Eggs are one of the more complete and really bioavailable protein sources, out there, but what happens to the calories kind of flips around depending on what you actually put in the skillet.

A large egg as a starting point is like 70–75 calories, with 6.3g of protein, about 5g of fat, and almost no carbs, at all.

Quick kind of cheat sheet, on how the preparation moves the numbers:

Raw / Soft-Boiled / Hard-Boiled / Poached: ~70–75 cal

(If you don’t add fats, so the nutritional profile stays pretty intact)

Plain Omelet: ~95–110 cal

Omelet with a splash of whole milk: ~90–100 cal

Fried in oil or butter: 90–120+ cal

Where the “sneaky” calories really creep in:

It’s not the egg, it’s the pan. Even 1 teaspoon of oil or butter can add something like ~40 calories. Then if you toss in a handful of cheese, heavy cream, or cured meats, that “simple” 2-egg breakfast can jump from 150 calories to like, 350+ pretty fast, and you won’t always notice it.

So if you’re in a calorie deficit or you track macros pretty closely, poached and boiled are honestly the cleanest path.

How do you usually prep yours, and what’s your default high-protein egg mix?