Is Key Lime Pie Healthy? (3 Tips For Weight Loss)

Key Lime Pie can’t be missed in American cuisine. If Key Lime Pie is one of your favorite desserts, this article is for you.  Find out what Key Lime Pie is and see whether, or not it’s healthy and can fit into your lifestyle.

Key Lime Pie is a popular dish in the Southern States, especially in Key West, Florida where it originated in the late 19th century.   

Although Key Lime Pie is delicious, is it healthy?

Since Key Lime Pie is a dessert, it is not necessarily considered healthy and should be consumed in moderation or rarely. As it is relatively high in calories, fat, and sugar. 

Here are three steps that explain the calorie amount in one slice of Key Lime Pie, the ingredients that go into making Key Lime Pie the traditional way, and how to stay in shape while eating this delicious southern dessert. 

• 1. What Goes Into Making Key Lime Pie?

• 2. How Many Calories Are in One Slice of Key Lime Pie? 

• 3. How To Lose Weight While Eating Key Lime Pie

Let’s take a deeper look at all of these individual steps and see what you can do to stay healthy while enjoying some delicious Key Lime Pie. 

Tip 1: What Goes Into Making Key Lime Pie?

Traditionally, Key Lime Pie is made with Key limes, from the Florida keys. However, don’t panic if you don’t have Key limes, regular limes work just fine.  

Let’s take a look at what you need to make a classic Key Lime Pie. 

To make classic Key Lime Pie you require a graham cracker pie crust and for that, you will need; graham crackers, sugar, and unsalted butter. 

For the filling, you’ll need; Key lime juice or regular lime juice, condensed milk, and egg yolks. 

For the topping you’ll need; homemade or store-bought whipped cream. If you want to save time, you can also use a store-bought graham cracker pie crust.  

If you’re vegan, you can make a vegan version of Key Lime Pie by using vegan graham crackers, vegan butter, full-fat coconut milk, sweetened coconut condensed milk, cornstarch, and use vegan coconut whipped cream as a topping. This will also reduce the calorie amount in one slice to 132 kcals. 

Now that we know what a Key Lime Pie is, let’s take a look at the nutrition facts of one slice of Key Lime Pie. 

Tip 2: How Many Calories Are in One Slice of Key Lime Pie? 

The key aspect is to understand how many calories you need to consume in a day, whether you have a sedentary lifestyle or an active lifestyle, and to make sure not to overeat on your total calories for the day.  

Let’s take a look at the nutrition facts. As you can see, one slice (143 grams) of Key Lime Pie has 440 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 54 grams of carbs, 8 grams of protein, and 22 grams of fat.  

Not only is Key Lime Pie high in calories per one slice but it’s also high in carbs, fat, and sugars, with 42 grams. 

The key to dieting is a nice balance of macronutrients, as well as having an active lifestyle.  

A good rule of thumb for dieting is a nice balance of macronutrients. A great ratio is sticking to 30% carbs, 40% protein, and 30% fats.  

Staying healthy and fit is all about calorie or energy balance, which means that you can still eat your carbs and stay in shape.  

To stay healthy and in shape, we need to first go over your daily caloric needs, figure out how many calories you need in a day, and figure out how much of each macronutrient you should be consuming. 

There are a few factors that determine your daily calorie intake. Such as weight management, weight loss, or weight gain. Other factors that play a big role are your gender and your height. 

So, how do you know how many calories you should be eating in a day?

The answer is through trial and error and finding a calorie range that allows you to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. 

However, a good place to start is to multiply your body weight by 12 or to use an online TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator.

Your TDEE relies heavily on how active you are and how much movement you see in your day.

Within your TDEE lies a subsection, which is called TEPA (Thermic Effect of Physical Activity) which accounts for 15-30% of your entire day’s worth of calories.

This means, you are in control of 15-30% of how much you can eat, which is a huge portion of calories.

If you’re someone who loves to eat a lot while staying fit, then being active is the key to a balanced lifestyle that allows you to eat whatever you like, such as Key Lime Pie, and stay in shape. 

Once you know your calorie intake based on your weight and height, you can then decide how much you want to decrease it. If you want to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, we suggest you start with 100 calories less than what you are currently consuming and see if you notice a difference within a week. 

It is suggested, however, to not decrease the calorie intake below 1,200 per day for women, or below 1,500 calories per day for men.

If you don’t see any changes in your weight, decrease your calorie intake by another 100 calories and see how that works. 

The key here is to find foods that keep you full longer and still deliver a balanced amount of macronutrients. 

You don’t want all of your calories simply coming from carbs or fats, you want there to be a balance coming from carbs, protein, and fats.

So, just calculate whatever calorie range you find, and split up your calories by following those macro guidelines. 

Despite the high amount of calories in one slice of Key Lime Pie, it can easily be incorporated into your daily caloric total, as long as you work out and stick to only one piece. 

Tip 3: How To Lose Weight While Eating Key Lime Pie

You can easily over-eat unhealthy, processed foods that are high in fats and carbs, especially when something is as delicious as Key Lime Pie. Overeating is usually the quickest way to get out of shape.  

As we have mentioned in section two of this article, it’s important to understand how many calories you need to eat in order to lose weight and stay in shape.  

After you’ve figured out how many calories you need to consume daily, you need to make sure that you exercise regularly and build muscle throughout every week.  

Building muscle allows you to burn calories at rest, which means you can eat more and still lose fat. 

This is the daily goal of working out and is what keeps you healthy as your metabolism increase. 

So if you love eating classic Key lime Pie, you have to make sure your activity level is higher than usual, especially if you want to lose weight.  

Keep in mind that weight loss is the concept of calories in vs. calories out.

Although working out and building muscle takes priority, having a consistent cardio schedule can help with expediting the fat loss process as it raises the energy expended throughout your week.

There are two types of cardio that you can do in your week that will speed up the fat loss results. Those two types come from LISS (Low-Intensity Steady State) cardio and HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) cardio. 

What you want to aim for is to burn around 1,000 kcals of cardio every week through means of either LISS or HIIT.

LISS is cardio that comes from walking or a brisk walk, you should be able to have a conversation while still building up a sweat.

HIIT cardio is intervals of a very high-intensity movement, such as sprints, battle ropes, or kickboxing movements aiming to quickly raise the heart rate.

The benefit of HIIT is allowing yourself to burn calories in a shorter amount of time. 

We recommend having 80% of cardio coming from LISS while 20% comes from HIIT for optimal fat loss throughout the week. 

LISS is a much more reliable source of consistent movement and does not require rest as it does not shock the Central Nervous System the way HIIT can.

However, the fastest and most efficient way to build muscle is to learn how to do some resistance training.

You need to use weights and build muscle by doing a variety of workouts that isolate each muscle group specifically. 

Although it can be intimidating to get in shape, as it will be hard to learn and might be discouraging at the beginning, it’s definitely worth it in the long run for both your health and fitness. 

All you need are a set of dumbbells, such as these adjustable dumbbells, and a reliable treadmill such as the Bluefin Fitness Treadmill that tracks your calories and you’re on your way to controlling the number of calories you burn. 

Regarding working out with dumbbells, it’s important not to add too much weight too soon because that could result in injury if you are unfamiliar with the correct body positions. It is better to start small and then increase the weight level. 

Here is a workout plan we’ve created for men and women, where you can get started if you are someone who hasn’t ever done a resistance training regimen.

MEN:

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

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

Day Two (Legs & Abs):

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Sit-Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

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

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

Day Three: Back & Biceps (Pull Day):

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

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

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

WOMEN

Day One (Full Upper):

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Knee Push-Ups: 4x20

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10

Day Two (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps):

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3x10

Day Three (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Squats: 5x5

We recommend working out at least three times per week in the beginning, since the resting days in between are important to build muscle. 

Building muscle will happen relatively fast if you are new to working out, so this is great news for anyone looking to get in shape.

Working out allows you to be more flexible in your diet and lifestyle, which is so important if you want to sustain a lean body and stay healthy while eating Key Lime Pie. 

This is why we need to control the number of calories we get from carbs and fats in order to utilize the energy we gained through movement and workouts.

So, next time you’re wondering how you can lose some weight, remember that you need to build some muscle and track your calories to your specified amount. 

THERE IT IS!

Our three tips will help you stay fit while eating some Key Lime Pie. 

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