OOPS! Muesli mistake

Ok so I have a bowl of muesli every morning like some sort of ritual.
It is normally about 180-200 calories for a bowl full, and then more because of milk of course.

However I read the label closely today.

14 servings per pack.

Are you kidding me?!?! I get about 6 servings out of it. If I were to make it last for 14 servings, I would probably get about 4 mouthfuls each sitting. I am always under my calorie allowance for the day anyway (by at least a couple of hundred, eg I am meant to eat 1800 but I eat around 1500) and I am worried sick that this could be a contributing factor to why I'm not losing the weight as quickly as I would hope....

Any thoughts anyone? What a disaster! I am switching muesli.... ps I hate porridge please don't tell me to eat porridge - it tastes like feet!

Alway measure, or even weigh your food, especially cereal. Believe me - very few people have a concept of what a serving of cereal is, and it is certainly not a bowl-ful.

retro - Don't be worried sick that this is the cause of you not losing any weight. You should be happy that you found this info out. If you didn't know it, then it might drive you crazy and you would have been eating too many calories over every day.

I've done the same thing myself. I did it with microwave popcorn and thought that one of those giant bags was 100 calories. Too bad it's more like 300. Also, I did it with frozen pizza rolls. I thought it was a single serving box but it was 2 servings. I even read the damned label every time and just overlooked it.

A good filling breaky is scrambled eggs with lots of cooked veggies in and a little cheese. Or cereal....I mix cereals like Fiber one with Cheerios, or Honey Bunches. It's more filling that way considering I hate the taste of Fiber One on its own.

^ I agree with the measuring, eyeballing is no good, you really need to measure.  Weighing's best if you have a food scale.

Museli's super dense for cals but also for nutrients, so don't feel too bad.  You're eating more calories than you thought, but it's not like you ate a large fry and thought it was the same as one fry, you ate extra calories but it's not going to kill you. 

I would mix it with something lower density.  Like a low-cal cereal, lots of milk, a side dish like scrambled egg whites, or a low-fat yoghurt.  Don't give up the museli if you love it though, just find another way to fill up at breakfast so that you can have a taste of what you like too.

I eat those flakes that are basically just crushed wheat/rye/oat (I don't know the English name for them). They are really dry and quite dense/heavy so I take only a little and let them soak in the milk so they get softer and the meal more filling. I mix 30g of those with 100g 1.6% fat milk and 5g of dried cranberries every morning, but I count that as half of meal since it's only 150 calories. I think even the "fit" and "healthy" packages of mixed flakes are just a bunch of sugar and preservatives. I definately don't want to ingest my whole daily allowance of sugar first thing in the morning - in one meal! I save those sweet ones for snacks and desserts, though

Thanks guys for all your helpful suggestions, I will definitely take them on board.

I must be eating about 600 calories if not MORE for my bowl of muesli - no wonder my weight is being stubborn. I will change this as of tomorrow.

I think it's because I wait until I am at work (9am-ish) and I am STARVING so I always fill the bowl up. Silly me.

That would also explain why when I was having protein drinks in the morning when I was restricted for time (approx 300) that the weight started dropping off. GOODBYE HUGE BOWLS OF MUESLI!

The packet serving size for muesli is a SMALL half-cup because muesli/granola is very dense and fairly high in fat and sugar. That's what makes it yummy! But it also makes it very calorific. If you want to keep the volume up but cut the calories, try mixing your muesli with an unsweetened puffed cereal - they are low in calories because they're mostly air, and they make you feel like you're eating more than you actually are.