheaded the new law. On July 19, the city started fining restaurants that don't comply.

Little items like mayonnaise, cheese, sour cream and guacamole add up fast— which is why fajitas often weigh in at more than 1,000 calories. Some restaurants list calories for individual ingredients so you can pick and choose. Others just list a frustratingly wide range. Chipotle's burritos run from 420 to 918.

The massive calorie counts on some dishes accompany massive portions, which is part of the business model at some restaurants. "The incremental cost of upping the amount of food is very low compared with what consumers will pay," says Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. You can fight back by sharing that 1,500-calorie salad or taking half home. You can also make it your big meal of the day.

Some restaurants have had their own sticker shock and started offering lighter options. Starbucks, for example, has cut, on average, 5 percent of the calories and 15 percent of the fat from its pastry items and 14 percent of the calories and 36 percent of the fat from its drinks in recent years and plans to introduce new, healthier menu items this fall.

Calorie-conscious diners outside New York can get help from Healthy Dining, a San Diego-based program that works with restaurants to develop healthy offerings. Its Web site, HealthyDiningFinder.com, lists 55,000 locations that have at least four meals less than 750 calories and 25 grams of fat. (We found that using your zip code and all restaurants within 20 miles gave a good mix of local offerings.)

Starting next year, chain restaurants in Seattle will have to post not only calories but also saturated fat, sodium and carbohydrates on menus. Similar laws are pending in San Francisco and have been proposed in other states and cities.

Will such information help Americans stop gaining weight? Elisabetta Politi, director of nutrition at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center, isn't so sure.

"Some of our clients know so much about nutrition they could teach the classes, but does that help them control their weight? Absolutely not," she says. "It's very hard to translate knowledge into behavior."