McDonald's Portion Sizes Have Drastically Changed Since 1955

McDonald's portions have super-sized since the fast food chain's first store opened in 1955. At that time, a customer could order only one size of fries off the menu, and the serving was about 2.4 ounces, according to Buzzfeed. That's .2 ounces less than a standard small fries offers today. But who's choosing small when you can get a lot more fries for just a little extra dough? Today's large serves up 5.9 ounces of fried potatoes -- and 510 calories to boot.

We can't be so surprised, then, that Americans' waistlines have increased as their sodas, burgers and fries have been seriously beefed up. In the early 1960s, the average American man weighed 166.2 pounds. In 2010, he weighed 195.5 pounds, gaining nearly 30 pounds.

Other restaurants have expand their plates, too, of course -- according to the CDC, the average restaurant meal is now more than four times larger than it was in the 1950s. But the startling McDonald's visuals in the video from BuzzFeed below surely serve as a reminder that bigger isn't always better.

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