Spaghetti and meatballs, you suck!

I just hate this stupid program sometimes. I need to rant! My amazing, sexy, and delicious husband, decided to make me dinner…a somewhat rare thing. What did he decide to make? Spaghetti with meat-sauce and TEXAS TOAST.If I calculated my points online correctly, that's about 16 or so points.
I had zero breakfast (way too busy with my students with it being the first day back from holiday break)….wheat-sandwhich from Subway for lunch that a fellow teacher brought me….and I just ate an Activia Yogurt to calm my hunger pains. The spaghetti did not nothing for my hunger…….BLAH.


(((Life is great…Diets, not so much)))

I'm a calorie counter and discovered early on that spaghetti is a relatively high calorie food. I just had smaller portions but couldn't give it up.

Yup, I hear ya- pasta is so high in points, argh. I recently discovered zoodles (zucchini cut into noodles) and they are a great sub for spaghetti noodles for me since they absorb whatever flavor you cook them in. Sometimes I do half pasta and half zoodles if points permit and I really want the pasta.

Zucchini noodles are also great in lasagna as noodle subs if you cut them lengthwise, approx. 1/4 inch thickness but be sure to salt them then put them on paper towels to draw water out beforehand.

Anyway, 16 points isn't that bad considering your day that you described.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES! I have to try those…thanks for the tip!

I count calories as well and discovered that the portions of pasta I was eating was way out of control. That has been the biggest thing to get used to. LOL Correct portions vs. actual portion given is crazy. But I love spaghetti so I make it work.

It took a while but eventually my stomach got used to it. However, sometimes by eyes are bigger than my stomach.

I also use zucchini noodles (my noodler is the best, but if you don't have one or want to buy one, you can just peel the entire zucchini into strips with a peeler.

I would sometimes cook 2oz of pasta and only 2oz so that I had no leftovers to pick from. Then, saute as many vegetables as you'd like (I like peppers, onions, mushrooms and spinach), mix that with the pasta and top with sauce. It makes a small pasta portion much bigger.

Can I make a small suggestion? Maybe packing your lunch at night so that you can grab and go in the morning would help. I usually pack up a snack, my breakfast, and my lunch. Making things like breakfast burritos (high fiber burritos, low fat cheese, lean meat of choice, vegetables) or mini quiches ahead of time to freeze can help so that you can grab and go.

I do the same with lunch and sometimes dinner - large pots of soup, stew, chili all frozen in individual portions make my grab and go so easy!

To me, planning is really the key to the whole thing

Next time try having a salad with lots of veggies instead of texas toast. I discovered if you use salsa which is zero points instead of ff dressing, which I don't care for, it tastes great and the salad is filling. I need my pasta every now and then, but I use whole wheat thin spaghetti. the serving size is a cup, which is a lot.

I can't give it up, either! One of these days it's going to serve it as a side, like I do with macaroni and cheese. LOVE spaghetti!

Pasta and bread is a real killer in terms of point. I went gluten free for December to see if I was sensitive to gluten (I do not think I am) and was entirely grain free for the first 2 weeks. What I found was that without grains or gluten my calories plummeted. I had a hard time getting to 26 points a day and had to work at it. Even though I am now back to eating grains and gluten I do realize now how much they contribute to my points so I am watching how many I eat.

There are alternatives to pasta that spare the calories. Sure they're not identical, but you can hardly tell once they have sauce and meat. My favorite is shirataki noodles, made from soy. My grocery store has them alongside the tofu products. One healthy serving has about 40 calories, all protein. I stopped eating pasta altogether and after a while never missed it.

I can't give up pasta completely, but I try to make things that are easy to portion (like lasagna).

I also found dumping a bunch of veggies in the sauce while it's cooking helped me cut my pasta portion down. I eat pasta in a bowl (the green WW one with the markers for 1 cup and 2 cups) and put the sauce in first. With a more volumetric-y sauce, there's less pasta in my 1.5 cup serving (0.5 cup vs 1 cup) and it tastes just as good.

I do that sometimes with frozen dinners. I don't eat a lot of them and prefer those that are whole grain. But I'll cook some frozen veggies and dump them in the frozen meal and it is much more filling and better for me.

I really like Pasta Zero brand shirataki noodles - I eat a bag (1 point, but since I follow Simply Filling I count zero points) most days in my lunch. Filling and good, though not the same as wheat pasta. I also have a gadget to make zucchini noodles - I love these too.

I am wondering if the zoodles get soggy? I am definitely going to have to try them.