You love it, you hate it, you can't live without it (or it's your only lunch alternative despite the heartburn).
I eat one slice of pizza 5x a week as my workday lunch (with a splenda yogurt and protein bar beforehand in the morning & a piece of fruit and snack bar after at work before I get home).
HOW, oh how, do you calculate the calories of your average slice of thin-crust plain cheese pizza from your friendly neighborhood corner pizza shop?
Fitday ballparks ~150, but fast food chains can be up to 300 (or more for gormet pizza).
Hi Cardiomonster, I don't keep track of calorie numbers but do stay away from restaurant pizza no matter if it is fast food or "upscale".. I wouldn't trust it unless there was nothing else to eat on the planet. I do however enjoy eating homemade pizza. I am in control of the crust, the toppings, all of it.
HOW, oh how, do you calculate the calories of your average slice of thin-crust plain cheese pizza from your friendly neighborhood corner pizza shop?
I don't, lol.
I rarely eat pizza but when I do, I just keep it to one or two pieces and blow it off. I don't worry about calculating the calories because there's really no way to do that. You don't know exactly how many ounces of cheese are one on slice. Or how many calories in the toppings or the sauce. Or the crust, for that matter.
When I eat pizza, I just count it as one of those uncountable munchable things and forget about it.
We sometimes get papa john's pizza and that seems to be in the databases.
I don't worry if the numbers are exactly right, but use the counting to keep myself accountable. I know that one slice of a large Papa John's original crust garden special pizza is 280 calories. Cheese is about the same.
So, I might think about the size of a slice and compare it to that (or standard) and use that if I were having a different kind of pizza... Using this strategy, I don't have pizza very often (maybe once every couple of months), but when I do, I might have several slices...
All I can say is that I think Fitday is being quite generous in this case--if pizza was really only 150 calories a slice, I'd be eating it every day, too! But when a single slice of cheese alone often has 100 calories, I'd doubt a while slice of cheese pizza is only 150. Add to that 100+ calories of cheese the crust, and who knows. Another thing to consider is sodium--even though pizza is not a particularly salty tasting food, I'm sure it's LOADED with sodium based on the simple fact that it comes from a restaurant Isn't there anything more stable you could have for lunch? Even if it's only a few days a week and still have pizze 2 days or something--I can't imagine daily pizza is doing you much good
I eat pizza from a "gormet" by-the-slice place on occaision. If it is a "domino's" size slice (kind of thin and pointy) I call it 300 cals. If it is a "gormet" size slice (pretty much fills a paper plate) I call it 600. (This is for a non-meat pizza with several veggie toppings.) Neither number is very accurate, probably, but they "feel" close enough to me. I would agree that 150 seems way too small, unless it is a thin slice from a smaller pizza. And remember, cheese pizzas often have MORE cheese then, say, a pizza with cheese and artichoke hearts.
I love pizza and it's very nutritious if you get a vegetable topping. My DH and I order out for pizza once a week. I've been eating 2 slices of cheese pizze with mushrooms through my entire weightloss and it's never affected me. I think sometimes we put too much "worry" on foods that are SUPPOSED to be bad for us. You just need to learn what affects your body and what doesn't.
I love pizza and it's very nutritious if you get a vegetable topping. My DH and I order out for pizza once a week. I've been eating 2 slices of cheese pizze with mushrooms through my entire weightloss and it's never affected me. I think sometimes we put too much "worry" on foods that are SUPPOSED to be bad for us. You just need to learn what affects your body and what doesn't.
Once a week is one thing, but every day? When I get pizza, it has these little pools of grease on top, and even though I dab them off with a paper towel, I can't imagine that's doing my body any good. I never get meat toppings anymore, but I don't care for veggies, so I get pineapple, but I still wouldn't consider it a healthy, everyday food. Even the pizza I make at home (whole-wheat crust, reduced-fat cheese, low-sodium sauce) can pack in the calories if I'm not careful, not to mention that even the whole-wheat crust has high fructose corn syrup in it. I guess it all depends on whether you're going just for weight loss or for overall good health
Last weekend, I ate an entire medium stuffed-crust pizza from Pizza Hut (low sauce, extra cheese, and pineapple)--not all at once, but from Friday night to Sunday night. I didn't gain any weight at all. However, I still wouldn't consider it to be a healthy everyday choice, ya know? Just my opinion, of course, as always. To each his own...
I enjoy pizza once in a while but I buy it from only one place. There is a local pizza place that has fairly non greasy pizza and I add veggies to it. There isn't any grease sitting on top of the pizza and the crust is fairly dry so I don't think it has too much oil added to it. I wouldn't fool myself into thinking that it is healthy for me though. It kind of reminds me of what my mom would do to veggies when I was young which is add cheese to them but pizza is where cheese bread is the main ingredient and you add a little veggies.
Pizza can be a healthy meal if you make a healthy one. But if yours is covered in gobs of whole-milk cheese and high fat meat it might not be. Its okay though. Just keep your portion down to what would equal about 1/8 of a ten inch pizza pie. Get a look at a normal 1/8 slice of medium chain-pizza for comparison. If your slice is bigger than that, cut it in half and save the other half for another day (or just throw it away I guess). Then get whatever indulgent pizza you want, doesn't have to be thin crust or anything, it can even have white sauce, deep dish, extrea cheese. There's no way one slice of any pizza goes over the requirements for a healthy sized lunch.