Is Spaghetti Bolognese Healthy? (5 Tips For Weight Loss)

Italian cuisine is quite versatile, and pasta is an essential dish that can’t be missed, such as Spaghetti Bolognese. If you love eating Spaghetti Bolognese but aren’t sure if it’s healthy, or good for your waistline, this article is perfect for you. Find out what goes into making Spaghetti Bolognese, how many calories it contains, and how to stay in shape while indulging in this delicious Italian dish.

Spaghetti is a staple food of Italian cuisine. It is a solid, long, medium-thin, and cylindrical type of pasta. Often eaten with various thick sauces. Ragu Bolognese is a hearty meat sauce that originated in the late 19th century, in the city of Bologna, Italy but traditionally Bolognese sauce is served with other types of pasta other than Spaghetti. 

Although Spaghetti Bolognese is delicious, is it actually healthy?

Spaghetti Bolognese is not too bad for your overall health and waistline if eaten in moderation, and if you only stick to one serving, as well as incorporate a consistent workout. 

Here are five steps that explain what Spaghetti Bolognese is, the calorie amount in one serving of Spaghetti Bolognese, as well as how to stay fit and healthy while eating this classic Italian dish. 

1. How to Make Spaghetti Bolognese?

2. How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Spaghetti Bolognese?

3. Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

4. How to Increase Your Activity Level While Eating Spaghetti Bolognese

5. Make Sure To Consistently Workout & Build Muscle

Now that we know our five steps, let’s get into the details that will help you stay in shape while enjoying some delicious Spaghetti Bolognese.

Tip 1: How to Make Spaghetti Bolognese?

Spaghetti Bolognese is pasta with a hearty meat sauce, usually containing minced beef and pork, milk, tomatoes, Italian soffritto - which is celery, carrots, and onions - and is served by topping it with shaved or grated Parmesan cheese. Its cooking time could take up hours, as it is being slow-cooked traditionally, and it involves several cooking techniques, including braising, sweating, and sautéing.

In Italy, especially in Bologna, Bolognese is served with either tagliatelle, pappardelle, or fettuccine. Spaghetti Bolognese is actually not a dish of authentic Italian cuisine and is often considered inauthentic by Italians abroad.

However, traditionally, pasta in Italy is made fresh, as it is a simple, budget-friendly, and delicious dish. 

To make fresh pasta - such as Spaghetti - you’ll need either durum-, semolina-, or all-purpose flour, eggs, olive oil, and kosher salt. 

Bring some salted water to a boil, and cook pasta for 60 - 90 seconds, drain it in a colander, and voila, you got fresh, home-made Spaghetti “al dente,” which means "to the tooth" in Italian, and refers to the Spaghetti being fully cooked but still a bit firm and chewy. However, you can also use dry, store-bought Spaghetti. 

For the Bolognese sauce, you’ll need; ground beef, ground pork, olive oil, carrots, onion, celery, dry red wine, tomato paste, tomato puree, bay leaf, milk, salt, and pepper. You can also add oregano or basil to it, as well as garlic. 

Over time, many variations of ragu Bolognese were created. 

If you want to make this dish healthier, you can use ground chicken or turkey, or lean beef and leave the pork out. If you’re vegan or vegetarian, you can use plant-based meat crumbles and plant-based milk instead. 

Now that we know what Spaghetti Bolognese is and how to make it, let’s take a look at the nutrition facts of one serving of Spaghetti Bolognese.

Tip 2: How Many Calories Are in One Serving of Spaghetti Bolognese?

Weight loss is really the concept of calories in vs. calories out. So whether you live a sedentary lifestyle or an active lifestyle, it’s important to understand how many calories you need to consume daily.

Let’s take a look at the nutrition facts. As you can see, one serving of Spaghetti Bolognese has 340 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 12 grams of carbs, 20 grams of protein, and 23 grams of fat. 

Since Spaghetti is made with grains, it’s is energy-dense, and has a good source of complex carbohydrates. Therefore, it is not necessarily a great option for someone who’s on a low-carb- or keto diet. 

However, Spaghetti Bolognese is also high in proteins, which are crucial for muscle-building. One serving of Spaghetti Bolognese also delivers a whopping 3 grams of fiber, which is the good kind of carbs that will keep you full, longer. 

Fun fact: One serving - typically one cup - of Spaghetti carries your daily dose of 5% of vitamin B-6, 6% of the recommended daily dose of magnesium, and 10% of the recommended daily allowance of iron. 

However, keep in mind, that if you have blood sugar problems or diabetes and therefore need to watch your blood sugar, or need to watch your carb and calorie intake, portion control is crucial, as some people find that pasta impacts their blood sugar.  

Since the calories are not too bad at all in this dish, they can easily be incorporated into your daily calorie intake. However, keep in mind to only have one serving, as this dish is high in fat but also so you’ll have some wiggle room for other meals throughout the day. 

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

The key aspect is to understand how many calories you need to eat in a day and to make sure not to overeat on your total accounted calories for the day. 

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.

Now that we know a little bit more about the nutrition facts of one serving of Spaghetti Bolognese, let’s take a look at how many calories you need to consume daily to stay in shape.

Tip 3: Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

Great health and fitness are all about calorie or energy balance, which means that you can still eat your fats and carbs, and stay in shape. 

If you burn more calories than you consume, then you will find yourself in a “caloric deficit” which is the only way fat loss can occur. 

You can easily overeat on unhealthy, processed foods that are high in fats and carbs, especially when something is as delicious as Spaghetti Bolognese. Overeating is usually the quickest way to get out of shape. 

To stay healthy and in shape, we need to first go over your daily caloric needs and figure out how many calories you need in a day, as well as 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.

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

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 Spaghetti Bolognese, 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.

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

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

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

Now that we know how many calories to consume daily, let’s take a look at how you can increase your activity level to lose weight and stay in shape.

Tip 4: How to Increase Your Activity Level While Eating Spaghetti Bolognese

After you’ve figured out how many calories you need to consume daily, you need to make sure that you exercise regularly and increase your activity level.

Therefore it is important you utilize your calories efficiently throughout your day. 

The best way to do this is to build muscle and to also move more throughout your day. 

60-75% of energy expenditure comes from your basal metabolic rate (BMR) which is how much your body burns if it did nothing all day. (NASM)

10% of energy expenditure comes from the thermic effect of feeding (TEF) which is the calories you burn from digesting different foods. (NASM)

15-30% of energy expenditure comes from the Thermic Effect of Activity (TEA) which is movement such as working out and aerobics. Source (NASM) 

To sum it up, up to 30% of our energy expenditure can come from movement and activity so this is a huge portion of our weight loss journey that you can actively control.

The importance of diet and workout is crucial, so you can enjoy foods like Spaghetti Bolognese.

The more movement the better and, to utilize and burn those calories, you should be moving all you can

That’s why it’s important to increase your activity level at least 3 - 4 times a week if your goal is to get lean. 

So if you love eating more than one serving of Spaghetti Bolognese, you have to make sure your activity level is higher than usual, especially if you want to lose weight. 

Now that we’ve discussed how to increase your activity level, let’s take a look at how to build muscle. In the next section of this article, we will find out how to stay in shape and build muscle while eating Spaghetti Bolognese.

Tip 5: Make Sure To Consistently Workout & Build Muscle

I’m sure that you’ve heard that carbs are the enemy and they’re the main driving factor at keeping us from getting a flat stomach or abs.

Carbs are your direct source of energy and they allow you to function properly and fuel your workouts and movements.

The same goes for fats. However, the body needs healthy fats to function properly and to absorb nutrients. As well as to produce hormones. 

The real enemy is inactivity and staying sedentary while eating more carbs than you need to. 

The best way to utilize your calories efficiently throughout your day is by building 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 really the goal of working out and is what keeps you healthy as your metabolism increases.

As stated in Tip #3, you need to be able to burn calories throughout your day in order to put yourself at a caloric deficit. 

Keep in mind that weight loss is really 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.

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 target 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 is new to 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. 

You can also do a combination of resistance training and LISS (Low-Intensity Steady State) cardio or HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) cardio, to improve your heart health and maximize fat burn. 

What you want to aim for is to burn around 1,000 calories 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. 

The reason for this is because HIIT is very hard to consistently track as many of the calorie tracking devices are inaccurate. 

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.

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.

If you put calorie tracking, muscle building, and actively moving more altogether, foods such as Spaghetti Bolognese won’t get you off track because the formula provides so much leniency for you to shed some fat.

Fats and carbs are the two macronutrients that will be more likely to be stored as energy. 

Therefore, 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.

Make sure to stick with it for a long time and understand that fitness is a lifelong journey that takes time to cultivate.

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. 

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.

The tip here is to live active and go out and seek a workout regimen. 

We provided you one above in this article but if that’s too much hard work, simply go outside for a walk 3 - 4 times a week and you’ll be good to go.

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!

In this article, we discussed what Spaghetti Bolognese is and how to make it, if it’s healthy, how many calories it contains, and how to stay in shape while eating Spaghetti Bolognese.

The key to healthy eating is balance and moderation. Our five tips will help you stay fit while eating Spaghetti Bolognese. 

As long as you understand how many calories you need to consume in a day and fill your body with whole foods that will keep you satiated and satisfied, then you will see results if you put in the time and consistency. 

RECENT POSTS