I cannot seem to stay within my calorie goal

Fibrous foods and proteins tend to keep you full longer.

What sort of noodles are you eating exactly that are 800 calories for 1 cup cooked? O.o

I stay at or under 1573 a day, and i'm much larger than you... I still eat pretty much what I want within reason... one thing i've had to give up... or eat as a side dish only is pasta... pasta tends to run high in calories... so make it a side dish, only use like 2oz of pasta and have a protein and veggie main dish. My meal plans generally change each day, depending on the amount of exercise I do and what I want to eat some days. I find it easier to stick to a meal plan and stay in my calorie goal if I prepare ahead of time, write down what I plan on eating for the following day, and log them, it shows me my calorie info, I take that into consideration and then make the decision on if I'm going to have a high calorie meal, then I need to work out to burn at least half that meal off to keep within my goal calorie amount.

Use zucchini instead of noodles. Way less calories and better for you.

First thought is to ask how many of your calories are coming from protein?

This! A calorie is NOT a calorie. Lean meat, Egg Whites, seafood a TON of Veggies...when I say a ton..I mean a ton.

Woah, most spaghetti/pasta I've seen (even store brands, not healthy kind) are ~200 calories per cooked cup. (a single serving is 2 oz dry = roughly a cup cooked), so I think 800 calories may be wrong... unless other things are in play we don't know about.

But that's as far as I go with advice here, everyone else has the rest covered better than I probably

1.) Plan your food the day before as much as possible
2.) Fill up on low cal veggies and lean meats, and keep your carb portions smaller-most carbs are more calorie dense.

First thought is to ask how many of your calories are coming from protein?

This! A calorie is NOT a calorie. Lean meat, Egg Whites, seafood a TON of Veggies...when I say a ton..I mean a ton.

sure it is. eat less calories, at a deficit, and you lose weight no matter what it is.

You did not eat 800 calories. I just looked up the nutrition info online, and it's 210 calories for 56g - that's a standard dry measurement for pasta (56g or 2 oz dry). That generally comes out to be 1 cup cooked. So you had 210 calories worth of spaghetti, not 800. Obviously that's an estimation since you're using measuring cups once it's cooked, but it's a lot closer to correct than 800 calories.

Yeah, I just changed it (we cross-posted). Unfortunately, I still blew my calories for that day, as embarrassingly mentioned above, lol.

Dont be too hard on yourself, it's all a learning process, it sounds like everyone has offered some really good advice and you have a great attitude that will get you through the long haul :flowerforyou:

When I started, I was a 250 lb man with calorie intake of 3000 on an average day. Now an average day for me is roughly 1350.

Tips I learned:

-you mentioned your frosting binge... THROW AWAY all frosting, chips, frozen fried crap, etc. 90% of what you eat should be fresh. The exception would be lean cuisine style meals.
- lunch is a glorified snack. Do a lean cuisine or soup or something, but try to keep lunch at, or below 300 calories.
- low sugar oatmeal, and egg whites are your new best friends for breakfast. You can have a bowl of oatmeal AND scrambled egg whites for under 200 calories. Throw in some strawberry, banana, apples, or grapes, and you have a filling and yummy 300 cal breakfast every day.
- dinner is lean protein and two veggies. I try to avoid pasta entirely now, and rice is brown rice in small amounts. 8oz is your biggest protein size now.
- remove butter and oil from everything. PAM it is.
- oh dessert... Sigh... Fruits are desserts too. Otherwise, SMALL portions of fat free yogurt, puddings, jello, etc. No more cakes, donuts, pies, pastries, frosting, cookies, etc.

What I've learned on my journey is that these changes are about long term success and emotional well being.

Think about eating that frosting... For the five minutes you were doing that, you may have felt pretty good, but days later I bet there is still guilt and shame. So was the five minutes worth of comfort worth the days of regret and guilt? That's what I think when I now see a plate of donuts or cake in the break room... Sure, I will enjoy it for a moment, but I will spend the rest of the day feeling miserable about it. Think of that misery when looking at the junk, and it will become a lot easier to realize, you don't need the food to be happy... It's the food that makes it harder to be happy.

I would suggest cutting the portions of what you eat, rather than banning any foods per se. Quite quickly you find that you cant eat as much as you used to as your body adapts. I tend to opt fir smaller portions of e erything, mainly healthy with a few less healthy foods, and the wight is dropping steadily

When I started, I was a 250 lb man with calorie intake of 3000 on an average day. Now an average day for me is roughly 1350.

That is not a healthy amount for any man

-you mentioned your frosting binge... THROW AWAY all frosting, chips, frozen fried crap, etc. 90% of what you eat should be fresh. The exception would be lean cuisine style meals.

Don't throw away any food. if you don't want it donate it. People struggle to feed their families throwing good food away is just selfish

- lunch is a glorified snack. Do a lean cuisine or soup or something, but try to keep lunch at, or below 300 calories.

That may work for you but the OP is eating a very reasonable 1800 calories and can easily eat far more for lunch which is less likely to leave her craving other foods

- low sugar oatmeal, and egg whites are your new best friends for breakfast. You can have a bowl of oatmeal AND scrambled egg whites for under 200 calories. Throw in some strawberry, banana, apples, or grapes, and you have a filling and yummy 300 cal breakfast every day.

Personally my breakfasts hit around 500 calories a 200 or 300 calorie breakfast wouldn't keep most people going. As for low sugar stuff personally I'd rather just go for normal oats. Egg whites well I don't eat eggs but if your going to eat them eat the whole thing there's a lot of nutrition in the yolks

- dinner is lean protein and two veggies. I try to avoid pasta entirely now, and rice is brown rice in small amounts. 8oz is your biggest protein size now.

Sorry that just sounds mind numbingly boring. you don't need to deprive yourself of interesting foods

- remove butter and oil from everything. PAM it is.

Err If you eat dairy keep the butter and some oil the correct fats are good for you just reduce the amount to reduce calories

No more cakes, donuts, pies, pastries, frosting, cookies, etc.

Err No just no. You can have anything in moderation. I seem to have done pretty well still having cakes and pastries and whatever I want in moderation.

What I've learned on my journey is that these changes are about long term success and emotional well being.

Great that it works for you but for the majority of people plans like yours are why people fail

Think about eating that frosting... For the five minutes you were doing that, you may have felt pretty good, but days later I bet there is still guilt and shame. So was the five minutes worth of comfort worth the days of regret and guilt? That's what I think when I now see a plate of donuts or cake in the break room... Sure, I will enjoy it for a moment, but I will spend the rest of the day feeling miserable about it. Think of that misery when looking at the junk, and it will become a lot easier to realize, you don't need the food to be happy... It's the food that makes it harder to be happy.

I think this is part of the problem people are seeing food as bad or evil. Food is just well food it is neither good nor evil.

Eat a balanced diet with a good mix of food groups control your portion sizes and include cakes and ice cream if you wish in moderation. The idea is not to make yourself suffer but to live and find a way that will enable you to eat like this long term

Good Luck OP

Edited to sort out quotes

I'm surprised I'm being judged for sharing my experiences so harshly... Everyone has their own view.

I know many people who say, "I can have that cake as long as I only have X for dinner and exercise for Y more minutes..."

Here is my own problem there and why I do take a different tact. For me, and we are all different, I would have to consider myself a food addict. Some may scoff, but having lived how I have, I cannot describe it any other way. So, having that piece of cake would be like telling the heroin addict to just have a little heroin today as long as they don't have any tomorrow. I know that piece of cake will lead to a second piece of cake, and then a larger piece of cake the next day, etc.

The willpower for me is easier to just not eat the cake as opposed to eating in "moderation."

I'm hopeful that at some point in my life I will be able to simply eat the one piece of cake every 10 days, or the one bowl of ice cream, or the one donut out of the box. But I have found for me, and for many others who are starting out, it is sometimes better to simply remove the temptation entirely as opposed to attempt to moderate something g that you have done to excess for years upon years.