795 CALORIES?!!! OMG

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13

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  • infosynth
    infosynth Posts: 81 Member
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    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?

    If you weighed it after cooking it, you've added the weight of the water as though it were pasta. Water has no calories, so you've probably OVERestimated. You're probably not as far off as you think after all.

    As someone mentioned, it's best to measure pasta and rice dry because the volume after cooking will vary according to the amount of time it cooks (i.e., how much cooking water it absorbs).
  • JodyWoo
    JodyWoo Posts: 44 Member
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    stay under 1200 calories

    NO. 1200 is the minimum. She should not be aiming to "stay under" that number, that is the LEAST amount she should be aiming to eat.

    Thank you for posting this! You don't stay UNDER 1200... that's starvation mode. 1200 calories is the MINIMUM! If you go under that, you're hurting your body.
  • sunshine__angel
    sunshine__angel Posts: 366 Member
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    You could still eat the spaghetti if you exercise to burn the amount, or at least some of the amount, consumed. For example, if you go for an hour walk and end up burning 200 calories, it's like your spaghetti was only 500, not 200. On the days you are not exercising, or if you are not doing an active plan, then you may want to cut out, or seriously cut down on spaghetti for now. Most pastas and bread (anything with starch) is pretty high in calories, so just look at the nutritional information next time you buy it, and only allow one serving so you don't have to worry about the rest of the day.

    For now, i would just say drink lots of water and don't stress out about it. If you can eat a low calorie dinner then you should definitely try that, but otherwise just wait until tomorrow. It's a new day and a fresh start and you just won't have that meal tomorrow! :)
  • thibautseeker
    thibautseeker Posts: 69 Member
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    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.

    I too often add in a meal before I have it and check how the calories, fat, protein etc is going to effect my overall balance and if it's too much I change bits of it - eg if I fancy a baked potato with cheese and find it's too much on top of what I've already had I change the hard full fat cheese for cottage cheese.

    Does seem to be a lot of spaghetti though to wack the overall calories for your meal up that much! Are you sure you put the right amount in?
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
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    I seriously limited my noodle intake...sad but true, because I love noodles. Now when I make a pasta salad, I usually just have spaghetti squash or lettuce salad.
  • Ilovepeppers
    Ilovepeppers Posts: 396 Member
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    I put my sauces on brown rice, baked potatoes, toast, or dip pieces of pita bread or veggies into it. noodles are a killer!! Lol mmmm so yummy though
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
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    where do you buy spaghetti squash?

    See my response above - it's beside the potatoes and onions in your grocery store
  • MsNiss
    MsNiss Posts: 57
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    I agree with the posters of suggesting Spaghetti Squash. It's really quite tasty, and if you add sauce, mix it up and bake with a little sprinkle of cheese for about 10 minutes, it's amazing!

    Another option is trying these yam noodles from specialty section of some stores. They come packed in liquid, and I think have under 5 calories per serving. http://www.miraclenoodle.com/

    I've tried them instead of rice noodles in Pad Thai, and they were actually pretty good!
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
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    You don't have to give up pasta or rice. Just weigh it before you cook it - 2 oz is 1 serving size for pasta - and keep the frequency to once or twice a week.
  • dyiaane
    dyiaane Posts: 271 Member
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    You must exercise. Take a run.
  • nurseaim
    nurseaim Posts: 146
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    What is spaghetti squash?

    It's part of the squash/pumpkin family...it's an oblong pale yellowish squash. Let me know, if you need to know how to cook it.:smile:
  • milaxx
    milaxx Posts: 1,122 Member
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    Brown rice pasta. Personally I think it taste much better than whole wheat pasta.

    100% Organic Brown Rice Pasta-Spaghetti Style (Tinkyada)
    Serving Size: 2 oz (56g) 1 cup cooked, Calories: 200, Fat: 1.5g, Carbs: 44g, Protein: 4g

    I also second the spaghetti squash suggestion. It's a veg (squash that you bake and them rake it out with your fork. it forms threads that kinda resemble spaghetti. Very tasty.
  • d_smith85
    d_smith85 Posts: 94
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    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.

    Whole wheat spagetti is better for you, but equally as high in calories.... Just get a food scale and measure out smaller portions. I still eat rice and occasionally pasta (it bothers my stomach, but its yummy) I just make sure I only eat 150 grams of it max.
  • clarehaines
    clarehaines Posts: 49
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    It seems I way over calculated.... by weighing it cooked,

    I did an experiment yesterday and weighed the amount dry that I had eaten cooked the day before, when I cooked it it more than DOUBLED in weight, cooking obviously for the same length of time....

    OVER HALF THE CALORIES I THOUGHT I HAD EATEN!!!

    NEXT TIME ILL ALWAYS WEIGH DRY!!!!!!

    Thanks for everyones help
  • fevre
    fevre Posts: 60 Member
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    On the subject of bolognese...
    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/12/pasta-with-bolognese-sauce.html
    Spaghetti bolognese is one of my favorite foods of all time and I eat it CONSTANTLY. This recipe was a lifesaver for me!! Only 106 calories for a serving! I'm the only one who eats it in my house but I'll still make up the entire 16-serving batch, put some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer and just slowly make my way through the entire thing.
  • LauraJo08
    LauraJo08 Posts: 219 Member
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    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.)

    Good mention on the exercise bulimia. I think that some people forget sometimes that exercise can become excessive and unhealthy too.

    I say go for a bit of everything: lower portion size next time, and when you are going to have it, plan a little extra exercise that day.
  • evenidomhnaill
    evenidomhnaill Posts: 50
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    When i cook this i have it with a small amount of pasta and a cup of raw carrots sometimes I just have it with the raw carrots its yummy
  • suzycreamcheese
    suzycreamcheese Posts: 1,766 Member
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    pasta is rubbish cos its LOADS of calories for a relatively small portion. I havent given it up entirely but i dont have it too often as you get more for your calories with other carbs.
    If you have it, then stick to a much smaller portion than you think you should have.
  • TheGoktor
    TheGoktor Posts: 1,138 Member
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    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

    How on earth did you manage to eat 550 cals worth of spaghetti?! :noway: Are you sure you weren't measuring cooked weight but accounting for dry weight? I find 50g dry weight is more than enough, and it comes in at around 173 cals!

    (Apologies if this has been said before - I haven't read all the way through the thread!)
  • Fattack
    Fattack Posts: 666 Member
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    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

    Although I don't agree with the tone of the post, it's not unhelpful advice because 550 cals of spaghetti is a LOT, and reducing the portion size would have greatly reduced your intake - and you could have fleshed it out with lovely vegetables or something!

    I agree with Goktor in that maybe you used the dry weight? How much did the dry pasta weigh? You must have had around 170g of dry pasta to have about 550cals worth.

    If you *have* had 170g of dry pasta and it is an accurate count, then don't beat yourself up - it's a learning curve and you've definitely learnt something for it - and as you've admitted, you had less pasta than you would have normally had, so well done for that!

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