The FastDay Forum

... how many vegetables you can squeeze out of 500 calories?

I mentioned by worry that my kitchen scales were off in another thread (about sashimi). Another thing which made me think they were off was just how much stir fry I could make and stay under the 500 calorie limit (or 350 after deducting breakfast). I made a stir fry with a small amount of chicken and the rest veg (plus olive oil, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce) and it seemed like so much food. I'm still not entirely convinced I'm not doing something wrong...

It's quite amazing isn't it ? If you use beansprouts the amount you get is bucketloads! When I do a stirfry the only thing I measure carefully is the oil because that is where the calories lurk..and so quick and easy..

I second what Dhana says! There are 135 calories in one tablespoon of oil, so it can very quickly turn your feast of low-calorie vegetables into a pan full of dieting disasters!

I'm surprised all the time! I'm using MFP to check calories (having never been a counter) so am finding out lots... Eg the other day I had a small amount of crisps, only to find that my OH's biscuit was HALF the number of calories.
My king prawn stir fry yesterday was really good, and the chilli helped to make it interesting and satisfying. Yum, and low cal. I'll def do that for another fast day.

I've been using the tsp of olive oil called for in the recipes from the 5:2 book. In a saucepan, that seems to be plenty to saute chicken, garlic and ginger. Bean sprouts and mushrooms are the best for volume/cal, but I love carrots for the crunch. It's so good I often have it on feast days! (And sometimes it's necessary to use up the veggies before they spoil)