Weight-Loss Aspects of Current Diet - How much? Too much?

[RJ91]

Hey all, I have some questions concerning some foods of my daily life.

Atm each day for lunch on school days (Monday-Friday) I have a Ham Sandwhich, is this alot of calories? Somedays is brown/wheat (what ever you call it) bread and others white bread.

Also

Once a week, usually a monday or tuesday I have Spaghetti Bolognese, but I've just looked on the internet and based on the serving size I usually have it wouldn't suprise me if it was touching on 1000 calories! Which means there's still alot of calories I can take out of my diet. What can I replace the bolognese with? Is the spagetti itself ok? Does anyone have any low calorie suggsetions which will be nice with the spaghetti or pasta.

That's all I can think of for now, if I think of more i'll post up.

Thanks!

-RJ

 

[smisen]

Ham has more calories than other meets, so replacing it with chicken or turkey would help cut back. Also, what kind of condiments are you using? Reducing or eliminating mayonaise helps, as does adding veggies like lettuce and tomato to your sandwhich. Whole wheat bread is a better choice than white.

Spaghetti can be very healthy, but it depends on how much of it you eat and what kind it is. If you can find whole wheat pasta, that's a better choice than regular processed spaghetti, since it will keep you full for longer. Meat sauces have more calories than marinara or vegetable sauces, so you can reduce calories there. Try eating a smaller portion of pasta, a larger portion of sauce and maybe a salad or other veggie to fill you up.

 

[RJ91]

Ham has more calories than other meets, so replacing it with chicken or turkey would help cut back. Also, what kind of condiments are you using? Reducing or eliminating mayonaise helps, as does adding veggies like lettuce and tomato to your sandwhich. Whole wheat bread is a better choice than white.

Spaghetti can be very healthy, but it depends on how much of it you eat and what kind it is. If you can find whole wheat pasta, that's a better choice than regular processed spaghetti, since it will keep you full for longer. Meat sauces have more calories than marinara or vegetable sauces, so you can reduce calories there. Try eating a smaller portion of pasta, a larger portion of sauce and maybe a salad or other veggie to fill you up.

Excellent reply! I never realised Ham was relatively calorific
Which is better out of Turkey or Chicken? I'd probally prefer chicken in the long run. One fault on my behalf is I don't make my sandwhiches (lazy me , parents do ) so I Guess if I made my own lunch i'd be able to fully control what goes in. One thing I don't like about adding veggies is often the water in them will cause the bread to go soggy, which makes it icky! I think i'm going to try and eat wholemeal full time now.

I'll try and get my dad to start making some sort of veggie sauce instead then, know any nice replacements for bologense sauce in particular?

Thanks!!

-RJ

 

[smisen]

I'm not sure that there's a huge difference between turkey and chicken - if you'll stick with one over the other, then that's probably the one you should choose. And I know what you mean about the soggy vegetables - usually I'll pack my veggies separately in a little plastic bag and finish making my sandwich at lunchtime.

As for pasta sauce, I usually make my standard sauce with a can of store-bought spaghetti sauce, a can of Italian-flavored diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. I like to spice it up with garlic and crushed red pepper and sometimes I grill up some chopped red bell pepper pieces and chopped onions and add them to the sauce for more flavor and veggies. If you're missing the meat texture, there's tons of soy-based products that do a good job of replicating the texture and adding extra protein. Most of the major brands (Morningstar and Boca for sure) make a ground meat substitute and there's also stuff you can buy called texturized vegetable protein (TVP) that you can add. Have fun experimenting with it and I'm sure you'll find something you like. Plus I'm sure your parents would love to have the night off cooking dinner!