Please help!! Calorie estimates in this meal.

dfh13101549
dfh13101549 Posts: 8 Member
edited February 2020 in Health and Weight Loss
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I went to this Italian restaurant and it doesnt have the nutrition listed anywhere! Pics of what i ate will be attached. The ingredients in the pasta/the description was “three cheeses, ziti pasta, shredded chicken, and alfredo sauce”. There was barely any chicken, but sauce was covering it. The other picture is something called a meatball bake, the cheese/marinara under the meatballs i did not eat, just the meatballs so please help me calculate the calories in the entire plate of pasta and in each meatball, i ate two meatballs. pmq44e80310n.png

Replies

  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    Yeah I think Melanie has a pretty good estimate. I guess 1200 cal.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,024 Member
    Just a WAG, but less than 1500 and more than a 1000. Look up a similar dish in the database and estimate from there.
  • dfh13101549
    dfh13101549 Posts: 8 Member
    Just a WAG, but less than 1500 and more than a 1000. Look up a similar dish in the database and estimate from there.
    Including the two meatballs or just the pasta?
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,024 Member
    including meatballs, again just a guess. those meatballs are at least 80-100 calories each.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,296 Member
    Alfredo is made with butter, cream, cheese.... do you have a cup of sauce there? You're looking at ~1300. Do you have half a cup? 650. A cup of pasta about 220.

    Meatballs are likely to have some filler and be slightly fluffy. A McDonald's burger is actual low quality beef with no fillers. Imagine a 1:1 ratio of fresh bread and McDonald's meat patties and squish them into the approximate size of your meatballs and you can estimate a semi reasonable number of calories for the meat balls.

    Using 80 Cal for a slice of white sandwich bread and 90 Cal for the small McD hamburger patty, and squishing them together into a meatball shape (remember bread is very squishable), I figure one of your meetballs would take about 1.5 of my squishy combo. Could be 2 if they were large. So a good 250 Cal per meatball. If not a bit more.

    Your entry level for the meal as described is 1500 but, as with a lot of things, it really is dependent on the portion sizes and pictures do make that hard to judge!

    Looks very tasty and regardless of calories it will not derail you for long (or at all) IF YOU GO BACK TO YOUR NORMAL PLAN without guilt or overcompensation.
  • dfh13101549
    dfh13101549 Posts: 8 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Alfredo is made with butter, cream, cheese.... do you have a cup of sauce there? You're looking at ~1300. Do you have half a cup? 650. A cup of pasta about 220.

    Meatballs are likely to have some filler and be slightly fluffy. A McDonald's burger is actual low quality beef with no fillers. Imagine a 1:1 ratio of fresh bread and McDonald's meat patties and squish them into the approximate size of your meatballs and you can estimate a semi reasonable number of calories for the meat balls.

    Using 80 Cal for a slice of white sandwich bread and 90 Cal for the small McD hamburger patty, and squishing them together into a meatball shape (remember bread is very squishable), I figure one of your meetballs would take about 1.5 of my squishy combo. Could be 2 if they were large. So a good 250 Cal per meatball. If not a bit more.

    Your entry level for the meal as described is 1500 but, as with a lot of things, it really is dependent on the portion sizes and pictures do make that hard to judge!

    Looks very tasty and regardless of calories it will not derail you for long (or at all) IF YOU GO BACK TO YOUR NORMAL PLAN without guilt or overcompensation.

    Thank you!!! This was the only thing i ate the entire day also, so im sure i wont gain too much from it maybe!! I weigh 103ish and i am 5’4 and female so i gain on like 1600 a day sometimes though:(
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,296 Member
    edited February 2020
    I am saddened to hear about your recent illness that has pushed you into underweight status and hope that you're now on your way to recovery.

    You will need more than just a meal or two like this to both get the nutrition you need to recover and in order to survive long term.

    I would think that it is counterproductive for you to be counting calories and worrying about the size of your meal unless, in fact, you were doing so to ensure you met a minimum level of calories--in which case I commend you but would caution that your strategy of making this the only meal of your day may be counterproductive for your recovery.

    Have you talked with your doctor about your current weight level and any concerns you may have?
  • dfh13101549
    dfh13101549 Posts: 8 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    I am saddened to hear about your recent illness that has pushed you into underweight status and hope that you're now on your way to recovery.

    You will need more than just a meal or two like this to both get the nutrition you need to recover and in order to survive long term.

    I would think that it is counterproductive for you to be counting calories and worrying about the size of your meal unless, in fact, you were doing so to ensure you met a minimum level of calories--in which case I commend you but would caution that your strategy of making this the only meal of your day may be counterproductive for your recovery.

    Have you talked with your doctor about your current weight level and any concerns you may have?

    I dont have an illness.... i recently went from 127 to 103 pounds in 6 months from a calorie deficit, not an illness.