Counting Calories

Angela2

Angela2

New member
Well, it might sound boring but this is the way I lose weight. I keep a food diary on a pad of paper and I eat between 1200 and 1500 calories per day. I also try not to eat too high of carb content but don't consider myself a low carber. I allow myself to eat out once in awhile or splurge once in awhile so I don't feel so darned deprived and give up or give in. This seems to work for me. I've lost weight before but put it back on. This time I am working hard at keeping it off and sticking to the food diary plan I have and am vowing to stick to the maintainance. I really want to lose and keep it off this time. I want to have a plan to keep it off this time. :p
 
Calorie-restriction, aided by food and exercise journaling, was the key for my 100 pound weight-loss. It is much much much harder to maintain without journaling than it was with journaling. (Gosh, I guess I should probably learn something from that! :))
Brian
 
Yes, it is easier for me to lose with doing the food diary. Then I know when I'm eating the right amount for me. I tried it without the food diary, too, and it didn't work very well. Didn't know how much I was eating, calorie-wise. Congratulations on the 100 pound loss. I've lost almost 40 and want to lose about 40 more.
 
What if you don't know how much calories each food has though? Also, how long did it take you guys to lose that much pounds? :eek: Congrats. :)
 
It's taken me quite some time because I've had plateaus, too. You can find out how many calories are in food by looking on the food labels on food and having single servings. Also you can purchase calorie books and some nutrition books list the caloric contents of food. Sorry I didn't answer sooner. I haven't been online a lot lately.
 
Usda

I know this is an old thread, but I thought people might want to know of a great source for the calorie content of food.

It is the United States Department of Agriculture

I don't count calories myself - I use the data to work out the energy density of food, which is basically calories per 100g. This is given on the website.

If you are interested in the concept of a low density diet you can also visit The Density Diet
 
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That's my method, counting calories and keeping a journal. I eat an average of 1200 kcal per day and try to exercise as much as possible. It works for me, I've lost 10 lbs in a month.:)
 
That's what I'm doing, counting calories. It's easier than anything I've tried. This way, I eat when I need to and I eat what I want to (mostly healthy, but I like healthy foods!).

I eat between 1200-1300 calories a day.

My breakfast is always the same, about 250 calories (1/2 a peanut butter and banana sandwich - the pb has lowered my LDL and helped raise my HDL by the way).

Lunch is my larger meal, around 500 - 700 calories (turkey chili, rice, broccoli with Smart Balance)

Dinner is usually 200 - 300 calories (sometimes a low-carb Slim-Fast - 20 g. of protein, no sugar; a sandwich; or a Smart Ones meal; or small portions of regular dinner.

Occasionally, I'm extra hungry and eat 1500 calories in a day.

Sometimes I eat out but I usually order less caloric items and eat one-half to a third less. For instance, I love Mexican food. But I order a taco, rice and beans (instead of beef enchiladas and a chili rellenos with rice and beans) and leave some. At an Italian restaurant, I order a slice of pizza without cheese (I like it) and a small tossed salad. At McDonald's, I get a regular hamburger (275 calories), or a grilled chicken sandwich, depending on what I've eaten. I rarely eat fast food.

I don't eat stuff I don't like, but that's not a problem since I love almost any food. But I'm not going to chow down on tofu.

Almost everyday I have some 85% chocolate.

I cut way back on sugar.

I found "diets" too restrictive. I'm a bit insulin-resistant and have tried the 6 meals a day thing. All that did was make me hungry and cause blood sugar crashes.
 
Aurora said:
I found "diets" too restrictive. I'm a bit insulin-resistant and have tried the 6 meals a day thing. All that did was make me hungry and cause blood sugar crashes.
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I would think that eating more often in a day would prevent this.

~Nicole
 
a largely vegetarian meal helps too. I read someplace that one should avoid meat at night as it takes longer to digest & tends to get stored.
On my visit to malaysia last year, I came across veg food that tasted just like meat & at half the calories!! I had aubergine that tasted JUST like fish. Couldn't tell it apart. Something in the spices the use. Must explore this more
 
I am a calorie counter as well. I have a form I created to log in my food (meals and snacks) and calorie counts, keep track of my vitamins, water intake and exercise log. I also have a place to just make notes and journal. That really helps me track it all and not forget to include everything. I use the "Fat Book" to use as a guide to calculate my calories.
 
I am counting as well. I am using fitday.com, which works well because it also calculates how much you are burning. It's not entirely accurate, but it can be tweaked. It makes me much more aware of what I am eating.
 
I never know where to look when it comes to counting calories. Im not sure how many calories I need to eat. I eat way too much though. That I know. Any tips or advice?
 
I have been counting calories as well.

Is there anything else that I should keep up with, like fat grams, carbs, etc?
 
the other items i keep track of are fiber - because it can be tough sometimes if you're not paying attention to get enough and also sodium..
 
indigoiis said:
I am counting as well. I am using fitday.com, which works well because it also calculates how much you are burning. It's not entirely accurate, but it can be tweaked. It makes me much more aware of what I am eating.
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I love Fitday, sure keeps me on track.

How many calories is eveybody aiming for or holding at and how did you arrive at that number? I've only recently gotten serious with my counting.
 
Angela said:
I keep a food diary on a pad of paper and I eat between 1200 and 1500 calories per day.
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I also read that you're shooting for 40 lbs. AWESOME!

My boss at a local gym made my report to her every time I ate something by writing it in a journal. Not only was I afraid to give in, it also showed me how much I actually ate!

Keep it up! You got it!
 
LeahIA said:
I love Fitday, sure keeps me on track.

How many calories is eveybody aiming for or holding at and how did you arrive at that number? I've only recently gotten serious with my counting.
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My formula is RMR + Exercise. For RMR, or resting metabolic rate, I started with about 12 calories per pound of body weight. I then aimed at a caloric deficit of 500 per day. I found that this was too high for me, however, so now I've reset it to 10 calories per pound, which gives me an RMR of 2,430 calories a day. I average 600 calories a day in exercise, so my deficit comes entirely from that. This has allowed me to lose an average of 2.5 lbs. a month since last July.
 
I have been losing about 1.5 lbs per week with a deficit of 3500 cals per week through both diet and exercize. On heavy exercize days, I shoot for 1600-1800 cals (I'm 5'6 and medium boned.) On light exercize days, I shoot for 1500-1600. I do not go below 1500 cals a day (in fact, if fitday shows I'm below, I'll add 10 almonds for an afternoon snack.)

So far so good.
 
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