Are Potstickers Healthy? (3 Tips For Weight Loss) 

Potstickers are one of the most popular foods you can find in Asian cuisine.

There are many different forms and types of Potstickers all of which are extremely delicious and flavorful.

You can expect to find a ton of awesome veggies and aromatic seasoning that flavor the dish which truly makes for an awesome meal.

Although Potstickers are delicious, are they healthy? 

Potstickers are a food that consists mostly of carbs and fats so it can be difficult to fit into a healthy and balanced diet. Although there is usually pork in potstickers, the amount of protein is low and does not offer enough to fit a good ratio of macronutrients. 

Although it can be difficult to eat Potstickers when trying to eat healthy, we summed it down to 3 simple steps you can take in order to eat Potstickers and still stay within a healthy range of calories.

Here are the three steps to eat Potstickers while staying healthy. 

1. Understand What Goes Inside Potstickers 

2. Understand How Many Calories Are In Potstickers 

3. Stay Active & Build Muscle While Eating Foods Like Potstickers 

Now that we know the three steps to staying healthy while eating Potstickers, let’s take a deeper look into what we can do.

Tip 1: Understand What Goes Inside Potstickers 

Like many Asian dumpling dishes, the main feature that makes Potstickers so delicious is the chewy and flavorful dough that wraps around the filling.

There are two components of a typical Potsticker dish, so let’s see what each of these components are and what we can expect to find in them. 

The Dough 

Like many dumpling dishes, Potstickers have a dough that consists of flour and hot water with a sprinkle of salt.

Hot water denatures flour which provides a dough that is easier to handle and with a chewier end results.

This is why you find many dumpling videos with dough that is strong and pliable yet chewy and delicious after cooked. 

Unlike many noodle dishes, Potsticker dough really focuses on its simplicity and does not contain any calories from fats as there are no eggs or oil in the dough.

This is great for balancing out the dish as there is a lot of fats in the filling of the dish. 

You can expect to get some really awesome textures from potsticker dough just make sure that they’re steamed and not fried as this will save lots of calories from fats. 

The Filling

Most Potsticker fillings are very similar and feature a large variety of different vegetables and proteins that are seasoned with soy sauce and salt.

What makes Potstickers so amazing for me, however, is when I find a Potsticker dish with garlic and chives in there. 

There is nothing quite like the addition of garlic and chives with steamed pork wrapped inside of an extra chewy dumpling.

You can also find different seasonings coming from sesame oil and ginger.

These both add an extra layer of flavor to the dish and really pair well with the pork as well. 

Overall, you can expect the ingredients inside Potstickers to be relatively healthy.

The good news is that the dough does not contain any extra calories.

However, you can expect the filling to be adding lots of calories as there is a lot of oil and pork used inside.

Let’s take a look inside the nutrition label of a typical Potsticker dish and see what we can find. 

Tip 2: Understand How Many Calories Goes Inside Potstickers 

The goal of this blog is to bring awareness towards the nutritional value of our favorite foods.

We always like to add a section where we dive into the nutrition label of a certain food as it allows us to see whether or not we have to take precautions when eating it. 

Let’s take a look at the nutrition label up above and see what we can find in a typical Potsticker dish.

For a single potsticker that weighs 40 grams, we can see that there are 77 calories with calories coming from 3 grams of fat, 8 grams of carbs, and 5 grams of protein. 

This is not bad at all as there is somewhat of a balance of macronutrients in this dish.

We can see, however, that the fats and carbs are very high and make up most of the calories of the dish.

There is 5 grams of protein per potsticker but the calories coming from the other two macronutrients can easily add up. 

What we want to do here is to be mindful of how many carbs we are getting in a single meal with potstickers involved.

This means that we should be cautious of pairing potstickers with some other carbs such as rice or noodles. 

Carbs usually get a bad rep as they are seen as the number one cause of high weight gain.

This is far from the truth as carbs are what fuel our activity and movements while allowing us to thrive in our workouts.

It’s simply the act of overeating carbs that causes significant weight gain which is why it's crucial to manage them well. 

You want to make sure that you are getting close to a 1:1 ratio when it comes to carbs and protein which you want to get if you only eat potstickers.

We can see that there are 8 carbs for every 5 grams of protein which means some chicken or fish will greatly benefit this meal. 

It’s all about balance when it comes to the foods we eat and it’s very easy to get sidetracked towards eating a diet that consists mainly of carbs and fats.

The trick to eating healthy is to maintain a good ratio of macronutrients throughout each individual day. 

If you want to know more about how you can get your macronutrient ratio and stay healthy with the foods you eat, then make sure to check out this article where we go in depth about what you can do today. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/how-to-actually-get-a-six-pack-after-30

Now that we know what goes inside of the nutrition label, let’s take a look at the importance of staying active and building muscle. 

Tip 3: Stay Active & Build Muscle While Eating Foods Like Potstickers 

A great way to look at food is to think of it as energy.

You really want to compare how much energy you consume in a day to how much energy you utilize in a day.

When we eat foods such as Potstickers, we want to make sure that we stay within a good range of energy consumed. 

This is because there are around 77 calories per potsticker which can easily add up to amounts higher than a thousand.

When we stay active and build muscle, we can eat more calories while staying lean which is always the goal when trying to stay consistent. 

We always want to stray away from cutting food out of our diet and want to fill the process with amazing whole foods that are both satiating and highly nutritious.

The way we do so is by staying more active and sticking to a working program for long periods of time. 

There is something called TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) which is how many calories we burn in a day.

While 60-75% of the energy burned consists of RMR or BMR, 15-30% of the energy burned comes from the activity we deliberately try to do everyday (aside from 10% of the calories that come from digesting and utilizing foods). 

While there are some factors that we cannot control within our diets, activity is something we can tweak every single day which means we have the choice to utilize the energy we consume!

Now, where does muscle come into the picture? Muscle is great because it looks great and it burns calories at rest. 

This means that it allows us to eat more calories while staying lean and healthy. This is so crucial in the long run as it allows us to eat our favorite foods more freely.

However, it can be intimidating to start working out and building muscle so we’ve come up with a workout plan that will really help you get started.

Here is the workout plan down below. 

WOMEN 

Monday (Full Upper):  

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10 

• Knee Push Ups: 4x20

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

Wednesday (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps) 

• Assisted Pull Ups: 3x10

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12 

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

Friday: (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Squats: 5x5 

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

MEN 

Mon: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs (Push Day) 

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

Wed: Legs & Abs

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Stiff Leg DeadLift (Romanian Deadlift): 4 sets 15 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Weighted Sit Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

Fri: Back & Biceps (Pull Day)

• Assisted Pull Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets 10 reps (Each Side)

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

It’s a pretty basic plan but it will teach you how to utilize the major muscle groups in the body while building some really awesome muscle.

You can simply learn all the movements through some research or by getting a personal trainer who can guide you in these movements. 

Consistency and longevity are the two key factors when building muscle so there will be some commitment involved.

You can either go to the gym or build one for yourself.

It really just comes down to 3 pieces of equipment that you need to do most workouts. These three are the workout bench, dumbbells, and gym flooring.

Check out our recommended gear page to see our best picks for these pieces of equipment here. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/home-workout-equipment

If a home gym is not for you then getting a membership somewhere works too.

As long as you are starting your muscle building journey, we’re happy! (1)

Stick with it for the long run and you’ll see how amazing the results can be. 

So, make sure to get out there and build some really awesome muscle this week! 

There It Is! 

In this article, we went over what goes inside your favorite dumpling dish and what you can do to stay healthy while eating them.

We hope that you learned the importance of looking into the nutrition labels of your foods and why it matters to track the calories you get from your foods. 

If you want to know more about your favorite foods and get some healthy tips and habits, then make sure to check out our other blogs! 

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