I guess rice is my enemy..

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leon0897
leon0897 Posts: 35 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I love rice especially spanish yellow rice and pork fried rice from the chinese spot but I'm starting to think that I won't be eating any anytime soon. Its hard to find a proper and accurate calorie count and i would presume that when I go to the spanish or chinese food places they give me between 2-3 cups of rice per meal. I don't know if that's 700 calories per cup or 150, 300 you get the point and I don't want one meal destroying my entire day. Any input or advice would be appreciated and thank you.
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Replies

  • bevmcarthur
    bevmcarthur Posts: 341 Member
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    why not look for Clean recipes on pinterest or the net and make it at home .Most places put so much UNHEALTHY fats to there recipes and so much salt. there is so many healthy recipes out there .
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    I cook my own rice at home using a small 1.5 cup rice cooker I bought on Amazon. Servings are weighed raw using the pot before cooking. Needless to say when you prepare your own meals, you know exactly how many calories are in it :flowerforyou:

    I don't do Chinese buffets or any of that really often (due to not being able to control myself and portions) and I have never found a prepackaged rice that didn't taste like vomit. But if rice suddenly got wiped off the planet I'm jumping off the next cliff I see
  • marie_2454
    marie_2454 Posts: 881 Member
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    Why not make your own rice? I make vegetable fried rice with brown rice, frozen peas and carrots, scrambled egg whites, some soy sauce, and a little bit of sesame oil. You could easily add in some pork or chicken. I usually serve this with some pan seared chicken and orange sauce.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    I eat rice all the time. 75grams (raw) of white rice between 300 and 400 calories as part of a main meal is no problem. Add to it veggies if you want a fried rice and no problem.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    You'll be looking at 95-110 calories per 1/2 cup.

    COOKED!!

    My white parboiled rice is 170 calories per 1/4 uncooked cup. I'm pretty sure you know that Mr. M, just wanted to clarify for the casual reader
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,568 Member
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    Rice is not your enemy - when you go out to eat the portions are generally larger but you can guestimate how much you are eating (I probably would go for half of what you get on your plate). There are entries in the database for both pork fried rice and spanish rice so use those to calculate and again guestimate - half a portion at a restaurant is probably about 1.5 cups. Plan your eating out meals ahead of time so you can work it into your calorie goals.
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,568 Member
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    You'll be looking at 95-110 calories per 1/2 cup.

    COOKED!!

    My white parboiled rice is 170 calories per 1/4 uncooked cup. I'm pretty sure you know that Mr. M, just wanted to clarify for the casual reader

    There are MFP entries in the database for cooked rice - why make it over complicated - I assume if it's a MFP entry without the * that it's fairly accurate
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    Dude, they have rice you can make at home. Doesn't have to be from a restaurant. If you suck at making rice, or are just lazy like I am, there is rice in a pouch you can nuke for 90secs and comes out perfect every time.
  • leon0897
    leon0897 Posts: 35 Member
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    My problem isnt so much portion size, my problem is determining how many calories are in that portion. I have no idea and I've tried to use the database but sometimes the calorie information is all over the place. i don't know how many calories are in the rice so I'm afraid to eat it and when I do eat it I feel horrible not knowing where I am calorie wise.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    You'll be looking at 95-110 calories per 1/2 cup.

    COOKED!!

    My white parboiled rice is 170 calories per 1/4 uncooked cup. I'm pretty sure you know that Mr. M, just wanted to clarify for the casual reader

    There are MFP entries in the database for cooked rice - why make it over complicated - I assume if it's a MFP entry without the * that it's fairly accurate

    WTF? I haven't said anyone should log cooked or uncooked. Just clarifying how many calories one can expect to find in a quantity of rice. In case somebody thought they would measure 1 cup of dry rice and expect it to be 200 calories. Though you seem to be talking about restaurant rice, in which case the idea of raw rice existing would never come up, I guess
  • leon0897
    leon0897 Posts: 35 Member
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    Dude, they have rice you can make at home. Doesn't have to be from a restaurant. If you suck at making rice, or are just lazy like I am, there is rice in a pouch you can nuke for 90secs and comes out perfect every time.

    And it's not that i'm lazy I just don't make it taste as good as at the restaraunt hence the reason I like to get it from there lol.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    My problem isnt so much portion size, my problem is determining how many calories are in that portion. I have no idea and I've tried to use the database but sometimes the calorie information is all over the place. i don't know how many calories are in the rice so I'm afraid to eat it and when I do eat it I feel horrible not knowing where I am calorie wise.

    Try this thread created by SezxyStef :

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

    I won't repeat the way to surely know how many calories are in your rice meal again

    Edit: haha I see your response above. True, I can't always log accurately when I eat out. So I log my best guess and just maybe double the servings or something. I did see more consistent results by making my own food but come on! There's a reason food chains and restaurants exist and make good money - they've got great product we like!! :)
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    You'll be looking at 95-110 calories per 1/2 cup.

    COOKED!!

    My white parboiled rice is 170 calories per 1/4 uncooked cup. I'm pretty sure you know that Mr. M, just wanted to clarify for the casual reader

    There are MFP entries in the database for cooked rice - why make it over complicated - I assume if it's a MFP entry without the * that it's fairly accurate

    Bahahahahahaha
    AAAAAAAHahahahahahahaha

    You should do some weight comparisons sometime using resources outside MFP (usda nutrient database for example) you'll be surprised how far off the "official" entries are on a LOT of stuff. I you may find its "close enough" for your own purposes but for me, it's definitely far enough off, on a consistent basis, that I don't use even a MFP "official" entry without cross-checking.
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
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    There are also ways to approximate it when you go out to eat. I usually use Panda Express as my generic Chinese food restaurant. So even when I get the same thing at a local Chinese place, I use that as my calorie count. Part of the reason for that is because they have the serving size listed in ounces and I weigh all my food.

    Having continued to eat Chinese food while losing all my weight, I've discovered that most places give you 2.5-3 servings. So when you get your food, separate your plate into 3 parts and then guesstimate the best you can based on a similar restaurant. It'll at least ball park the calories. It certainly hasn't hindered my weight loss to do it that way.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,659 Member
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    When I have rice at home, I limit myself to no more than a cup, which I measure. On days when I don't work out, I eat only 1/2 cup. I have handled rice at Chinese food places by doing takeout and then measuring it at home. It's surprising how many meals I can get out of Chinese takeout. Lately, I've been able to eat in the restaurant and sort of estimate how much is enough and take the rest home, but it took me a long time to be able to do that. I typically eat only about 1/4 to 1/3 of the rice that's given me in a restaurant.
  • tlblood
    tlblood Posts: 473 Member
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    There are MFP entries in the database for cooked rice - why make it over complicated - I assume if it's a MFP entry without the * that it's fairly accurate

    I don't think it's overcomplicating things to use the NI information on the actual product you have in your kitchen. This is just my personal preference here, but I only use the pre-entered data on MFP when I have to. If I can use the uncooked NI off of the actual package I'm using, I much prefer to measure it out uncooked to know that it's the amount the label is talking about. Only when I don't have NI in front of me do I use the MFP entries, because they can be so varied, depending on the brands various people submit.
  • HardyGirl4Ever
    HardyGirl4Ever Posts: 1,017 Member
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    It won't taste QUITE as good as there, or at least not the same, because it doesn't have all the salt, preservatives, and other things that those restaurants put in it. There are some great and tasty recipes online though. :smile:
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    Dude, they have rice you can make at home. Doesn't have to be from a restaurant. If you suck at making rice, or are just lazy like I am, there is rice in a pouch you can nuke for 90secs and comes out perfect every time.

    And it's not that i'm lazy I just don't make it taste as good as at the restaraunt hence the reason I like to get it from there lol.

    I'm afraid I can't help you then. I'm in the "log it as something close and move the eff on" camp haha

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