Spaghetti Squash.
SaraBrinksey9
Posts: 21 Member
I eat on average about 1200-1250 calories per day for maintenance. I am 5’5 and 118 pounds. I absolutely love spaghetti squash, and I generally go through 1 large squash in 2 days. Is this binging? Will eating this quantity of spaghetti squash make me gain?
0
Replies
-
I'm about your size, and a bit heavier (130s). I can easily eat 1/2 a good-sized spaghetti squash in a day.
Why would that be binging? It's a food, it's got plenty of good nutrition, and it's low in calories. Why not eat it?
That much spaghetti squash won't make you gain as long as you stay within your maintenance calorie goal. Why would it?
The only worry I can see is if you eat it every single day all the time, it may reduce the variety of other fruits and veggies you can fit in, which might not give you the full range of micronutrients that are healthiest for you. I doubt that it has enough calories to drive a healthy amount of protein or fat out of your way of eating, but you need those two things for good nutrition and health, too.
Out of curiousity, how old or inactive are you? 1200-1250 seems really low for maintenance. I can maintain in the low 120s on many more calories than that, without crazy amounts of exercise, and I'm over 60 years old. Is your weight actually stable over the long term on 1200-1250?
4 -
I'm about your size, and a bit heavier (130s). I can easily eat 1/2 a good-sized spaghetti squash in a day.
Why would that be binging? It's a food, it's got plenty of good nutrition, and it's low in calories. Why not eat it?
That much spaghetti squash won't make you gain as long as you stay within your maintenance calorie goal. Why would it?
The only worry I can see is if you eat it every single day all the time, it may reduce the variety of other fruits and veggies you can fit in, which might not give you the full range of micronutrients that are healthiest for you. I doubt that it has enough calories to drive a healthy amount of protein or fat out of your way of eating, but you need those two things for good nutrition and health, too.
Out of curiousity, how old or inactive are you? 1200-1250 seems really low for maintenance. I can maintain in the low 120s on many more calories than that, without crazy amounts of exercise, and I'm over 60 years old. Is your weight actually stable over the long term on 1200-1250?
What can you maintain on? Yes it has been stable on this. I have been eating 1800 with light activity, and have gained 5 lbs from 113 to 118 in 3 weeks1 -
SaraBrinksey9 wrote: »I'm about your size, and a bit heavier (130s). I can easily eat 1/2 a good-sized spaghetti squash in a day.
Why would that be binging? It's a food, it's got plenty of good nutrition, and it's low in calories. Why not eat it?
That much spaghetti squash won't make you gain as long as you stay within your maintenance calorie goal. Why would it?
The only worry I can see is if you eat it every single day all the time, it may reduce the variety of other fruits and veggies you can fit in, which might not give you the full range of micronutrients that are healthiest for you. I doubt that it has enough calories to drive a healthy amount of protein or fat out of your way of eating, but you need those two things for good nutrition and health, too.
Out of curiousity, how old or inactive are you? 1200-1250 seems really low for maintenance. I can maintain in the low 120s on many more calories than that, without crazy amounts of exercise, and I'm over 60 years old. Is your weight actually stable over the long term on 1200-1250?
What can you maintain on? Yes it has been stable on this. I have been eating 1800 with light activity, and have gained 5 lbs from 113 to 118 in 3 weeks
I maintained in a 118-123 pound range for the better part of a year on around 2000 calories plus exercise calories, while quite sedentary in everyday life. (This is unusually high for my size & age, but I don't know why it's true for me). I did some serious over-eating at that point, and have now been hanging out in the low 130s for a couple of years, with some ups and downs. Most days now, I'm eating 1850 plus exercise, which ends up being 2000-2100ish most days, and - when I stick to it - results in a very slow loss, around 1-2 pounds a month.
I see that you have several threads where you're worried about that 5 pounds. On another one of them, I replied to say what I thought was going on, and suggested some strategies you could use moving forward.
2 -
SaraBrinksey9 wrote: »I'm about your size, and a bit heavier (130s). I can easily eat 1/2 a good-sized spaghetti squash in a day.
Why would that be binging? It's a food, it's got plenty of good nutrition, and it's low in calories. Why not eat it?
That much spaghetti squash won't make you gain as long as you stay within your maintenance calorie goal. Why would it?
The only worry I can see is if you eat it every single day all the time, it may reduce the variety of other fruits and veggies you can fit in, which might not give you the full range of micronutrients that are healthiest for you. I doubt that it has enough calories to drive a healthy amount of protein or fat out of your way of eating, but you need those two things for good nutrition and health, too.
Out of curiousity, how old or inactive are you? 1200-1250 seems really low for maintenance. I can maintain in the low 120s on many more calories than that, without crazy amounts of exercise, and I'm over 60 years old. Is your weight actually stable over the long term on 1200-1250?
What can you maintain on? Yes it has been stable on this. I have been eating 1800 with light activity, and have gained 5 lbs from 113 to 118 in 3 weeks
I maintained in a 118-123 pound range for the better part of a year on around 2000 calories plus exercise calories, while quite sedentary in everyday life. (This is unusually high for my size & age, but I don't know why it's true for me). I did some serious over-eating at that point, and have now been hanging out in the low 130s for a couple of years, with some ups and downs. Most days now, I'm eating 1850 plus exercise, which ends up being 2000-2100ish most days, and - when I stick to it - results in a very slow loss, around 1-2 pounds a month.
I see that you have several threads where you're worried about that 5 pounds. On another one of them, I replied to say what I thought was going on, and suggested some strategies you could use moving forward.
I cant find the other thread
0 -
To see your other threads, use the drop down menu, “My Discussions”.2
-
SaraBrinksey9 wrote: »SaraBrinksey9 wrote: »I'm about your size, and a bit heavier (130s). I can easily eat 1/2 a good-sized spaghetti squash in a day.
Why would that be binging? It's a food, it's got plenty of good nutrition, and it's low in calories. Why not eat it?
That much spaghetti squash won't make you gain as long as you stay within your maintenance calorie goal. Why would it?
The only worry I can see is if you eat it every single day all the time, it may reduce the variety of other fruits and veggies you can fit in, which might not give you the full range of micronutrients that are healthiest for you. I doubt that it has enough calories to drive a healthy amount of protein or fat out of your way of eating, but you need those two things for good nutrition and health, too.
Out of curiousity, how old or inactive are you? 1200-1250 seems really low for maintenance. I can maintain in the low 120s on many more calories than that, without crazy amounts of exercise, and I'm over 60 years old. Is your weight actually stable over the long term on 1200-1250?
What can you maintain on? Yes it has been stable on this. I have been eating 1800 with light activity, and have gained 5 lbs from 113 to 118 in 3 weeks
I maintained in a 118-123 pound range for the better part of a year on around 2000 calories plus exercise calories, while quite sedentary in everyday life. (This is unusually high for my size & age, but I don't know why it's true for me). I did some serious over-eating at that point, and have now been hanging out in the low 130s for a couple of years, with some ups and downs. Most days now, I'm eating 1850 plus exercise, which ends up being 2000-2100ish most days, and - when I stick to it - results in a very slow loss, around 1-2 pounds a month.
I see that you have several threads where you're worried about that 5 pounds. On another one of them, I replied to say what I thought was going on, and suggested some strategies you could use moving forward.
I cant find the other thread
Here: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/42056192#Comment_420561920 -
I agree with Ann; I can eat 1/2 a spaghetti squash in one meal/day no problem. It’s a nice alternate to actual spaghetti for me since I’m still trying lose the last 15 pounds. I also agree that 1200-1250 does seem low maintenance.
FWIT I recently wrongly thought I was eating at 1100-1300 calories a day (most days) and was not losing/was gaining. After opening my diary for review from others and being meticulous with my measuring it became clear that I was consuming more calories than I thought. Not saying that’s what’s happening here, but it’s an idea to check on if eating maintenance levels calories is causing a steady (and lasting) gain.
Side note: I can’t find spaghetti squash in any grocery stores here right now and it’s made me very sad! Lol3 -
I'm about your size, and a bit heavier (130s). I can easily eat 1/2 a good-sized spaghetti squash in a day.
Why would that be binging? It's a food, it's got plenty of good nutrition, and it's low in calories. Why not eat it?
That much spaghetti squash won't make you gain as long as you stay within your maintenance calorie goal. Why would it?
The only worry I can see is if you eat it every single day all the time, it may reduce the variety of other fruits and veggies you can fit in, which might not give you the full range of micronutrients that are healthiest for you. I doubt that it has enough calories to drive a healthy amount of protein or fat out of your way of eating, but you need those two things for good nutrition and health, too.
Out of curiousity, how old or inactive are you? 1200-1250 seems really low for maintenance. I can maintain in the low 120s on many more calories than that, without crazy amounts of exercise, and I'm over 60 years old. Is your weight actually stable over the long term on 1200-1250?
Sorry! I also meant to mention that I’m 190 -
HEY--I thought there'd be spaghetti squash recipes here (browsing by recent discussions, not recipes)!
Related to topic: I also agree with Ann and Ellie. 1. Spaghetti squash every day should not be a concern for weight gain, though it could be for micronutrients due to lack of variety.
2. 1200-1250 does seem very low for maintenance. It is wholly possible that you are logging inaccurately.
If you aren't already doing so, I'd suggest purchasing a food scale and using it religiously.1 -
I LOVE spaghetti squash! To my surprise my family wanted to try mine instead of noodles one night when I made spaghetti and they all liked it better than noodles so now we all eat it that way.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 176K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.6K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions