do good all day and blow it at dinner...

lin7604
lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
edited October 6 in Health and Weight Loss
I find i do good all day all week but dinners really blow it for me :( for example, tonight i made home made lemon chicken. I had no idea what the nutritional facts were so i went on a web site and put all my ingredients in and BAM! 1100 calories! wow... i was floored! 675 was just from the 1 cup of rice, man is it hard when you have 2 super picky eaters in the house ( as i refuse to make 2 separate meals).... we have done better putting fish on the menu weekly, grilled or lightly breaded chicken breasts, no more fries, only home made oven potato wedges.... more salads but then again that one can be very tricky too with dressings, etc... we roast our chickens now and i only will eat home made soup! but i am still struggling in eating healthy dinners and losing weight :( why does it have to be so hard.....
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Replies

  • carrie_eggo
    carrie_eggo Posts: 1,396 Member
    Try planning your personal menu for the day and logging everything in the morning. That way you know what you're going to eat, and you can adjust the portion sizes/snacks/etc to fit into your calorie goal.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    believe it or not i do.. i have all my daily snacks and meals made the night before.. So when at work i don't "over eat"..... it's supper time ! even if i portion control it, some of the home made things i make seem to be very high in calories :(
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    What kind of rice are you using? If your family doesn't like brown rice (I don't because the texture is... odd to me), just use plain white rice. A cup of that is only 205ish calories. What is in the rest of the recipe? That does sound awful high =( Maybe you can look online for a slimmed down recipe?
  • moniquelessard
    moniquelessard Posts: 418
    story of my life, but I could starve all day then binge at night...so I figure I'm doing better now than before. *sigh*
  • virgoGloria
    virgoGloria Posts: 2 Member
    Wow. So its not just me....
  • PBmaria
    PBmaria Posts: 854 Member
    What kind of rice are you using? If your family doesn't like brown rice (I don't because the texture is... odd to me), just use plain white rice. A cup of that is only 205ish calories. What is in the rest of the recipe? That does sound awful high =( Maybe you can look online for a slimmed down recipe?

    I wanna know too! I eat white rice all the time but I limit it to 1/2 cup, which is 100 or so calories.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
    Whoa. What kind of rice are you eating that 1 cup is 675 calories?! I have a cup of brown rice (regular, with wild, different flavored, etc) and the average calories for 1 cup is around 200 calories. I'm trying to figure out why on earth it was 675 calories for 1 cup?
  • furrina
    furrina Posts: 148 Member
    Just don't eat the rice. Its nutritional value is negligible anyway. If anyone else wants it, fine, but just have a smallish piece of the chicken and a ton of veggies. Or if no veggies are involved, just make a huge salad with no dressing. Do the same with dressings, sauces, bread, pasta, etc: Cook, serve but do not eat, or eat just a tiny bit. Concetrate on the main dish/protein, and watch the portions.
  • juliapurpletoes
    juliapurpletoes Posts: 951 Member
    gotta ask like the others....rice, 1 cup cooked can't be more than 200....did you measure/log it wrong or add alot of fat....or does that account for the chicken.....?

    take heart - alot of us make mistakes! we are here to learn and help others!
  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
    One cup of UNCOOKED rice has 680 calories - but that would be like four cups (4 servings) of COOKED rice.
  • crzyone
    crzyone Posts: 872 Member
    Man, I'm the same way, kind of, and was just thinking about whining here. I do great all day, even dinner and try to save a few calories for evening snacking, but I STILL end up eating too many in the evening or even getting up in the middle of the night to snack. Then, I"m over and it's doing no good. Well, it's better than I was, but not enough to be losing apparently. :(

    I love rice though......I don't feel satisfied till I've had that carb and I didn't have any tonight so can't seem to get satisfied.

    Good luck!!
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    i used this site: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php, that is where i got the amounts... I only had 1 cup of cooked white rice ( i don't like brown either).... but it said 675 calories for that 1 cup of rice....but now that you mentioned the lower amount, i should of looked on the flippen box 1st! UGGG it showed 320 for 1 cup! huge difference! now where did this site get it's info from? now it makes me wonder if the rest of the home made recipes i have used have been completely correct with the nutritional facts it gives?
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    Wow. So its not just me....
    Of course not, my dear. I am here, too.
  • directorj
    directorj Posts: 537 Member
    Think about it this way you would be worst off doing bad all day and also at dinner. So you still did good !
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    Description
    Long grain rice

    some broken, still fluffy when cooked
    Nutrition
    Per 100g per serving % based on GDA for adult
    Energy 494kJ 618kJ -
    116kcal 146kcal 7.3%
    Protein 2.7g 3.4g 7.6%
    Carbohydrate 25.5g 31.9g 13.9%
    Total Sugars 0.1g 0.1g 0.1%
    Starch 25.4g 31.8g
    Fat 0.4g 0.5g 0.7%
    Saturates 0.1g 0.1g 0.5%
    Mono unsaturates 0.2g 0.2g
    Polyunsaturates 0.1g 0.2g
    Fibre 0.6g 0.8g 3.3%
    Salt trace trace -
    Sodium trace trace -

    This is for my basic white rice i have. Where the hell does 600+ cals come from?!?!
  • ladyprofaz
    ladyprofaz Posts: 66
    Think about it this way you would be worst off doing bad all day and also at dinner. So you still did good !

    What an absolutely great thing to say!
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    Think about it this way you would be worst off doing bad all day and also at dinner. So you still did good !

    thank you!
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    ok so i RE DID the ingredient list and it is less...phew b/c of that error... NOW how do you log when something is deep fried that is home made? I deep fry the chicken for only 2-3 min but it is still fried... so how do i know how much more that is adding onto this otherwise healthy meal?
  • thecrossfitter
    thecrossfitter Posts: 424 Member
    Log before you make. Itll take some planning. Haha- and growing up my mom refused to make separate meals as well, but she also made whatever she wanted and was healthy. I didn't like it? Too bad. I'm sure it was a total pain in the butt at first but I got used to it- I didn't die :)
  • skywa
    skywa Posts: 901 Member
    you think about trying smashed potatoes instead of rice?

    they arent that high in cals.
    use a lil olive oil, a tablespoon of garlic and a bit of parmesean instead of butter and cream. and keep the skin on.
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
    I always eat heavier at dinner, and rather than change that I just plan for it. Try planning out your dinners for the week, and then you can eat around it.

    If i make lasagna and I know its 400 calories, then I know I have 1000 calories left for breakfast, lunch and snacks. If that makes sense?
  • holra527
    holra527 Posts: 6 Member
    Your best option is to not deep fry the chicken at all deep frying is so bad for you!
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    potatoes would not go good with this meal! plus i had them the day before :) you have lemon chicken on rice with lemon sauce dripped all over it... icky with potatoes :P
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    Your best option is to not deep fry the chicken at all deep frying is so bad for you!

    yes true, this is the ONLY meal that i make that is fried at all, so i figure if i make it only once a month max, that's ok....

    I have thought about if there was a way to make it with out frying it but the coating on it is sticky and won't bake well for some reason, it has to be cooked quickly, like frying....
  • lmelangley
    lmelangley Posts: 1,039 Member
    675 for 1 cup of rice? Are you sure? It can't be plain rice. Did you pull the cals for a cup of dry rice, or a cup of cooked rice?
  • 12skipafew99100
    12skipafew99100 Posts: 1,669 Member
    Isn't blowing it at dinner evidence that you have not had enough calories during the day?
  • rlwzgd
    rlwzgd Posts: 46 Member
    Try making substitutions - I've found you can make just about any cream sauce with skim milk and a flour thickener and get the exact same results as the cream version. Also, try egg whites for eggs, etc... For cheese, go with a full flavor - like sharp cheddar - but only use a bit of it. Instead of spaghetti, try spaghetti squash - it's a squash that comes out in strings like spaghetti. It has next to no flavor and works great with a sauce. If you are using broth or stock, use home made. And season season season - the better something tastes, the less you have to eat to feel satisfied. I'll eat spicy food a lot because it has huge flavor with very little calories (case in point = salsa). For breading, crumble crackers and toss in that - then bake in the oven on a sheet pan. Just a few suggestions. I use to blow it on dinner and had to figure out a better way to do it! I was shocked when I first started logging - totally and completely shocked!
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
    Whoa. What kind of rice are you eating that 1 cup is 675 calories?! I have a cup of brown rice (regular, with wild, different flavored, etc) and the average calories for 1 cup is around 200 calories. I'm trying to figure out why on earth it was 675 calories for 1 cup?

    1 cup DRY might be 675 calories...maybe she mislogged it not realizing that 1 cup dry would make like 3-4 cups cooked
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    i used this site: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php, that is where i got the amounts... I only had 1 cup of cooked white rice ( i don't like brown either).... but it said 675 calories for that 1 cup of rice....but now that you mentioned the lower amount, i should of looked on the flippen box 1st! UGGG it showed 320 for 1 cup! huge difference! now where did this site get it's info from? now it makes me wonder if the rest of the home made recipes i have used have been completely correct with the nutritional facts it gives?
    If you use 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water, that would be 3 cups... so shouldn't it be 225 per cup?

    Anyway, rice is an easy thing to cut out. You could eat half a cup and cut out even more calories. But the best thing is to figure out your recipes before you eat so you know how much to eat.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    Isn't blowing it at dinner evidence that you have not had enough calories during the day?
    Not necessarily. It can be a case of not realizing how calorie-dense your dinner is.
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