Well ! That is a very important piece of information that was left out.No where did th OP mention unpopped or popped. I know that unpopped corn increases in volume after it is popped. I don't need it explained to me, I was under the impression it was either ALL unpopped or ALL popped since she didn't specify.

I thought it was self stated that 3 tbs of 150 calories was unpopped. Sorry if you misunderstood me.

This is why I like those 100 cal bags of popcorn. I hate the freaking guesswork.

Nope, look on your origional post no mention of popped or unpopped. I was going nutz trying to figure this out. I am well aware that unpopped corn increases in volume after being popped.

Again, i apologize that you found my post unclear

Me too.

Plus dirtying up a measuring glass to measure microwave popcorn, ugh!

I just assumed that because it said 5 cups on the side of the bag beside the 3 tablespoons unpopped, then that was the serving size and what was in the bag.

Oh silly naive me!

Me,too from now on, this higher math is killing me.

I'm having flashbacks to math class.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who couldn't figure this out!

Why can't they just put on the side "HEY! This is how much you're supposed to eat!" Not this silly 3tbs and 5 cups stuff!

Seriously, by the time I would have figured this out, if I ever had, my show I wanted to have popcorn with would have been over, I'd have gone into menopause and it would be the 12th of Never.

I've actually changed my mind and think you might be right, honestly. You get more wastage with microwave popcorn, so I would bet that 3 tablespoons unpopped DOES produce 5 cups (more or less) popped. In the microwave. Hard for me to imagine a bag of microwave popcorn containing 15 cups of popcorn. That would be ALOT.

Measure once and report back!

(I mean, measure the popped bag and see where it is, hah.)

This whole thread has scared me off of popcorn now...

So I made popcorn in the spirit of science! I used Kroger brand Natural popcorn and on the side of the box it says 3tbs unpopped 150 calories, 5 cups popped 130 calories.

I got 7 1/2 cups and that should be 195 calories give or take a few popped kernals.

I think the 5 cups is an average? And the cup pop lets you pick how many cups you want? But then the question remains, why is this brand a one bag serving size, and then other brands say somewhat the same thing, and the bag is 3 servings??

Forget it. I'm just gonna eat pretzels. But I did have two handfuls of popcorn like a nutcase..

The one good thing about all this is that popcorn is pretty low calorie.

Yea it is, unless you get the triple butter xtreeemmmee!! kind. Or the bacon kind..It's out there.

I just wish there was a plain and clear serving size on it. It would be really helpful! There's no reason for a snack to be this confusing!