An omelet is an easy meal to whip up on a hurried morning, but it can be fairly hard on your diet. Two eggs, an ounce of cheese, a tablespoon of oil and half a cup of chopped vegetables can total up to almost 400 calories before you've even had your morning glass of milk or your side of toast. You can reduce the impact your omelet has on your day's caloric intake by using one or a combination of several substitution strategies.
Eggs
According to TheCalorieCounter.com, a nutritional data reference tool, two large eggs add a total of 148 calories to your meal. 90 of those calories come from fat. A large egg is standardized at 50 g. If, instead of two whole eggs, you use three egg whites, you'll bring that count down to 51 calories, only three of which come from fat.
Liquid egg substitute is a low-cholesterol alternative to eggs, but it will actually increase the caloric count of your omelet. Food.com's Kitchen Dictionary recommends using a quarter cup of egg substitute in place of one whole egg. If you make your omelet with one half cup of liquid egg substitute instead of two eggs, you're looking at about 105 calories, 36 from fat, depending on which brand you use.
Cheese
Another big calorie culprit in your omelet is the cheese. TheCalorieCounter.com says that 1 oz. or 28.35 g of cheddar cheese has 114 calories, 85 from fat. If your tastes in cheese are flexible, you can try 1 oz. of feta instead and bring that count down to 75 calories, 54 from fat. A slice of imitation American cheddar, weighing in at 21 g, has only 50 calories, 26 from fat. A 1-oz. slice of low-fat Swiss also has 50 calories, but only 13 of them are from fat.
Oil or Butter
Since omelets need to be fried, there's no way around including oil, butter or margarine. The Cooks.com recipe calls for 2 tsp. of a fatty substance of your choice for sauteing the vegetables and another 2 tsp. for cooking the eggs. For ease in calculating calories, and to reduce the caloric content of your meal, knock that down to 1 tbsp., or 1.5 tsp. at each step.
TheCalorieCounter.com pegs 1 tbsp. of unsalted butter at 102 calories, all of them from fat. You get the same amount of calories from most types of margarine, be it corn, safflower or soy. One tbsp. of olive oil raises the amount to 119 calories. One tbsp. of safflower oil is about the same at 120 calories.
Tomatoes and Peppers
Tomatoes and peppers are the low-calorie ingredients in your omelet. The Cooks.com recipe calls for half a cup of vegetables. Split that however you want, because, according to TheCalorieCounter.com, the caloric count for red ripe tomatoes and sweet green peppers is exactly the same: 8 to the quarter cup or 2 to the tablespoon. At such small portions, the amount of calories from fat in these vegetables is negligible.
Herbs
Unless you pile on herbs and spices until they outweigh the eggs, you can discount their calories. The Cooks.com recipe calls for 1 tsp. of your choice of finely chopped herbs. TheCalorieCounter.com puts 2 tbsp. of basil, or six times the total amount of herbs you'd be using, at only 1 calorie. Chervil has slightly higher caloric content at 1 calorie per teaspoon. Five sprigs or 1 g of dill weed add so little as to be listed as zero on a nutritional label.
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