Is Mantou Healthy? (3 Tips For Weight Loss) 

If you’re a fan of Chinese foods, then Mantou is definitely one of those dishes you can’t get enough of.

It’s an extremely simple dish that somehow creates a tremendous amount of flavor with an amazing soft and fluffy texture.

Although Mantou is delicious, is it healthy?

Mantou is fine to eat when dieting as it is simply a source of carbs with some protein. For every 51 grams of Mantou, there are 123 calories which come from 1.5 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, and 4 grams of protein. It is very easy to manage as long as carb intake is controlled on a daily basis. 

Although Mantou is good to eat while dieting, it is still very possible to see a lot of weight gain if calories are not accounted for.

Here are three steps you can take in order to eat Mantou while staying healthy. 

1. Understand What Goes Inside Mantou 

2. Understand How Many Calories Are In Mantou 

3. Make Sure To Build Muscle & Workout Consistently When Eating Mantou 

Now that we know the three steps to eating Mantou while staying healthy, let’s take a look at what goes inside of a typical dish of Mantou. 

Tip 1: Understand What Goes Inside Mantou 

Mantou is a very simple pastry dish and consists mainly of flour, sugar, baking powder, and active dry yeast.

Unlike many other pastry dishes you can find all over the world, Mantou does not contain lots of calories coming from fats as there is no butter or oil that goes inside of its components. 

This is good news for anyone that loves Mantou as it is both delicious and can save you on a ton of calories that you would normally get from pastries.

There are some Mantou dishes, however, that add things like red bean, char siu, or are fried with condensed milk to top it. 

These are the dishes where you can expect a large amount of calories coming from fats so, if you’re looking to stay healthy, it would be best to avoid those.

The beauty of Mantou is the fact that it is steamed and does not need fats to compliment its flavor and texture. 

It’s a dish that is made up of four simple ingredients and can easily be added into any healthy diet.

Now that we know what goes inside a typical Mantou dish, let’s take a look at its nutrition label and see what we can find. 

Tip 2: Understand How Many Calories Are In Mantou 

As mentioned above, a single serving of Mantou contains 1.5 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, and 4 grams of protein.

There are a lot of carbs per serving but it is very manageable as it still offers low fats with a moderate amount of protein. 

Eating healthy is all about a balance of macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats).

It may seem that carbs and fats are not essential for a healthy diet but this is hardly the case.

The real enemy is the act of overeating carbs and fats as they are the two macronutrients that are more likely to be stored as fats compared to protein. 

When you look at a food like Mantou, you can see that it is simply categorized as a carb dish.

This means that it lacks protein and fats which can be easily supplemented by a healthy meat dish such as chicken or fish. 

Mantou is typically eaten as an appetizer anyway so it would really benefit from the delicious Chinese dishes that come from the remainder of the meal. 

A good macronutrient ratio goes for something along the lines of 30% protein, 45% carbs, and 25% fats.

Staying healthy means that most of your calories stick to this ratio which can easily be achieved if you are someone who is mindful of the foods you eat. 

We can see that Mantou is a dish that skews heavily towards carbs which means that it will take out a percentage of our carbs while offering us little protein and fats.

The way we create balance is to make sure we stay low on our carbs for the remainder of the day and add some high protein meals before or after our Mantou meal. 

Figuring out your macronutrient ratio, however, comes first and, if you want to learn more about this concept, then make sure to click this link where we go over how you can find your own individual ratio through some calculation. 

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

The whole point of this blog is to raise awareness towards the importance of looking into the nutrition labels of your favorite foods.

It can be very difficult to eat healthy when we do not know which nutrients we are putting into our bodies.

Calorie management and portion control will benefit anyone looking to get fit, especially when you live in a world that has extremely delicious and fattening foods.

Mantou is one of those unique foods that seems like it has a ton of calories but, by looking at the nutrition label, we can see that it is actually low in calories and is simply a source of carbs. 

There is so much information a nutrition label provides so make sure you check them out more frequently before eating  your favorite foods!

Now that we know the importance of looking at the nutrition labels of certain foods, let’s take a look at why we should be working out and aiming to build some good quality muscle. 

Tip 3: Make Sure To Build Muscle & Workout Consistently When Eating Mantou 

After understanding the importance of looking into the nutrition labels of your favorite foods, working out and building muscle comes into play.

Muscle is the key to staying fit as it allows us to burn calories at rest. This means that we burn more calories day by day just by simply existing! 

I like to think of working out as a video game where, the more we train and get better at our workouts, the more calories we can eat over time.

It’s a system where we level up essentially and, the higher level we get, the more calories we can consume while staying fit. 

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

Out of our TDEE there is a portion called TEPA (Thermic Effect of Physical Activity) which is the amount of calories we burn by moving and staying active.

This accounts for 15-30% of our TDEE which means we are in control of up to 30% of the calories we burn in a day! 

When eating foods like Mantou which are high in carbs, we have the option to either utilize those calories by staying active or to store them by living a sedentary lifestyle.

This is why it’s so important to stay active as it can be easy to allow the body to store the excess energy we get from our favorite foods. 

It can be difficult as we get older, however, as our jobs require us to stay indoors or our lifestyles do not promote lots of movement.

This is why it is so important to seek out movement by staying consistent with a workout schedule and by responsibly keeping active at the gym or at home. 

So, why not kill two birds with one stone by adding lots of activity while building so awesome muscle.

This is where resistance training comes in as it is the only way to get stronger and build muscle over a period of time.

It can be intimidating to start lifting weights so we’ve come up with a workout plan that guides you through the movements of each muscle group. 

It’s a simple plan but it will teach you all the functions of each muscle group and will get you started for more advanced programs in the future.

Here is the workout regimen down below if you’re interested in building some muscle. 

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

Over time, muscle will allow you to eat so much more while staying lean so it’s a great investment of your time and energy.

I personally love food so much and working out is the perfect solution for me as it allows me to fill my diet with amazing foods while staying lean. 

You want to stick with lifting weights for a long period of time as building muscle is a marathon that pays off throughout the course of many years.

You will see amazing results in your first year of training and the results become addicting. 

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 start to realize that you can eat more of your favorite foods while staying healthy.

Little by little you can start adding more calories into your diet and you’ll be amazed and what you can accomplish in the gym or at home. 

So, make sure to count those calories and start lifting some weights! 

There It Is! 

In this article, we went over what goes inside Mantou and took inside its nutrition label.

We found that Mantou is primarily a source of carbs as it offers 21 grams per 1.5 grams of fat and 4 grams of protein.

This means that it can easily be fit into a diet and can easily be balanced with the addition of lean meats and other Chinese dishes. 

If you want to know more about healthy foods and fitness tips, then make sure to check out our other blogs and look into other nutrition labels of your favorite foods!

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