Are Ramen Noodles Bad For You Without The Packet? (5 Tips For Weight Loss)

Instant Ramen Noodles are undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions in food history.

It is simple and easy to make, while also being very delicious and satisfying. 

Especially now, there are many different kinds of Instant Ramen Noodles in terms of soup base as well as noodle texture. 

Ramen noodles are definitely one of the most popular Asian foods that are recognized worldwide. 

Inside a bag of your standard ramen noodles are the noodles themselves of course, as well as dehydrated veggies/flakes and a granulated sauce packet.

The sauce packet is filled with flavor and is what brings the ramen noodles to life.

Even though the sauce packet is unquestionably tasty, it has high sodium content along with MSG which is not very good for you. 

Knowing this, it leads us to another question.  

Although Ramen Noodles are delicious, are they bad for you without the packet? 

Instant Ramen Noodles are still bad for you without the packet as the noodles themselves carry lots of sodium and are deep-fried in order to preserve its shape before cooking. Most of the noodles you find in Instant Ramen packages also carry around 49 grams of carbs with 15 grams of fat per 6 ounces which is not ideal to eat when trying to maintain a healthy weight. 

Ramen Noodles are not the best to eat even without the packets, but this doesn’t mean you have to give these noodles up entirely. 

As mentioned earlier, these noodles are popular and they are popular for a reason. 

It would actually be quite upsetting to never indulge in this food ever again. 

With that being said, let’s take a look at 5 tips to keep in mind so that you are enjoying Ramen Noodles without the packet and still staying fit. 

Tip 1: Understand How Many Calories Are In Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

Tip 2: Know How Many Calories You Should Be Consuming In a Day Alongside Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

Tip 3: Track Macronutrients As You Enjoy Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

Tip 4: Make Sure You Are Consistently Working Out and Building Muscle If You Decide To Eat Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

Tip 5: Find Alternatives For the Granulated Sauce Packet In Order To Still Bring Lots of Flavor to Your Ramen Noodles

Now that we know 5 steps to staying healthy while eating Ramen Noodles without the packet, let’s get into it!

How To Lose Weight When Eating Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

One of the key concepts for staying fit while eating is to understand what calories in vs calories out means. 

This concept describes whether you are burning more calories than you are consuming or if you are consuming more calories than you are burning on a daily basis. 

If you are burning more than you are consuming then you are on the right track, assuming your goal is to lose fat. 

This is because it will put you in a calorie deficit which is essentially the only way you can experience fat loss. 

When eating a food as carb and fat heavy as Ramen Noodles, you need to be mindful of its nutritional facts. 

This is because even without the flavoring packet, it is still not a healthy food for you to eat.

For this reason, we will take a look at its nutritional value in the upcoming section but before we do so, let’s touch upon how important it is for you to be exercising and building muscle. 

It is crucial that you stay active on your weight loss journey and continually build up that muscle!

In order to build muscle, you will be doing something called resistance training. 

Resistance training will benefit you because the muscle you create will allow you to burn calories at rest, This means that while you are happily eating more, you can still lose more fat. 

This is our goal here and we want to make sure that you reach that goal!

Now that we have a brief overview of how to lose weight while eating this delicious food, let’s delve into the details so that you have a guide to follow.

Tip 1: Understand How Many Calories Are In Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

Let’s take a look into what makes up our beloved Ramen Noodles, not including the granulated sauce packet. 

Each serving of Ramen Noodles is made of 360 calories coming from 15 grams of fat, 49 grams of carbs, and 8 grams of protein. 

As you can see, the carbs and fat heavily outweigh the amount of protein in this dish which is not ideal. 

If you are not paying attention to the nutritional value of foods, it is very easy to overeat on carb and fat-heavy foods. 

Carbs in itself are not bad, in fact we need carbs to stay healthy. 

The problem is overeating. 

People also know the Ramen Noodle packets to contain large amounts of sodium.

Although this is true, Instant Ramen is a very sodium-heavy dish even without the packet which is what you should keep in mind when planning your other meals around this one. 

The dried noodles themselves are made from refined white flour, salt, and palm oil.  

As a whole, you can see that the Ramen Noodles neglect protein. 

In order to make up for the neglected protein, you want to make sure that your other meals are higher in protein on the days that you decide to eat Ramen Noodles. 

You also want to make sure that you are eating this dish in moderation, which does take self-control because it is so tasty but I believe that you can do it!

Weight control and weight loss is very much a numbers game and you can carefully fit Ramen Noodles into your diet. 

Just to reiterate a little, Ramen Noodles are not good for you even without the packet. 

This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the food though, just make sure you are eating it on a day where you can afford to eat more fat and carb-heavy foods. 

On the topic of calories, let’s discuss how many calories you should be eating in a day so that you have a better idea on how Ramen Noodles will fit into your personal daily intake. 

Tip 2: Know How Many Calories You Should Be Consuming In a Day Alongside Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

When you begin to understand daily calorie intake, you will be able to understand more about the way your body feels on the inside and the way you look on the outside.

Calories are important because they determine how much energy you consume in a day.

It is a numerical result of how much fat you carry. 

If you have a surplus of this energy, then you will gain weight. 

When speaking about calories, there is a concept known as energy balance that is pretty important to know. 

It determines whether you are gaining weight, losing weight, or staying the same. 

If your overall health journey goal is to lose weight, then you have to burn more energy than you consume. 

If you want to gain weight, it is advised to consume more calories than your body is burning. 

You want to make sure that you are always in a healthy range of calories to reduce any health risks and to make sure you are not unknowingly putting on weight. 

Recognizing your recommended daily calorie intake will put you in control of how you look and feel. 

You are responsible for your body and looking at the nutrition labels of the foods you eat will help aid you in keeping that control. 

So, the big question is: How many calories should I be eating in a day?

There are two methods that will help you figure this out but I want to let you know that these methods require trial and error.  

It is trial and error because these methods don’t take into account how active you currently are and how much muscle is on your body already. 

With that being said, the first method is to calculate your TDEE also known as total daily energy expenditure. 

There are online calculators for this method which is very convenient. 

The second method to figuring out daily calorie intake is to multiply your entire body weight by the number 12. 

You will need to adjust accordingly after multiplying though because everyone’s body is different. 

For example, if you are currently 180 pounds then you will need to consume roughly 2,160 kcals a day to lose weight. 

If you are that 180 pound individual and don’t see any change with the 2,160 kcals then you should adjust by 100’s. 

This means that if you plan to gain weight you would slowly add in increments of 100 kcals until you see that weight gain. 

On the other hand, if your goal is to lose weight you should slowly decrease by 100 kcals to see the weight loss. 

One important thing to note is to make sure that you are not getting ahead of yourself by dropping calories too fast because it will affect the stabilization of your body weight. 

A slow and steady decrease in calories will show great long term results. 

Remember, slow and steady wins the race!

Now that you have a better understanding of how many calories you should be taking in on a daily basis, let’s move onto macronutrients.

Tip 3: Track Macronutrients As You Enjoy Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

If you have taken a look at some of the other articles on our blog, you have probably seen how much we emphasize balancing the three macronutrients which are protein, fat and carbs. 

If this is your first time on our blog, thanks for checking it out and I hope that we can increase your understanding of macronutrients to help you on your health journey.

It is generally very hard to balance out macronutrients, especially when dining out. 

This is because many food options in a meal present an imbalance between carbs + fats and protein. 

You want the calories you consume in a day to come from 33% protein, 22% fats, and 45% carbs. 

This is the ideal balance that you want to reach because they all serve special functions in providing for your body. 

As an example, let’s say that you should be eating 180 grams of carbs, 120 grams of protein, and 55 grams of fat.

In a food such as Ramen Noodles, it has 40 grams of carbs, 8 grams of protein, and 15 grams of fat, not including the packet.

You want to balance out your other meals and snacks throughout the day to meet those numbers as close as you can. 

Keeping track of your macronutrients is the first step and balancing them is the next step. 

It will take a lot of practice in the beginning but if you follow through with tracking macronutrients, you will definitely see results. 

To track macronutrients, you need to know your own personal macronutrient values which can be found through a TDEE calculator. 

Now that you are more familiar about macronutrients and how to balance them, you need to make sure that you are staying active on a daily basis.

You want to see that lean muscle coming through.

Tip 4: Make Sure You Are Consistently Working Out and Building Muscle If You Decide To Eat Ramen Noodles Without the Packet

We talked a lot about diet and nutrition in the previous sections but now we need to take a look at the significance of working out. 

In order to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle, you want to stay active and continually move for long-term health. 

Leading an active lifestyle can be achieved in many ways.

An active person is not just someone who goes to the gym 5 times a week. 

You can stay active by doing something as simple as walking. 

Walking or any cardiovascular exercise for that matter, is an amazing way to lose weight while staying energized. 

An important, but very overlooked form of exercise is strength and weight training. 

Weight training is a form of exercise that will not only help you lose weight, but will also make you leaner while keeping you very energized throughout the day. 

Although having a gym membership would be nice, I know that not everyone is in the most comfortable financial situation, doesn’t have the time, or is just more comfortable working out without anyone else around them. 

The good news is that you can most definitely do strength training from the comfort of your own home!

Before we get into some exercise routines you can follow, let’s talk more about what weight training will do for you. 

As mentioned in the previous sections, Ramen Noodles have a lot of calories coming from carbs and fat. 

This means that we want to utilize these calories to our advantage to prevent excessive fat storage. 

Our activity level accounts for 15-30% of our metabolism. 

We want to make sure that we are keeping our activity level high for the fueling of our muscle growth. 

Since muscles require more energy than fat, if you have more muscle then the rate of your resting metabolic rate will increase. 

To put it in simpler terms, you will burn more calories with muscle than you will with fat!

I hope that the concept of building muscle mass remains with you as I present some workout routines for you to follow if you don’t know where to start!

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

This is a simple resistance training workout plan.

What I recommend is to just look these workouts up on Youtube and choose weights that are not too heavy at first so you can really get your form down. 

All it takes are a couple of adjustable weights (bowflex adjustable weights on Amazon) and a reliable workout bench (steelbody bench on Amazon) that will allow us to do all the necessary workouts. 

When you feel that you’ve grasped the form, feel free to go heavier and heavier every week. Remember, this will not get you big and bulky. 

It will get you nice and lean.

Now that we’ve covered the importance of staying active on a regular basis, let’s move onto some alternatives for the sauce packets in Ramen Noodles.

Tip 5: Find Alternatives For the Granulated Sauce Packet In Order To Still Bring Lots of Flavor to Your Ramen Noodles

Ramen Noodles are known for their simple cooking method because everything is laid out in front of you in the packaging.

Since our goal is to stay fit and healthy while eating Ramen Noodles, you might have to sacrifice that simple method of just throwing everything in the bag together. 

This is not to say that we will complicate the process of cooking Ramen Noodles, in fact, these alternatives do not complicate the cooking process at all. 

Ramen Noodles without the seasoning packet will free you of MSG and other concerning preservatives. 

You can make your own sauce at home in a variety of different ways. 

It is very customizable for what you are in the mood for!

The first option you can choose to do is to create your own broth with miso paste and soy sauce. You can then adjust it to your liking by combining ingredients such as ginger, garlic, chili oil, and spices. 

The next option is to use a low sodium canned broth.

This will reduce the sodium intake that you would have otherwise consumed from the packet. 

A third option is to use a low fat and low sodium shiitake vinaigrette, soy ginger, or miso. 

With this, you can use less seasoning and salt and substitute it with lemon juice. 

You can make your Ramen Noodles more nutrient-dense by adding veggies. 

By replacing the dehydrated flakes with fresh veggies, you will be able to bring more flavor into your soup as well as increase the level of vitamins in your meal. 

Some veggie options you can choose from are spring onions, bean sprouts, bok choy, kale, broccoli, and mushrooms. 

Not only will these benefit your health on the inside but they will also visually turn your Ramen Noodles fancier. 

There you have it. Now you know how to upgrade your Ramen Noodles while getting rid of the MSG and sodium-filled packet!

Conclusion

In this article, we went over the nutritional value of Ramen Noodles without the packet and how you can incorporate this dish into your diet while still staying on top of your fitness and diet goals. 

Now it’s time for you to try it out! 

Explore the variety of options you have with Ramen Noodles.

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