When you break down the ingredients in a chili cheese hot dog, you find many sources of calories. The Food and Drug Administration explains that 40 is a low number of calories, 100 is moderate and 400 is high for a food item. It suggests you look at calories from fat instead of only total calories. The 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming no more than 20 percent to 35 percent of your calories from fat. Also, a large portion of the fat should come from mono and polyunsaturated sources, instead of trans and saturated sources. All together, the ingredients of a chili cheese dog add up to 585 calories, which is considered high by FDA standards.

One hot dog contains 173 calories, 140 of which are from fat, according to Diet Facts. Considering that 36 percent of the fat is saturated and that most of the calories are from fat, this food choice has too many calories from fat by Dietary Guideline standards.

A hot dog bun adds 110 calories to the chili cheese dog, a moderate amount by FDA standards. Twenty of these calories come from fat.

Nine oz. of homemade chili contain 188 calories, 81 from fat, according to Diet Facts. You would most likely use less than nine9 oz. on a chili dog, so that would decrease the calories.

You might want to skip the cheese on top, as 1 oz. of shredded cheddar cheese has 114 calories, 85 of which are from fat. If you use less, it will decrease the calories.