Help! Just had a 576 calorie fajita! What do I change?

rianna412

I was cooking fajitas for dinner tonight and I thought I did everything right - I grilled boneless, skinless chicken and seasoning on my george foreman and only ate 2 ounces. I bought whole wheat tortillas, I have weight watchers cheese and reduced fat sour cream.

For ONE tortilla, MFP calculated 576 calories:

http://m.imgur.com/29eVS0j

What did I do wrong? How can I make this lower calorie? It was 576 cals, 13 g fat, 83 g carbs. Am I using the wrong tortillas? Should I completely omit cheese and sour cream? Help!

debubbie

In my fajitas, I use the Flatout wraps I think they are 90 calories a wrap and they come in a variety of flavors. I use Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream to save calories and add protein to the meal. Another trick I like using is to sometimes use a Laughing Cow cheese wedge (35 calories) to spread cheese on my wrap. I like to add spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms to my wrap as the veggies help to add bulk to the wrap without adding crazy amounts of calories.

shuasmith

First question is did that one full you up? If not, was there more meat and cheese than the were vegetables? Adding a bunch of vegetables to meat and cheese helps full you up while not costing a bunch of calories. I don't suggest cutting anything out of your diet yet but rather find alternate ways to fill out your meal. I made a pan of zucchini lasagna that in its entirety had just over 1000 calories. And I used real cheese and a pound of turkey. A serving was under 150 cals so 4 was less than your one fajita and it was delicious. The trick was the only thing in it that had real calories was the turkey and cheese.

If you are thinking of cutting something from that recipe, cut the tortilla. Add extra vegetables and throw it in a bowl.

Lastly if it did full you up, great! Sounds like a great dinner!

ana3067

Either you entered things in wrong (thus wrong calorie count) or you used calorie-dense foods, which is fine.\

Just because something is "healthy" doesn't mean it's super low calorie.

It's a carb-heavy meal. Whatever, that's still only a quarter of my intake while on a deficit. Ideally this should not make or break your day.

Also, you're not consistent with measuring things. Half a serving? Half a serving of what? How big was the chicken breast? Is the macro and calorie count only for the chicken or does it use spices/seasoning you added? Is that someone else's random database entry?

You also used boxed rice, which might make the count higher. I can have my normal 110ish grams of cooked rice and it's not that many calories. I use brown rice though.

Ready2Rock206

I'd probably just swap out the tortilla for a corn tortilla - so many less calories. Maybe ditch the rice (okay I probably wouldn't really - but if I didn't have the calories that would be dropped) But seriously for dinner I don't see anything wrong with a 576 calorie fajita if it filled you up.

SamLD88

Why did you add a full cup of rice to your tortilla?? How the heck can you even roll it up? When I make them, I usually put a tablespoon or two of rice in with lots of meat and veggies. I usually pick one or the other for the dairy products (sour cream or cheese), too.

mikeyboy

Help! Just had a 576 calorie fajita! What do I change?


You're bathroom schedule.

rianna412

Thanks everyone! The one did fill me up, but it still was a little concerning!

As far as the measurements - I cooked 16 ounces of chicken breast total, with seasoning. I couldn't figure out how to measured exactly how much seasoning I ate, because I used one packet on all 16 ounces. I created a recipe using 16 ounces chicken with one packet seasoning, considering a serving 4 oz.

Then in my tortilla, I used half of that serving (2 oz)...if that makes sense. So when I added the "recipe" to my log I used half a serving.

I think I might go buy low calorie tortillas. I love Mexican food and ill probably use them often, I just thought whole wheat was good enough! Whoops!

Eanna_S

I think you just need to use lower cal items for it, maybe switch the tortilla for a wholegrain wrap, which are about 200 cals, and use light mayo ect,

rianna412

Also for the rice: I didn't put it in the tortilla, it was a side. The package said a serving is 2/3 uncooked or 1 cup cooked rice, so I just followed that. To be fair it was a decent portion of rice so I will probably halve that in the future!

rianna412

I'm not gonna worry too much today because I only had 300 cals for breakfast and nothing else until now (was too busy all day, bad I know) so I'm still at a calorie deficit for the day, but going forward these are good tips

luckydays27

The rice did you in. nearly 200 cals. For that many cals, I would eat more chicken. It will fill you up longer and tastes better than rice.

Are you sure you had one serving of cheese? That is a lot of cheese for 2 oz of chicken.

I usually do corn tortillas which are 110 for 2 tortillas.

SamLD88

Also for the rice: I didn't put it in the tortilla, it was a side. The package said a serving is 2/3 uncooked or 1 cup cooked rice, so I just followed that. To be fair it was a decent portion of rice so I will probably halve that in the future!

Ah, that makes sense! Well, if that was a good dinner, by all means, enjoy it! I usually split my calories as follows:

I have about 1800 a day.

Breakfast: ~300-400 cal
Lunch: ~400-600
Dinner: ~400-600
Snacks: ~200-400

Homemade mexican is still way less calories than restaurant mexican, so I wouldn't worry too much about it If you can tolerate artificial sweeteners, you could get the low-cal tortillas; you could also reduce meat to 1 oz or so and increase veggies; could also reduce to 1/2 cup rice.

bschneider5

If one fajita filled you up and it was 576 calories, I don't see the big deal. Eat two of them, you'll have to go to the gym and earn the calories back. The sour cream and rice I would have cut way back on.

ana3067

Thanks everyone! The one did fill me up, but it still was a little concerning!

As far as the measurements - I cooked 16 ounces of chicken breast total, with seasoning. I couldn't figure out how to measured exactly how much seasoning I ate, because I used one packet on all 16 ounces. I created a recipe using 16 ounces chicken with one packet seasoning, considering a serving 4 oz.

Then in my tortilla, I used half of that serving (2 oz)...if that makes sense. So when I added the "recipe" to my log I used half a serving.

I think I might go buy low calorie tortillas. I love Mexican food and ill probably use them often, I just thought whole wheat was good enough! Whoops!

Makes much more sense, this is what I do if I need to incorporate a few ingredients together and cooking it in bulk. Just make sure you used the raw chicken data if you weighed/measured it raw.

Just play around with different ingredients, lower-fat choices to help make the meal less calorie-dense, tweaking how much of things you use. Adding more veggies also helps.

erikfarrar

Honestly, try getting used to just ditching the "wrapping" with lots of stuff. Eat fajita filling with a fork, and lose the wrap; invest in some iceberg lettuce to wrap all your sandwich items in; etc.

Other good tips: decline the rice with Chinese, Indian, etc. Leaves a lot more calorie (and stomach) room for other, tastier stuff. Or, a the very least, substitute quinoa or something similar.

I haven't bought a loaf of bread or tortillas, I don't think, since I started with MFP. You really won't miss that stuff.

Lelah77

I often decide on tortilla OR rice. The Fajita filling is so dang good on its own, I can eat it with just the rice if I really want rice. Flour tortillas are surprisingly calorie dense! Sneaky, sneaky!

Pete1964AK

La Tortilla Factory make pretty decent low cal, hgh fibre tortilla/wraps. Only 80 calories, I'm not a fan of rice anyway, so that's an easy ditch.

nicsflyingcircus

I ate a 700+ calorie burrito bowl for dinner!

Course it had 140gm cooked chicken, 130gm black beans, 175gram lettuce(4:3 romaine to iceburg), 170gm lightly sauteed peppers and onions, 40gm reduced-fat cheddar, 31g reduced-fat sour cream, 45gm medium salsa and 2oz guacamole(from a pre-measured mini cup). Plus seasoning mix on chicken and a touch of oil in the pan for the sauteed veggies.

It was awesome, full of protein snd good fat and deliciousness. Five hours later I am still full and contemplating skipping my yogurt and fruit

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Walter__

Stop using measuring cups/spoons. Use a food scale instead.

Francl27

Stop using measuring cups/spoons. Use a food scale instead.

This. For all you know, you had a 700 calories meal anyway.

TeaBea

Why did you add a full cup of rice to your tortilla?? How the heck can you even roll it up? When I make them, I usually put a tablespoon or two of rice in with lots of meat and veggies. I usually pick one or the other for the dairy products (sour cream or cheese), too.

This^

You already have carbs in the wrap.....use less rice, and more veggies. I like sour cream & cheese way more than I like rice.

TavistockToad

Stop using measuring cups/spoons. Use a food scale instead.

This. For all you know, you had a 700 calories meal anyway.

:laugh:

if it had rice in its not fajitas....

Hell_Flower

Why did you add a full cup of rice to your tortilla?? How the heck can you even roll it up? When I make them, I usually put a tablespoon or two of rice in with lots of meat and veggies. I usually pick one or the other for the dairy products (sour cream or cheese), too.

This^

You already have carbs in the wrap.....use less rice, and more veggies. I like sour cream & cheese way more than I like rice.

Yep - agree with this!

Bulk out your fajita with capsicum/bell peppers. A red, a green and a yellow one will bulk the meal right out and you get way more bang for your buck. Plus SO COLOURFUL and it shakes up the texture too.

Mmm...now I want fajitas....

JoRocka

You can cut the sour cream and add plain greek yogurt- it's a fraction of the calories and the taste/texture difference is negligable for most people.

Plus 500 calories for dinner is easy peasy lemon squeezy- no big thang.

srslybritt

I always check the NI before I buy any kind of bread, wrap, or tortilla. I want to make sure it's going to fit into my goals for the day, especially if I have specific plans for it, or that it's reasonable to plan enough room for it. A 500+ calorie tortilla would be a nope for me, no matter what's in it.
ETA: I mention this because it sounds like that's where the bulk of your calories are from. The greek yogurt suggestion is a good one, but just be prepared--that stuff has a really strong taste.

That being said, I like having tacos, fajitas, etc without the tortillas. I crumble blue corn chips in or just eat it as a salad and it's delicious.

I know there is a brand out there that does tortillas made of different things. I think it might be Ortega or something like that. My favorite of those ones is the black beans and corn, and I think they're reasonable calorie-wise. They are a bit on the small side.

Tammy_1971

Get the low-carb tortilla's. I use them and they taste the same to me, especially when you are putting that yummy goodness inside!

Eoghann

I expect my lunch and dinner to be at least 800 calories a piece...

MinnieInMaine

I have yet to find a low cal/low carb tortilla that I really like either due to taste or because they don't stay together when wrapping. So I'd change this meal by just having the chicken and such over the rice and skip the tortilla all together. Also, adding more veggies to bulk never hurts as they're low cal.

JoRocka

I always check the NI before I buy any kind of bread, wrap, or tortilla. I want to make sure it's going to fit into my goals for the day, especially if I have specific plans for it, or that it's reasonable to plan enough room for it. A 500+ calorie tortilla would be a nope for me, no matter what's in it.
ETA: I mention this because it sounds like that's where the bulk of your calories are from. The greek yogurt suggestion is a good one, but just be prepared--that stuff has a really strong taste.

That being said, I like having tacos, fajitas, etc without the tortillas. I crumble blue corn chips in or just eat it as a salad and it's delicious.

I know there is a brand out there that does tortillas made of different things. I think it might be Ortega or something like that. My favorite of those ones is the black beans and corn, and I think they're reasonable calorie-wise. They are a bit on the small side.

Sunday I found these made by OLE- "extreme wellness" they say in a big slash across the front
healthy herb and tomato basil I think.... I don't really care what the heck they call them- it's a product that doesn't go bad like lettuce- and is less than 100 calories. call it whatever you want. It's food I can eat more of which is a big fat WIN.

They are really floppy- not a lot of structure- not my favorite- but at 90 calories per tortilla- I'll take it. So much less than regular ones!!! I can actually EAT them and not pick around the tortillas!!! WOOT WOOT!!

(have two today actually)