OMG, Mac & Cheese is EVIL!

RKA625
RKA625 Posts: 151 Member
edited September 19 in Fitness and Exercise
So I really wanted some today, I figured I have been snacking to eat my exercise calories lately, so might as well just use them at lunch right? Well now I have only 395 calories left for the day, over a cup and a half of mac n cheese! I just sat here for 30 minutes figuring this out, because I was sure it had to be wrong, over 1000 calories for a bowl of mac n cheese!? Ugh, never again!

Not to mention, I used less than what's on the box, to make it, only 2 tbsps of 2% milk and only 1 tbsp of margarine. So I added the mac n cheese unprepared first and then added the milk and ,margarine separately.
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Replies

  • RKA625
    RKA625 Posts: 151 Member
    So I really wanted some today, I figured I have been snacking to eat my exercise calories lately, so might as well just use them at lunch right? Well now I have only 395 calories left for the day, over a cup and a half of mac n cheese! I just sat here for 30 minutes figuring this out, because I was sure it had to be wrong, over 1000 calories for a bowl of mac n cheese!? Ugh, never again!

    Not to mention, I used less than what's on the box, to make it, only 2 tbsps of 2% milk and only 1 tbsp of margarine. So I added the mac n cheese unprepared first and then added the milk and ,margarine separately.
  • hapemopirate
    hapemopirate Posts: 68 Member
    I feel your pain. I was ruined by the cheesey goodness once myself. :grumble:
  • mamaof2girls
    mamaof2girls Posts: 332 Member
    When you entered in the info for the mac & cheese unprepared did it ask for the serving size? I am pretty sure that the serving sizes unprepared are way different than the serving sizes prepared. You can maybe google the conversion, but I seem to remember reading somwhere that 1 cup of uncooked noodles is waaaaaayyyyyyyy more than 1 cup of cooked noodles. Hopefully it turns out to be better than you thought!!
  • heather0mc
    heather0mc Posts: 4,656 Member
    its a shame really. i cant NOT eat the whole box. i dont even keep it in the house because its too easy and to cheesy and to yummsy!
  • mamashrub
    mamashrub Posts: 128
    ugh.. I know..I looooooooove mac and chesse and I have had to accept that its evil..cheese has a lot of fat in it (120 cals for a 3 inch CUBE!!!) and pasta..well......sigh..
    I will eat it again soon..just right now it is soooo on my "No" list.
  • rmarlow
    rmarlow Posts: 64
    should have tried velveeta mac an cheese. It says it only has 344 calories, 54 carbs, 10 fat, and 20 protein for a 3/4 cup serving. Now how true that is, i don't know. Maybe I'll have to check on it and see.

    127484.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Calorie Counter
  • mamashrub
    mamashrub Posts: 128
    Macaroni doubles its self as it cooks..1 cup uncooked macaroni will make 2 cups cooked.
  • rmarlow
    rmarlow Posts: 64
    When you entered in the info for the mac & cheese unprepared did it ask for the serving size? I am pretty sure that the serving sizes unprepared are way different than the serving sizes prepared. You can maybe google the conversion, but I seem to remember reading somwhere that 1 cup of uncooked noodles is waaaaaayyyyyyyy more than 1 cup of cooked noodles. Hopefully it turns out to be better than you thought!!

    You're right. A cup of uncooked noodles is more than a cup of cooked noodles.
  • mamaof2girls
    mamaof2girls Posts: 332 Member
    I just found it...............2 oz. of dry pasta = 1 cup cooked pasta. Try altering your serving sizes accordingly. If you ate 1.5 cups of cooked mac& cheese you really only ate 3 oz of the package unprepared. Hope this helps!!
  • ChubbyBunny
    ChubbyBunny Posts: 3,523 Member
    It depends on your brand... Kraft regularly prepared for 1 cup is 410 calories (and that's with all the milk and butter).

    Don't beat yourself up...3 words... German Chocolate Cake. :grumble:
  • RKA625
    RKA625 Posts: 151 Member
    Well the noodles were cooked, just the butter and milk hadn't been added yet.

    So tell me if I'm right. I scooped 1 and a half cups of cooked macaroni into my bowl. this means I ate 12 oz of mac n cheese.

    So if a serving size is 2.5 oz, I take 12 oz and divide by 2.5 to get how many servings I had, which put me at 4.8 servings. Each serving has 260 calories in it, so I multiply 260 (calories per serving) by 4.8 (servings) and get 1248 calories, not including the 2 tbsps of milk and the 1 tbsp of margarine I used to prepare it. I added those separately.
  • chimpoco
    chimpoco Posts: 193
    When I cant fight the mac, I boil my noodles and add a slice of fat free kraft (the singles that are wrapped in plasic) I then give it a good spraying with fat free butter spray, With a little imagination this is almost as good as the "normal" mac and cheese.
  • rmarlow
    rmarlow Posts: 64
    Well the noodles were cooked, just the butter and milk hadn't been added yet.

    So tell me if I'm right. I scooped 1 and a half cups of cooked macaroni into my bowl. this means I ate 12 oz of mac n cheese.

    So if a serving size is 2.5 oz, I take 12 oz and divide by 2.5 to get how many servings I had, which put me at 4.8 servings. Each serving has 260 calories in it, so I multiply 260 (calories per serving) by 4.8 (servings) and get 1248 calories, not including the 2 tbsps of milk and the 1 tbsp of margarine I used to prepare it. I added those separately.

    Slow down....that's too much math for one day. lol...Let me go back and read what was said earlier and I'll repost with some calculations for you.
  • crazybigchick
    crazybigchick Posts: 245
    I think the 2.5 is uncooked measure. There is no way a cup and a half of plain pasta was 1000 calories thank goodness!

    Mac~n~cheese is still evil. It was my favorite comfort food and hard to stop at one helping.

    Relax you definately ate under 1000 calories! :drinker:
    You could probably take it as two servings and still be on the safe side. JMHO
  • AmyNVegas
    AmyNVegas Posts: 2,215 Member
    I make my own-
    1 16 oz box of the Smart taste elbow mac(has a lot of extra fiber)(can also use whole wheat)
    1 8oz bag fat free sharp cheddar
    1 cup skim milk
    1 tsp prepared mustard or 1/2 tsp dry powdered mustard
    2 tbsp butter

    Boil noodles and drain then stir in all other ingredients while it is still hot. I also like to put it in the oven to bake with whole wheat bread crumbs sprinkled on top but need to add a little more milk so it doesn't get dry. Bake for about 20 min on 350, until bread crumbs are toasted and mixture bubbles. Yum!:happy:

    It's yummy with out the extra fat calories or chemicals in the processed mac n cheese.

    Amy:bigsmile:
  • ChubbyBunny
    ChubbyBunny Posts: 3,523 Member
    I think the math is off somewhere.
    Did you go in to the database and look up macaroni noodles?
  • RKA625
    RKA625 Posts: 151 Member
    lol, I'm so confused. Next time I'm just going to make the stinkin macaroni as it says to on the box. Although I don't NEED 4 tbsps of margarine in my mac n cheese.
  • rmarlow
    rmarlow Posts: 64
    Well the noodles were cooked, just the butter and milk hadn't been added yet.

    So tell me if I'm right. I scooped 1 and a half cups of cooked macaroni into my bowl. this means I ate 12 oz of mac n cheese.

    So if a serving size is 2.5 oz, I take 12 oz and divide by 2.5 to get how many servings I had, which put me at 4.8 servings. Each serving has 260 calories in it, so I multiply 260 (calories per serving) by 4.8 (servings) and get 1248 calories, not including the 2 tbsps of milk and the 1 tbsp of margarine I used to prepare it. I added those separately.

    Ok. try this and see if this works out.

    2.5oz. of uncooked noodles is = 1 cup of cooked noodles

    you had 1 1/2 cooked noodles

    take 2.5/.5=.5

    total that you had was 3 oz of uncooked noodles which is = to your 1 1/2 cup of cooked pasta.

    Check that for your calorie intake on the food menu. I could be wrong...can anyone else double check my math here.
  • ChubbyBunny
    ChubbyBunny Posts: 3,523 Member
    2.5oz=1 cup of macaroni

    On this site in the database
    Macaroni noodles, enriched, cooked (plain) = 197 calories for 1 cup (2.5 oz)
    Macaroni noodles, enriched, cooked (plain) for 1.5 cups = 296 calories
  • rmarlow
    rmarlow Posts: 64
    Well the noodles were cooked, just the butter and milk hadn't been added yet.

    So tell me if I'm right. I scooped 1 and a half cups of cooked macaroni into my bowl. this means I ate 12 oz of mac n cheese.

    So if a serving size is 2.5 oz, I take 12 oz and divide by 2.5 to get how many servings I had, which put me at 4.8 servings. Each serving has 260 calories in it, so I multiply 260 (calories per serving) by 4.8 (servings) and get 1248 calories, not including the 2 tbsps of milk and the 1 tbsp of margarine I used to prepare it. I added those separately.

    Ok. try this and see if this works out.

    2.5oz. of uncooked noodles is = 1 cup of cooked noodles

    you had 1 1/2 cooked noodles

    take 2.5/.5=.5

    total that you had was 3 oz of uncooked noodles which is = to your 1 1/2 cup of cooked pasta.

    Check that for your calorie intake on the food menu. I could be wrong...can anyone else double check my math here.

    correction....you had 3.75 oz of uncooked noodles which is = to your 1 1/2 cup of cooked noodles
  • MadTurtle
    MadTurtle Posts: 32
    Stouffer.s makes a 12oz. box that you can keep in the freezer for just such emergencies. It is 2 servings though. I recommend splitting it with your significant other or the dog! Both will thank you :laugh:
    It is 340 calories a serving and very satisfying
  • MargieM
    MargieM Posts: 2,248 Member
    Well the noodles were cooked, just the butter and milk hadn't been added yet.

    So tell me if I'm right. I scooped 1 and a half cups of cooked macaroni into my bowl. this means I ate 12 oz of mac n cheese.

    So if a serving size is 2.5 oz, I take 12 oz and divide by 2.5 to get how many servings I had, which put me at 4.8 servings. Each serving has 260 calories in it, so I multiply 260 (calories per serving) by 4.8 (servings) and get 1248 calories, not including the 2 tbsps of milk and the 1 tbsp of margarine I used to prepare it. I added those separately.

    Ok. try this and see if this works out.

    2.5oz. of uncooked noodles is = 1 cup of cooked noodles

    you had 1 1/2 cooked noodles

    take 2.5/.5=.5

    total that you had was 3 oz of uncooked noodles which is = to your 1 1/2 cup of cooked pasta.

    Check that for your calorie intake on the food menu. I could be wrong...can anyone else double check my math here.

    1/2 of 2.5 is 1.25, so it would be 3.75 oz of uncooked macaroni (1.5 servings of unprepared noodles). So just take the unprepared values and multiply by 1.5 and you should get the correct numbers.... then you can add your milk and butter values for the final counts. Hope this helps!
  • rmarlow
    rmarlow Posts: 64
    Well the noodles were cooked, just the butter and milk hadn't been added yet.

    So tell me if I'm right. I scooped 1 and a half cups of cooked macaroni into my bowl. this means I ate 12 oz of mac n cheese.

    So if a serving size is 2.5 oz, I take 12 oz and divide by 2.5 to get how many servings I had, which put me at 4.8 servings. Each serving has 260 calories in it, so I multiply 260 (calories per serving) by 4.8 (servings) and get 1248 calories, not including the 2 tbsps of milk and the 1 tbsp of margarine I used to prepare it. I added those separately.

    Ok. try this and see if this works out.

    2.5oz. of uncooked noodles is = 1 cup of cooked noodles

    you had 1 1/2 cooked noodles

    take 2.5/.5=.5

    total that you had was 3 oz of uncooked noodles which is = to your 1 1/2 cup of cooked pasta.

    Check that for your calorie intake on the food menu. I could be wrong...can anyone else double check my math here.

    1/2 of 2.5 is 1.25, so it would be 3.75 oz of uncooked macaroni (1.5 servings of unprepared noodles). So just take the unprepared values and multiply by 1.5 and you should get the correct numbers.... then you can add your milk and butter values for the final counts. Hope this helps!

    Thanks, I figured out that I divided wrong once I posted and promptly corrected. Other than that, it looks like we both came up with the same calculations.
  • RKA625
    RKA625 Posts: 151 Member
    Ok, so basically I should be saying I ate one and a half cups of macaroni then right? I never knew the box counted the unprepared as dry noodles, I thought it was just before the other ingredients were added. I'm just going to go by the prepared version because I have no clue how much that powdered cheese is, so I'm not going to make things more complicated by adding the ingredients separately.

    That makes 1.5 cups of prepared macaroni & cheese, 615 calories, which I can more than live with, I've been struggling to eat all of my calories on my days I work out as it is, which is why I figured I could have some mac n cheese for lunch.
  • ChubbyBunny
    ChubbyBunny Posts: 3,523 Member
    Yes, count the 1 1/2 cups.
    Don't make this harder on you then it needs to be.
    The database is loaded with foods and sometimes it's easier to use.
    Make sure you read the food labels really close, I have learned they can be tricky at times.
  • rmarlow
    rmarlow Posts: 64
    Without having a box right in front of me to give you a proper I would say yes...go with what you said. I only figured that you really only ate anywhere between300-500 calories. But like I said...w/o a box being in front of me it's hard to say. Don't sweat it. You definitely didn't eat anywhere close to 1000 calories off your mac n cheese. Unless you decided to eat the whole box.
  • Hannah_Banana
    Hannah_Banana Posts: 1,242 Member
    Mac & Cheese Lovers - See here:

    http://www.fibergourmet.com/mac.aspx

    Its delicious too. :tongue: I swear by Fiber Gourmet pasta. :drinker: :bigsmile:
  • RKA625
    RKA625 Posts: 151 Member
    Thanks you guys! I was SO lost, lol. I try and use the stuff in the database, but more than a few times, I've noticed things were entered wrong, so I am a bit apprehensive about using them without checking.

    So yeah, now I still have 1,094 calories to eat because of my exercise calories.
  • ChubbyBunny
    ChubbyBunny Posts: 3,523 Member
    Nothin wrong with double checking, I have run into the same issue.
    You don't want to discourage yourself though either (especially if you are not a math person).

    So, no worries... you can still eat today...more then lettuce. :flowerforyou:
  • RKA625
    RKA625 Posts: 151 Member
    lol, thanks. yeah I am not a very good math person. This is probably the most math than I've done daily since high school, dividing cups into tbsp's such. lol. I use this website to help convert amounts though.

    http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/tools.measures/Measures.cfm

    I'm glad you guys helped me figure it out, because I would have ended up way under my daily calories.

    And thanks for the recommendations, Diet49 and allenhm, I'll check out those brands of macaroni & cheese.
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