How bad is a daily bagel with cream cheese

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  • bregrig
    bregrig Posts: 154 Member
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    Long Island Bagel Cafe in NYC. nom nom
  • GrammyPeachy
    GrammyPeachy Posts: 1,723 Member
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    Bagel thins don't taste much like a real bagel,but they are good for sandwiches. I prefer a mini bagel and use the laughing cow cheese wedges,(they are GREAT!,and come in a variety of flavors). The Tomas' brand mini bagels are 120 calories and the laughing cow cheeses are 35 calories, 155 total!
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,662 Member
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    as long as it fits in calorie wise its all good

    and the fat from the cream cheese will actually reduce the GI of the bagel
  • janatarnhem
    janatarnhem Posts: 669 Member
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    Sounds delicious to me! As long as you weigh the ingredients and it is within your calories, why not?
  • lady6starlight
    lady6starlight Posts: 127 Member
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    I don't think it's particularly bad, just make sure that you include it with your daily total.
  • morehealthymatt
    morehealthymatt Posts: 208 Member
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    Depends on the bagel. How bad is it? Does it kick puppies and trip old people? Well, that's pretty bad. Or is more of an overall evil presence, like it's possessed by the devil?

    These factors should be considered.

    I usually go with an everything bagel that just has a bad attitude.
  • leodru
    leodru Posts: 321 Member
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    Watch your macros on protein, fat and carbs. If it fits then eat it. At this stage you shouldnt be asking if bagels are 700 calories or 200 - you should read the label or look up the restaurants nutritional information.
  • ashleyjohnstonn1
    ashleyjohnstonn1 Posts: 359 Member
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    Try working in said local bagel shop with fresh cooked bagels every morning with no preservatives... my life is torture... if I end up resisting it that day I still have to watch everyone else eating them :( lol
  • Shalaurise
    Shalaurise Posts: 707 Member
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    My bagel is 420 calories. Cinnamon Crunch Bagel ftw. :P Soooo delicious. I haven't had one in about a year though.... I can also eat two in a sitting pretty easily. As long as you can fit it into your calorie goal a day, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have the one you want.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    I eat a 300 calorie bagel with a couple ounces of cream cheese a couple days a week. I'm easily able to fit it into my daily caloric allotment. It hasn't set me back at all.
  • sharonnj398
    sharonnj398 Posts: 189 Member
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    This weekend we had a newbie person at our adoption event and she brought bagels. Since they came from a bagel chain, I was able to add it to my food diary when I got home since it was already in the MFP database.

    If your neighborhood bagel store is not a chain and they seem to hesitate on accurate info, can you weigh it and compare it to a bagel from Panera or another store (mine was from Manhattan Bagel)?
  • Archon2
    Archon2 Posts: 462 Member
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    Nothing wrong with bagels so long as you account for it properly! Man, I love em.

    When I was 19 I used to unload trucks all day and sort packages. At 6am we used to fuel up by eating a NY style water bagel piled with whipped cream cheese, along with a couple eggs, and some pan-fried potatoes in butter. I was 6'4" and 180 pounds and could not gain any weight. Work was tough and burned off everything!

    In my 20s I worked for several years as a cook and baker in a restaurant that specialized in bagels. Ate one every day for breakfast AND lunch. Lunch was often a bagel with a 1/2lb handmade flame-broiled burger with cheddar in it. Again, I was the same weight and burned plenty of calories off running around the kitchen and ovens all day and night. On my feet and moving all day long.

    Of course, things change (brain-intensive, body-sloth-inducing desk job) and now I can't eat like that. But I still have the occasional bagel without sabotaging weight loss by just making sure it fits in. IMO, I'd count one of the NY style "real" plain bagels at about 350-400 kcal. That with a little cream cheese can be a meal in just about anyone's diet.
  • ashleyjohnstonn1
    ashleyjohnstonn1 Posts: 359 Member
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    Also, I work at the most popular bagels shop in my area and we don't have nutritional values. We have lines out the door every weekend and we are always busy, so it's not a matter of not being popular enough. My company doesn't care to test the nutritional values because it is costly (which is upsetting in my opinion.) We aren't required to because we aren't a corporation or chain and only have 3 stores in the area. So... that's my 2 cents on the whole nutritional facts should be provided thing... oh and the person who said "you shouldn't trust their food if they don't have nutritional facts and won't weigh it for you" puh-lease. One, we aren't required to have nutritional facts and two, you're out of your mind if you think I have the time to go weigh your bagel for you. That's up to you.
  • jmv7117
    jmv7117 Posts: 891 Member
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    Check the nutritional info on the bag of bagels that you intend to use. That will give you the calorie content.

    If a bagel with cream cheese fits into your daily goal then by all means eat one per day. But would you not rather have some variety in your food? That said, I've eaten the same thing for lunch for a while now (until today as I think I've finally sickened myself of it!) so who am I to judge.

    Can I ask what your daily calorie goal is?

    I get the bagels from the bagel store in my neighborhood. So I don't have the nutritional information available.

    The bagel store knows the calories in their bagels. Ask them. If they won't tell you, ask them to weigh it for you (they have scales if they're baking anything onsite). If they won't do THAT either, then I wouldn't trust their food.

    Big bagels are about 400 calories. Smaller bagels are about 250. (edit to add: that's calories without cream cheese)

    Why should the bagel store know the calories in their bagels? It's a bakery that makes bagels. If you buy breads, bagels or other baked goods from a bakery there is no nutritional label and chances are excellent they have not even considered calculating the nutritional value. I have made homemade bagels, breads and other baked goods for eons and never considered calculating the caloric value. I'm not alone on this one...

    I'm not following your logic..you've never calculated the calories in your homemade baked goods, therefore a commercial or private bakery never has either?

    I said I never considered calculating the caloric value of home baked goods. I now have software so can do so but it was not really a thought until a couple of months ago. Small Mom & Pop bakeries seldom calculate the nutritional value of anything they bake. They will indicate if a certain item is gluten free or contains nuts but that's about it. Commercial bakeries (mass produced) require the nutritional value label. These are the bakeries selling to grocery stores, brands like Dempster's.

    ed. to clarify commercial bakeries
  • 6ftamazon
    6ftamazon Posts: 340 Member
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    The greatest discovery:
    http://www.fitshop.ca/p-28-bagels-6-per-pack.html

    They also make bread and flatbread.
  • Lyndonbearsmommy
    Lyndonbearsmommy Posts: 1,083 Member
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    The bagel & cream cheese in and of itself is not good or bad. The question is: how well will it fit into your plan?

    If you can work it into your plan without feeling like it's too many calories, and if it makes you feel full long enough, go for it. If you want it for an occasional treat - maybe a way to make you look forward to Mondays or Wednesday, scale back and have it just once or twice a week instead of every day.

    "Oh goodie, today is BAGEL DAY!" makes it a treat to look forward to rather than something "bad" to avoid. Make sense? Just figure out the exact calories for it and the cream cheese and be sure to log it.

    "Oh goodie, today is BAGEL DAY!"

    I love this! Mmmm...Bagel Day!
  • alathIN
    alathIN Posts: 142 Member
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    I get the bagels from the bagel store in my neighborhood. So I don't have the nutritional information available.

    Two things specific to this:

    1) Most restaraunts - especially if they are chains - do have nutrition info available. Often on their company web site.

    2) Generally, the reason restaraunt food is so much more attractive/addictive than ordinary grocery store food is that they throw in extra "good stuff" - meaning more fat and/or sugar, and often larger servings. Freshness, hand-picked, artisanal ingredients, blah blah blah - sure that all plays a part - but most of why you want this bagel more than a grocery store bagel is going to be a matter of macronutrients - carbohydrates and fat - and the more the yummier.

    One thing more general:

    If there's something you just have to have, every day, it's not really a treat any more - it's a habit. Some habits are supportable - if you're burning a lot of kCal with exercise and the rest of your program works, you might be able to get away with that bagel - but, in general, weight loss, weight maintenance, and fitness are a lot easier if we're willing to give up these kind of attachments.
  • fernlori
    fernlori Posts: 17 Member
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    How about Bagel Thins? They're only 100 calories.
  • Bukawww
    Bukawww Posts: 159 Member
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    I get the everything thins and they do their job of quelling my craving. I could easily fit a half of a bagel thin with cream cheese in my dailies and meet my goals. Then save that big beefy fresh bagel for a special treat once a week, etc.

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