i decided to look around on calorieking today to take a peek at how many calories were in various brands of pizza... 400 calories per piece of papa johns pizza!? and if i were to eat 3 pieces... theres all i can have right there! if i dont add dipping sauce and a breadstick or 4....

wow!!!

yeah Pizza is something that I have to stay away from...atleast the store bought or order whatever...if you have an incling for pizza, try it on mini whole wheat pitas, or the regular size ones....use tomatoe paste or sauce, add some herbs, add some tomoatoe, cheeze,basil... mushrooms, whatever...but ofcourse not too crazy...and voila...youve fixed the craving! Atleast, thats whats for dinner at my house tonight!

Always go veggie with a pizza. Amazing how the calories add up when you add the chicken or meat.

Lori

Yeah, typically when I do a pizza I just get the frozen ones, since I seem to be able to control myself better with those. I especially like the Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza with no cheese. It's absolutely delicious. Sometimes I'll add a little goat cheese to it if I feel like it. The key for me is to eat LOTS of veggies with my serving of pizza, like a big pile of steamed veggies or a large salad with low calorie dressing. I need bulk so I feel full and am not tempted to eat the rest of the pizza.

You can eat Pizza Hut Thin N' Crispy Pizza for under 200 calories a slice. Plain cheese, Veggie Lovers, and I *believe* Chicken Supreme all have under 200 calories a slice. If I plan ahead, I can go out occasionally and have three slices, and still have enough calories for a light lunch and breakfast.

Papa Johns is very caloric if you are eating their very bread-like original crust. If you eat pizza anywhere in a restaurant, order THIN crust. It cuts away 1/4 to 1/3 of the calories!

Do they have a Monical's near you all? They have something called a "heart healthy" pizza. Thin crust, low-fat cheese, spinach, tomatoes, and I think mushrooms. Don't quite remember the Nutrition Facts, but it's good! (I love Monicals).

Okay, it's called Happy Heart and it's 170 calories and 9 grams a fat per 8" pizza, 1/4 of a 16" thin crust and 1/3 of a 14" thin crust.

I'm lucky in that I have a pretty health conscious pizza place near me. Their crust and sauce are fat free (often pizza crust and sauce is loaded with fat). I order a cheeseless veggie pizza and it is pretty good

I generally stick to Lean Cuisine when I have a hankering for pizza....but it's good to know Pizza Hut has a fairly safe bet.

Pizza at our house...

Toast a whole wheat tortilla for five minutes on each side directly on the grate of a preheated 350* oven. Remove from oven, place on a baking sheet, and top with pizza sauce (I like Hunt's), loads of veggies (our favorite is fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, sliced mushrooms, and diced tomatoes), and a sprinkle of cheese. Bake for another five to ten minutes, until the cheese melts. Depending on how much cheese you add, this easily comes in at under 200 calories for the entire pizza, and the fresh vegetables are so incredibly good on it! We literally pile ours inches high! The kids love making their own, and I feel great about this dinner because it feels extravagant but it very good for us.

Kara

Many times it helps if you order a pizza w/ half the cheese. It's weird to eat it with regular cheese now. You are also saving tons of cals and fat. It also is good to dab the grease off of the top w/ a paper towel.

Sometimes it's scary to read any nutritional info. I had a cookie the other day, one single cookie. Looked at the package and it was 80 calories for the dang thing - and it was small.
I thought "I could have had almost 2 cups of strawberries for that".

Pizza is killer. Between the crust and the cheese - calories add up fast! We do like to make our own at home with the whole wheat bobolis or pita breads.

You can always use whole wheat english muffins to make mini pizzas with. I just stick them in the toaster over for a few minutes.

I eat out once a week where I don't count calories but I only do this if I was on plan ALL week prior. So I will go get a Whippersnapper pizza at a local pizza place that has a thinner crust, cheese, pepperoni, canadiam bacon and sausage. It's so bad for me but if I get one meal a week that I can look forward too I don't splurge the rest of the week. If I don't have that to look forward to I know I wouldn't stay on plan.

It's really shocking the high amount of calories in some foods isn't it? What I found most shocking is breakfast granola (or muesli we call it over here) which is a whopping 400 cals for a tiny bowl! Granted it's full of dried fruit and nuts but I had no idea - i was just eating a bowl as a small snack thinking nothing of it! Glad I now know though, and cutting it out saves me that 400 cals every day!