“The big picture is that New Yorkers don’t have access to calorie information,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner. “They overwhelmingly want it. Not everyone will use it, but many people will, and when they use it, it changes what they order, and that should reduce obesity and, with it, diabetes.”

The new regulation would apply to about 10 percent of the city’s 23,000 restaurants, about the same as would have been affected by the previous regulation. But those that would fall under the new regulation serve about a third of all food eaten outside the home here each year, according to health officials.

They say most fast food customers simply have no idea how many calories they are taking in.

A typical McDonald’s lunch of a Big Mac, large fries and a medium Coke has about 1,320 calories, about 66 percent of the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult. A Burger King triple Whopper with cheese has 1,230 calories. One Boston Kreme doughnut at Dunkin’ Donuts has 270 calories.

A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Nov. 27, and the Board of Health, whose approval is necessary to enact the measure, is expected to vote in January. The 11-member board is appointed by the mayor and led by Dr. Frieden, so approval appears likely. The proposal would take effect March 31, 2008.

About 56 percent of adults in the city are obese or overweight, health officials say. Last December the city became the first municipality in the country to try to impose menu labeling requirements on chain restaurants. It is one of several health-related reforms, including bans on smoking in public places and on trans-fats in restaurant cooking, that have earned Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg praise in some circles and a nickname of the nanny mayor in others.