Pizza!

I know there was a thread in another forum about healthy pizza alternatives - but how bad is the real thing? I looked it up in the food database and a generic slice of pizza is around 200 - 300 calories. I looooove pizza. As long as I plan for it, it's not that bad- right?
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Replies

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,190 Member
    If it fits your calorie goal, go for it. Really I always think it's odd how demonised pizza gets. It's bread, veggies, meat and cheese. Sure, it can be high in fat and high calorie depending how its made but for some reason reasonably innocuous ingredients become evil when they're round in shape and put in a flat box.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    I love pizza, and it's not unusual for me to have it once a week. Thin crust with ham and pineapple is my favorite and not difficult to fit into my goal at all! But the sodium is a different story :tongue: I'm always puffed up the next day. Still worth it! No cauliflower crust for me.
  • rimab8828
    rimab8828 Posts: 3 Member
    I love pizza too :) as long as it has a variety of vegetables on top. I still think its calory count is too much for a single slice ! After all, I rarely have only one :) and I prefer focusing more on satiety. it just makes hungry too soon afterwards....So sometimes i also prepare a bowl of salad which makes it more satisfying with a big slice of pizza. I am following a 1000 calory diet for this month, so I try to stick with more fulfilling options :) ... Or it would take me more exercise to make up for the excess in my daily calory ....
  • adamyovanovich
    adamyovanovich Posts: 163 Member
    I ate a Grand Mac and medium fries today for 1200 calories for dinner, for breakfast all i had was a yogurt. Not an ideal day but i work graveyard and had a bunch of errands and sleep to get today and woke up late and missed dinner at home. so it put me at 1400 calories and i called it a day. It fit in my goals so i ate it.
  • Giuliaborg
    Giuliaborg Posts: 34 Member
    I agree! I love pizza too and try to make space for it once a week. I think that an entire round normal margherita pizza (tomato and mozzarella only) is around 800 calorie. I don't mean the big version to share, but the traditional one with the dimension of a big dish.
    The only thing is that following a 1300 calories diet I cannot eat much during the rest of the day... but it is worthed, and we can always go running to burn it in advance :-)
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    Just be sensible about portion and toppings. I tend to stick to bacon and pineapple or chicken and spinach on Domino's pizza --they have a surprisingly useful calorie and nutritional calculator on the website. Dr. Oetker's line of thin crust pizzas are my go to for frozen pizzas...a decent serving for about 250-300 calories.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    I eat pizza pretty much once a week with my family. I'm in maintenance now but I also did when I was losing. Sometimes we order delivery from a chain, sometimes we make pizzas at home, and sometimes we go to a local restaurant and eat it there. I usually have salad and a couple of slices or a small individual pizza at a loca place. Fits well in my goals and I have no idea why pizza gets such a bad rap. It's carbs, fat, and maybe protein - depending on your toppings it might even have micronutrients from veggies. It's like a macro dream in a slice!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    rimab8828 wrote: »
    I love pizza too :) as long as it has a variety of vegetables on top. I still think its calory count is too much for a single slice ! After all, I rarely have only one :) and I prefer focusing more on satiety. it just makes hungry too soon afterwards....So sometimes i also prepare a bowl of salad which makes it more satisfying with a big slice of pizza. I am following a 1000 calory diet for this month, so I try to stick with more fulfilling options :) ... Or it would take me more exercise to make up for the excess in my daily calory ....

    Why such low calories?
  • MayaSPapaya
    MayaSPapaya Posts: 735 Member
    This. Before I knew, I used to never eat pizza unless it was a cheat meal. When I found out how easy it was to work in, I began having it about once a week, I love it!! I'm having it tonight in fact.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    I make my own Neapolitan pizza, and control the size of the dough ball. My dinner today will be a whole small pizza with meatballs, onions, and bell peppers for 508 calories. That's a delightful thing for me, as I make a batch of dough and have 6 balls from each batch. It fails to provide a good protein portion, so I have to get protein from other meals.
  • artanis50
    artanis50 Posts: 96 Member
    YAY! Pizza lovers unite! LOL
    Thanks for confirming what I already thought was "ok". I'll just manage my day to make the pizza for dinner work. Plus I plan on going for a bike ride tonight so that should help burn off any extra calories I may take in.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    It's not "bad". It has calories. You need to eat less calories to lose weight. If it's worth it to you, eat it.

    I live in NYC and I'm not getting any 200-300 calorie pizza slices up in here. I have to be ready to log 400-600 for a slice so I think twice or trice before I eat it.
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    My wife is allergic to wheat so it doesn't make sense to order two pizzas. We either get a dominos gluten free extravaganza or a crust to make our own. If I limit it to 2 slices it does not put weight on. I don't log anymore so I don't know if gluten free is less calories but it works for me.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    rsclause wrote: »
    My wife is allergic to wheat so it doesn't make sense to order two pizzas. We either get a dominos gluten free extravaganza or a crust to make our own. If I limit it to 2 slices it does not put weight on. I don't log anymore so I don't know if gluten free is less calories but it works for me.

    It almost never is
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    I love pizza, and will never give it up. It doesn't have enough protein for me so I generally have a protein shake before eating it for a meal, and it also helps me eat less because otherwise I could probably eat a whole pizza myself lol!
  • LZMiner
    LZMiner Posts: 300 Member
    Pizza is our Friday night staple! Can't live without it, and we're in Chicago so it's the real deal!
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    eat a reasonable amount, where reasonable is determined by your calorie needs.


    artanis50 wrote: »
    I know there was a thread in another forum about healthy pizza alternatives - but how bad is the real thing? I looked it up in the food database and a generic slice of pizza is around 200 - 300 calories. I looooove pizza. As long as I plan for it, it's not that bad- right?

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Dominos gluten free crust is less calories than their hand tossed. The thin crust is lowish calories, but not available as a small. (Gluten free is only available small.)
    rsclause wrote: »
    My wife is allergic to wheat so it doesn't make sense to order two pizzas. We either get a dominos gluten free extravaganza or a crust to make our own. If I limit it to 2 slices it does not put weight on. I don't log anymore so I don't know if gluten free is less calories but it works for me.

  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    There is absolutely nothing wrong with pizza. The only important thing is how many calories you are eating, not what you are eating, if you are focusing on weight loss only. If you want to focus on health, even then, pizza isn't that bad; it's not the ideal food, but it is definitely not horrific.
  • nightengale7
    nightengale7 Posts: 563 Member
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    Just be sensible about portion and toppings. I tend to stick to bacon and pineapple or chicken and spinach on Domino's pizza --they have a surprisingly useful calorie and nutritional calculator on the website. Dr. Oetker's line of thin crust pizzas are my go to for frozen pizzas...a decent serving for about 250-300 calories.

    Thanks for this tip! I have never tried Dr. Oetker pizza, but they sell it at my local Market Street, so I'm going to go pick one up for tonight to try it out. :smiley:
  • veronicav0502
    veronicav0502 Posts: 112 Member
    All this pizza talk is making me want pizza!
  • laceyslabaugh
    laceyslabaugh Posts: 113 Member
    It's pizza night every Friday at our house ... I eat the local pizza place, Gionino's / slice of pepperoni pizza on a large pizza is 298 calories. I eat my pizza very slow and if I'm still hungry I'll cut another slice in 1/2 and have that too! Like everyone said, maybe I'm not dropping weight like some, but I am losing, feel better and still enjoying food that I love!
  • onward1
    onward1 Posts: 386 Member
    The whole point of counting calories is that you can make room for any food you love while still eating a well-rounded diet.

    ^ This. I love pizza, it's gotta be good pizza though. Sometimes I'll bike ride extra miles for a few extra slices, yum! Yeah, all this pizza talk is making me want some. :smiley:
  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,073 Member
    I am fine to eat pizza if I am by myself and buy one slice. Whenever I am with my family and we have a whole pizza I can't stop eating it. For this reason I dont really have pizza a lot but then again I buy pizza from the weight loss company that I buy food from so I can always have that if I want pizza but don't want to go all out.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    artanis50 wrote: »
    I know there was a thread in another forum about healthy pizza alternatives - but how bad is the real thing? I looked it up in the food database and a generic slice of pizza is around 200 - 300 calories. I looooove pizza. As long as I plan for it, it's not that bad- right?

    It's protein, carbs, and fat...that's it. Pizza gets a bad rap namely because people don't eat a slice or two...they eat a whole *kitten* pie and that's going to add up to a lot of calories.

    If I'm having pizza, I'm having pizza...and it's going to be from my favorite local pizzeria...not some sham diet pizza made with cauliflower.

    Friday night is usually pizza night at my house...my wife and I share a small and usually have a couple of slices left over. It's a pretty fun tradition...I pick up the kids from school...as I leave the office I call the order in...our pizzeria is right on the way home from school so I just pop in and pick it up...get home and throw on a movie and we all eat pizza and watch the movie.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    My husband and I will go out to eat proper hand tossed pizza about once a month. The one I get is almost 1300 calories and I eat the lot.

    I just make it fit my calories by the end of the week.
  • CrazyCatLady916
    CrazyCatLady916 Posts: 29 Member
    If i want something, i make it fit into my calories for the day. I eat some ice cream almost every single day! I think i'm going for pizza for dinner. All this talk is making me hungry!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    The calorie count of pizza can vary greatly due to thickness of the crust, size of the pizza, toppings. Just your basic thin crust, sauce and cheese is going to be much less than a thick crust with sausage and pepperoni and extra cheese, for example.
  • dfranch
    dfranch Posts: 207 Member
    If it fits in your calories go for it. I have pizza all the time and I'm down 90+ lbs. I ate pizza while I lost, and I still eat it a couple of times a month while I'm in maintenance.