[brooksrm]

Ok, so for a snack/lunch I was really wanting some popcorn, so I got out the trusty old air popper and popped up a bowl, thinking air popped popcorn with nothing added isn't really that bad. But calories in popcorn are so confusing!

Back from my packaged microwave popcorn days I remember the nutrition facts would mention the calories in the unpopped kernels and then how many calories in a cup of popped corn. I'm running into the same confusion with my air popped corn.

Online calorie counters list how many calories per cup of popped corn. I got out the measuring cup to estimate, and a cup is like 1 handful! That's so not useful. I did a test run just because popcorn is so cheap, and 1/2 c of kernels (8 Tbs) made roughly 14 or 15 cups. According to online counters for AIR POPPED popcorn and nothing added, this was 433 calories.

I used 1/2 cup of kernels, and according to the kernel package, 8 Tbs is 280 calories. Which do I trust? I'm not in trouble either way and will round up until I get better advice, but I hate not knowing! 150 calories seems like a big difference between starting calories and ending calories.

[Shannon in ATL]

My Amish Country popcorn is 110 calories for 3 unpopped tbs, so I would go with the numbers on your bag.

[sweet_talker]

I find this rather perplexing too, because as an avid calorie counter for years (I'm a little overboard on it lately) I can't find a good statistic on popcorn. I've always been confused with the popped/not popped discrepancy.

Maybe it has something to do with how big the kernels pop...not all popcorn is created equally

I would go with how many calories are in unpopped kernels because they are easier to measure, and if you popped 1/2 cup I think it's 280 calories. I also double checked that amount against a couple others and it matches up a lot better (though they say 300 calories, not 280)

[DeniseW]

Hmm, I buy the 100 calorie packs of popcorn. Isn't that easier? Or am I missing something?

[brooksrm]

Yes 100 calorie packs are a million times easier. But air popped is cheaper and even though I eat more of it, I would think that it's healthier since I don't add butter or salt. I imagine a full bowl of 100 calorie pack popcorn would be quite a lot of 100 calorie packs.

[willow650]

I get confused about this to. my husband pops 1/3rd cup corn to 3 table spoons of coconut oil then we split in half. I would love to know the calories in that.