I cannot seem to stay within my calorie goal

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MJDuley
MJDuley Posts: 47 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My daily calorie goal is 1800. Almost every single day I go over it by a few hundred. Today it was a cup of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, at 800 calories, that put me over.

How am I supposed to stay within my calorie range when even relatively healthy foods seem to be high in calories? I never thought a cup of cooked spaghetti noodles was all that much and I was shocked to see the calorie content of whole wheat pasta. I thought I was eating healthy!
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Replies

  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    First thought is to ask how many of your calories are coming from protein?
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    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
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
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    I'm sure that calorie count was for dry noodles, not cooked.
  • ashleyweatherholtzmathis
    ashleyweatherholtzmathis Posts: 24 Member
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    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.
  • fr053n
    fr053n Posts: 2,793 Member
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    More fiber!! Also, try to include some healthy fats at breakfast. It will keep you from getting too hungry throughout the day.
  • PinkyFett
    PinkyFett Posts: 842 Member
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    Use zucchini instead of noodles. Way less calories and better for you.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    1. Opening your diary might lead to more helpful advice.
    2. Be sure you are logging correctly
    3. Protein, fiber, more protein, more fiber - keeps you fuller longer
  • newb01
    newb01 Posts: 22
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    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.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,732 Member
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    1. Would you mind opening your diary so that we can maybe make suggestions to replace some of your high-calorie favorites?

    2. Fill up on lean proteins and low-calorie/high bulk veggies, like salad (light dressings), squash, greens, green beans, sugar snap peas, carrots, tomatoes, etc. Think seafood, white chicken, turkey, ham (if you're not watching your sodium) and think baked, broiled, steamed and sauteed instead of fried. This should leave you enough leftover calories to still have treats and other things you love, so you don't feel deprived.
  • rideontechnology
    rideontechnology Posts: 54 Member
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    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
  • Sunbrooke
    Sunbrooke Posts: 632 Member
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    Add as many of the vegetables, that you like without calories dense sauces, as you can. Since my husband starting having a huge veggie salad for lunch and fruit for breakfast, he has plenty of calories for the evening. Also, treat yourself to your favorite low calories foods. I used to eat an artichoke over the course of a coupe of days because they can be a little expensive, but now I eat one for a snack. Same with grilled asparagus. If you like those lightly sauced steamable frozen veggie blends, you can eat half of the bag at a time for under 100 calories. I'm not saying to avoid your favorite foods, just add in any vegetables you like so that you fill up and gets lots of fiber too. Also, don't eat grains that you don't want to eat. I used to eat white rice or a slice of bread at a meal just because I felt like I was supposed to, but I didn't even want it.
  • lioness803
    lioness803 Posts: 325 Member
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    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.
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
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    My daily calorie goal is 1800. Almost every single day I go over it by a few hundred. Today it was a cup of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, at 800 calories, that put me over.

    How am I supposed to stay within my calorie range when even relatively healthy foods seem to be high in calories? I never thought a cup of cooked spaghetti noodles was all that much and I was shocked to see the calorie content of whole wheat pasta. I thought I was eating healthy!
    um. you stay within range by eating less. plain and simple.
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
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    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.
  • MJDuley
    MJDuley Posts: 47 Member
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    First of all, thank you everyone for the support and advice!!
    First thought is to ask how many of your calories are coming from protein?

    I'm not sure. I've just been logging calories, but not really paying much attention to what calories are coming from where
    What sort of noodles are you eating exactly that are 800 calories for 1 cup cooked? O.o

    Just the Walmart brand whole wheat pasta. I think I made the mistake of measuring it AFTER cooking, instead of before. Although it's hard to measure before when I'm cooking for four people.
    1. Opening your diary might lead to more helpful advice.

    How do I do that? I thought everyone could already see it.
    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.

    Well, that is probably where the issue lies then. I measured out a cup AFTER I had cooked it (since I was cooking for our whole family).
    My daily calorie goal is 1800. Almost every single day I go over it by a few hundred. Today it was a cup of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, at 800 calories, that put me over.

    How am I supposed to stay within my calorie range when even relatively healthy foods seem to be high in calories? I never thought a cup of cooked spaghetti noodles was all that much and I was shocked to see the calorie content of whole wheat pasta. I thought I was eating healthy!
    um. you stay within range by eating less. plain and simple.

    Well, thank you Captain Obvious. *Insert eye roll here*. I'm already eating less than the recommended serving size in many instances, hence my original post.

    To everyone else, thank you for the HELPFUL advice! I do know I need a lot more veggies in my diet. I'm actually growing a veggie garden right now in order to help facilitate that (I do buy veggies, I'm just terrible about eating them, so maybe if I have to put in a little effort to grow them myself, I'll be more inclined to eat them). I also know I eat too many carbs and sugars. I just get frustrated when I try to eat less each day and end up going over my calorie limit anyway. I feel like I'm starving and the calorie counter says I'm over! I know it has a lot to do with WHAT I'm eating, but I'm not nutrition-saavy enough to know what are the best choices. Sometimes I think I've made a healthy choice only to enter it into the food diary and find out it's loaded with sugar or calories!

    So if someone can tell me how to make my diary readable to others, I'm happy to open it up for scrutiny.

    Oh, and I do know I need to exercise more. No need to tell me. I absolutely HATE exercise of pretty much any kind, so I'm working on getting myself to be more active.
  • MJDuley
    MJDuley Posts: 47 Member
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    I went back and changed the serving size on the spaghetti to 2oz, bringing my calorie intake for that meal to a more reasonable level.

    Unfortunately, I was so angry that evening about the whole pasta thing that I sat down with a can of chocolate frosting for dessert and ate quite a lot of it. So, my calories are still way over for that day (I promise, that is NOT a regular thing for me; I normally don't "comfort eat").
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    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.
  • MJDuley
    MJDuley Posts: 47 Member
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    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.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Do you like walking? It's always a start.

    I have the same problem with having to weigh things after they are cooked though - but there are entries in the database for cooked food. For pasta though, it's always inaccurate, so if you can, make your own serving in another pot (I know... it's a pain, but for me it's the best way of making sure I'm logging properly). For what it's worth, 2oz of dry pasta is about a cup cooked (although obviously not very accurate).

    Also buy a food scale. It's super easy, you just put it under your plate and tare it as you add more food and write down the numbers, this way no need to estimate or dirty measuring cups (you can't really measure solids in volume units anyway).
  • mfp2014mfp
    mfp2014mfp Posts: 689 Member
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    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:

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