Help! Calorie counters

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2004
Help! Calorie counters
11
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 1:43pm
Who all counts calories here?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-26-2005
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 2:06pm
I use fitday.com to calculate my food intake. Its a free membership and you can also log your activity, weight, as well as journal and run reports. I bought the PC version for 20 bucks which is a lot better, but the free version is good too. They have a lot of foods built in, but you can also add custom foods. For what you should be eating, it varies greatly according to a few online calculators. One told me to eat around 2300 but I know I would gain with that amount. You are about my weight, and I am taking in 1500-1800. I recommend the PC version though if its convenient to do it at home for you.
Avatar for brens2boys
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-29-2003
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 2:13pm

www.Fitday.com is an excellent place where I (used to)post daily.I've never really concentrated on the charts,but it's nice knowing where your calories are coming from.There are many different foods to choose from,and if you can't find it,you can customize different foods,so long as you know how many calores per serving(if you have the nutrition info nearby).

http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm has an area to figure out how many calories you should be consuming.Look around though too...some places will say higher calories and some will say lower.I didn't look around that site to much yet,but I saw it had a few different things that looked like it might be worth reading.

As far as going out to eat,you can pretty much Google anything and get a list of calories.Then add that accordingly to fitday,or whatever program you use.I find it easier to use fitday rather then writing everything down on paper.

I'm logging back on there today in fact....need to get back into the swing of portion control,and fitday really helps....at least for me it does.I've been slacking big time!!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2004
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 2:23pm

Well I was just thinking, WW has me eating 28 points per day and if Im correct, they calculate to about 1 pt=50 cals.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 2:27pm

Shawna,

I have always been a calorie counter, and I find it easy to do. The main thing is to know the nutrition information (or at least calories) of your most common foods. If you learn this information, then you won't always have to be poring over your labels before EVERY meal. If you don't really know this information, you may try using FitDay for a while, and put in all of your "specialty" foods, since a lot of their stuff is general. Eventually you learn how many calories most things have, especially your "regulars", and then you only have to worry about the special foods such as restaurant food or desserts.

Deciding on a calorie goal is dependent upon the person, but, at your weight, you should be able to lose about 1 lb a week by eating 2000 calories/ day. I should be able to do the same, but I like to see faster losses and I also like to have extra calories for "splurge" days, so I tend to aim for 1200-1500 calories a day most days, then I can have a 1000-1500 cal restaurant meal every week or so without feeling guilty or slowing my loss.

Here are a few things you are probably going to want to know so that calorie counting will be easier:

1) Know the calorie count of your favorite bread.
--I stick with breads that are about 80 calories for 2 slices ("Lite or Light" breads) or whole wheat pita pockets that are about 80 calories per pocket.
--By knowing this information, I know I can make pretty much any sandwich combination with a serving of lean lunchmeat or chicken breast, a serving of low fat cheese, any veggies or pickles I want , and a serving/ 1/2 serving of sauce, and it comes to about 200-225 calories. Perfect for a "mini meal".

2) Know that most fruits and starchy veggies (i.e. corn, peas, etc.) are going to be about 60-80 calories per servins and most non starchy veggies (green beans, tomatoes, squash, etc) are only about 20-25 calories per serving.
--I like to have fruit for snacks and breakfast, with a serving of cheese or milk, and this combo only comes to about 140-160 calories.

3) Know the calories of your favorite snacks, and figure out how much of that snack you can have to have a 200-250 calorie treat, daily, if you want.
--I always make my regular food plan for the day 200-250 calories less, just so I can have my treats.
--If you plan for 200-250 calories, you can have a nice sized treat without feeling deprived. You could even have 1 1/2 servings of potato chips or something like that.
--I plan for treats this way. I know that 10 dark chocolate Hershey's kisses come in at just under 250 calorires or 3 white chocolate truffles come in at 225 calories.

4)Know that 4 oz raw, approx 3 oz cooked lean meats (chicken, extra lean sirloin, lean pork chops) are about 160-200 calories per serving.
--By knowing this, you can have a serving of meat, a starchy and a non starchy veggies, and a carb such as a roll or bun or even mashed potatoes for dinner, and know that it is going to be approximately 350 calories.

5) Always have low calorie foods to lean back on for when you have unexpected hunger.
--I always keep some plums or bananas on hand to have for a quick breakfast or sweet snack.
--I also keep tomatoes on hand to dice up with 1 oz of cheddar cheese for a qhick snack that has only 150 calories.
--I also like to keep lean cereal bars on hand, in my purse in case I get hungry while I'm out. I like the higher fiber ones such as South Beach Diet or some Slim Fast bars, because they keep you fuller longer. I aim for these to have no more than 140 calories, also.
--I keep cherry peppers and kosher dill pickles in the fridge, for when I get a craving but I'm not really hungry. 4 peppers or pickles only have 10-20 calories, and they keep me from munching other bad things.

For me, knowing all this allows me to eat freely during the day without having to look EVERYTHING up. I will have about 5-6 meals that I know are around 200 calories and be happy with that. I also know that by doing this, I still have room in my calorie budget for the treats and "larger dinners" on a regular basis.

Sorry this post was so long, I just wanted to put out all the info that I've learned over the past few years by trial and error, so that hopefully it's not too hard for you. It really is easier than it sounds, and, if you figure out most of this info, then when you go to restaurants, you can "guestimate" easier at how much you ate also.

Staci

EDITED TO ADD: I don't use Fitday anymore, either, because I found that it left me focusing WAYYY too much on my calories. I do sometimes use it to figure out the calorie count of favorite recipes. I just put in all the ingredients and then divide them out to figure out the calorie content, but that's just cause I'm just too cheap to pay for one of those recipe builder sites or programs that does the same thing. LOL!




Edited 9/8/2005 2:33 pm ET by weird_me2


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2004
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 2:39pm
Wow, you know alot about it Staci, thanks!

shawnatreeleaf.jpg


Avatar for airlily
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-02-2004
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 9:02pm

I love calorie counting because it doesn't require understanding much beyond calories you can eat. After a short while, you begin to learn what will be what calories by just looking at it. Like, a chicken breast the size of your palm is 200 calories, but a steak 3/4 the size of your palm is 250.

Here are some books I like:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440225647/qid=1126227107/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-2806539-4653539?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671025619/qid=1126227096/sr=8-4/ref=pd_bbs_4/104-2806539-4653539?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2004
Fri, 09-09-2005 - 8:19am

When I got up this morning, I got to thinking...why am I wanting to change from WW?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Fri, 09-09-2005 - 10:19am

I use the nutrional tracker on ediets (its free).....

http://www.ediets.com/IQ/subscribe.cfm

machellebrown22

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-01-2003
Mon, 09-12-2005 - 6:04am

hmmm... I think that the 2200-2300 calories recommended is for maintenance

To loose 2 lbs/week, you need to decrease 1000 calories/day, so that leaves you with 1200-1300 calories.
To loose 1 lb/week, you need to decrease 500 calories/day, so that's about 1700-1800.

You say you're doing an equivalent of 1400 with WW, so that makes sense.

IMO if WW is working for you, you don't need to confuse yourself with cc. I'm the exact opposite, I get confused with points, and for me it is very easy to look at the food and know a rough estimate of the calories.

Mary
247/222/165

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2004
Mon, 09-12-2005 - 8:08am

Well some sites are telling me that to lose 2 pounds per week then I need to eat anywhere from 1600-2000.

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