795 CALORIES?!!! OMG

clarehaines
clarehaines Posts: 49
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
Woops, this is day 8 of my diet and ive just cooked my 3 year olds favourite meal for lunch....

Spaghetti Bolognese..... ALL homemade, no jar of high calorie sauce

The portion size I had was a lot smaller than it would normally have been - I too love spaghetti bolognese....

Problem is my bolognese came to 242 calories (great!! Pleased with that) TIL I ADDED THE SPAGHETTI

795 calories..... Oh dear, im over my allowance for the entire day now and its only 14.09.... huh!!!

So anyway, whats the solution? (Apart from not eating spaghetti of course - which im seriously considering).

Ive noticed rice (also I can do without but like it every now and then) ALSO contains high volumes of calories
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Replies

  • spudmizer
    spudmizer Posts: 4
    Just no more / very few more carbs for the day... and stay under 1200 calories and you should not even skip a step in your diet.
  • get_fit2009
    get_fit2009 Posts: 827 Member
    Go get some exercise! :smile:
  • SarahLovesCheesecake
    SarahLovesCheesecake Posts: 520
    Go get some exercise! :smile:

    haha no brainer.....smaller portion size?????
  • LJCannon
    LJCannon Posts: 3,636 Member
    Either try Whole Wheat Spaghetti, or Spaghetti Squash. It really does look and taste almost exactly the same as Spaghetti. If you don't tell them, your kids may not even know the difference.
  • Kayamooh
    Kayamooh Posts: 45 Member
    Try having the sauce with something else. Bolognas sauce is really nice on top of a baked potato!
  • lovebeinGIGI
    lovebeinGIGI Posts: 72 Member
    Personally, if I have several days of low calorie days I do well with, then I treat myself to a higher calorie day. Nothing to sweat about!! Just get back on track the next day!! Your body will adjust!
    Good luck!!!!
  • thumper44
    thumper44 Posts: 1,464 Member
    Go get some exercise! :smile:

    haha no brainer.....smaller portion size?????
    ^^^^^^

    Easy decisions.
    a) You want spaghetti - smaller portion size.
    b) you want same amount of spaghetti - get some exercise in.

    a or b
  • Vaus2000
    Vaus2000 Posts: 16 Member
    I try to look up foods in the Mfp database before deciding what to eat or cook. If you went over , don't beat yourself up, this isn't a race. It's about making better choices each day....you get another chance tomorrow. Keep it up.
  • johnnythebaptist
    johnnythebaptist Posts: 103
    Its time to exercise....Head to the gym and get on the elliptical or treadmill or wal 2 1/2 miles one way which means you get to walk back. Now we have ate that spagetti!!!! :) yum yum and completed our goal.
  • becoming_phoenix
    becoming_phoenix Posts: 5
    If you're already over your calories for the day, you could either:

    1) exercise it off
    2) accept that you messed up, DON'T beat yourself up about it (people do this a lot), and eat low cal for the rest of the day. Vegetables are your friend.

    You can't uneat it, but you shouldn't starve yourself the rest of the day either, so eat if you get hungry. We all have days where we get a bit off track. And now you know for next time :)
  • Luv2Quilt47
    Luv2Quilt47 Posts: 5
    I've greatly reduced my carbs - it is the only way. I have a friend who lost a lot of weight, mostly belly fat, and he said he simply cut everything white from his diet: white pasta, white bread, white sugar, white rice, etc, etc. In other words: carbs. If you go with whole grain, you are better off but you still need to cut portion sizes, eat slowly and drink a lot of water or non-sweetened drinks.
  • Kirsty_UK
    Kirsty_UK Posts: 964 Member
    Learn from it. Exercise some off if you can, if not, accept it as a lesson in what is in what, and tomorrow is a new day (dont starve yourself for the rest of the day just to stay under). You still ate less than you would have done without mfp right? so it's a step in the right direction.
  • realme56
    realme56 Posts: 1,093 Member
    Go get some exercise! :smile:

    Exactly! I try to push a little harder on days when I am going to be out on the town!

    You control this recipe....see if you can cut it back and definitely look for a lower carb pasta/alternative!
  • wiggleroom
    wiggleroom Posts: 322 Member
    Smaller portion of spaghetti; bulk up the meal with added vegetables, julienned and caramelized so they blend in with the texture of the pasta better (I'd go with red onions, all colors of bell peppers, carrots, maybe zucchini...).

    As for adding exercise -- yes, do that. But I've been cautious lately about crossing the line into Exercise Bulimia. It has to be a balance of reasonable intake and reasonable burns. (I'm not advocating wimpiness! I average a burn of 500 to 600 calories a day.)
  • clarehaines
    clarehaines Posts: 49
    Just no more / very few more carbs for the day... and stay under 1200 calories and you should not even skip a step in your diet.

    With breakfast ive already done the 1200 calories lol!! Oh well, I know for next time!! No spaghetti for me!!
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
    I know it's hard. When I eat pasta now I only have 1 oz. dry, 1/2 cup cooked. I weigh it out always. I add a lot of sauteed veggies, zucchini, peppers, chopped tomatoes, mushrooms. Add it to 1/2 cup of sauce and 1/4 cup of water. Cook it until the sauce is reduced and veggies are soft. Then I add the spaghetti and cook for a mim or two. With all the veggies you really don't miss all the pasta. I always have it with 4 oz of grilled chicken. I know it's a lot of steps but If you make the veggies ahead of time, you can make portions of it and put it in baggies and freeze it. The next time you want it you can just add a bag into your sauce and it's done in no time.
  • clarehaines
    clarehaines Posts: 49
    Go get some exercise! :smile:

    haha no brainer.....smaller portion size?????

    Well thats very unhelpful and very unthoughtful, it was a smaller portion size than I would normally eat thank you very much.
    As im VERY new to this I was far from aware the amount of calories I was consuming.... should have read the packet first.... trial and error at this stage
  • johnnythebaptist
    johnnythebaptist Posts: 103
    The problem is not eating "We eat what we want!!!" we have to be willing to monitor and exercise so that we have weight loss. I eat what I want at certain meals.....but the exercise has to be their in order to allow you to eat and not feel guilty. Exercise is a walk with you best girl a couple miles or a walk with you bride on the beach or just a friend taking a walk and sharing. Its not rocket science just one foot in front of the other and eat smart!!!!!
  • knittygirl52
    knittygirl52 Posts: 432 Member
    Yeah, pasta can be a killer! And it goes down SO easy!

    The solution is to eat it seldom and sparingly. If it is really the bolognese sause you love, I have often eaten sauces that I love over vegetables. (Sure makes the vegies taste better!) For instance, there is something called spaghetti squash where after cooking the vegetable comes out stringy like spaghetti. It doesn't have much flavor, so it works well with sauce. (The texture is different, though). I've also been known to put a hearty sauce over over-cooked green beans (often canned ones).
  • its_betty
    its_betty Posts: 104 Member
    Just checking: how did you measure the pasta? Calories for pasta are usually listed at 2 oz DRY = about 200 calories (makes about 1 cup cooked). Same for rice, calories are measured dry.
  • nurseaim
    nurseaim Posts: 146
    I'm using spaghetti squash now instead of the spaghetti noodles. It's still really yummy!
  • Suziq2you
    Suziq2you Posts: 396 Member
    First, don't let it dictate the rest of your day. Feed your body and go for an extra long walk. :)
  • clarehaines
    clarehaines Posts: 49
    Just checking: how did you measure the pasta? Calories for pasta are usually listed at 2 oz DRY = about 200 calories (makes about 1 cup cooked). Same for rice, calories are measured dry.

    I used the calculator on here but I weighed it cooked, have I made a mistake then?
  • JJtexasgirl
    JJtexasgirl Posts: 106 Member


    haha no brainer.....smaller portion size?????

    OP wasn't asking for your tactless judgement nor your "holier than thou" attitude. As I am one to walk the walk, I won't judge you either and will just assume that your attempt at lighthearted humor was lost in the cyber translation.
  • thumper44
    thumper44 Posts: 1,464 Member
    Just checking: how did you measure the pasta? Calories for pasta are usually listed at 2 oz DRY = about 200 calories (makes about 1 cup cooked). Same for rice, calories are measured dry.

    I used the calculator on here but I weighed it cooked, have I made a mistake then?
    I would think that means you weighed it with extra water soaked up - Other can chime in to confirm.

    Don't worry for a lot of us it was trial and error.
    If you do find yourself having a large meal (ie over 600 calories) - Split it up into two smaller meals.
  • maddymama
    maddymama Posts: 1,183 Member
    Either try Whole Wheat Spaghetti, or Spaghetti Squash. It really does look and taste almost exactly the same as Spaghetti. If you don't tell them, your kids may not even know the difference.
    THAT!!!! Or mix the two..............
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
    How much pasta did you add? Holy cow!

    A serving size of pasta as per the box is 310 cals (85g) and you should have 75g max so that's about 270 cals puting your lunch to about 512 cals, no big deal, go easy on carbs at dinner.

    EDIT: I just saw above you made 1 cup cooked pasta then weighed it. In the future, weigh before you cook. 1 cup cooked is only 3 WW points which is about 220 cals or so.
  • JJtexasgirl
    JJtexasgirl Posts: 106 Member
    What is spaghetti squash?
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member


    haha no brainer.....smaller portion size?????

    OP wasn't asking for your tactless judgement nor your "holier than thou" attitude. As I am one to walk the walk, I won't judge you either and will just assume that your attempt at lighthearted humor was lost in the cyber translation.

    Tactful no but I think we were all shocked when we read the op's posting to find that she stated she intended on eating about 500 cals in dry pasta alone which is about 4+ cups cooked. It was just a shock reaction, don't penalize this person for writing what most of us felt.
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
    If you measured cooked, you probably measured incorrectly. Most sites count pasta dry. I'd bet you should have at least half of those calories.

    I typically use rice noodles in place of regular noodles. It's a bit less calories.
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