A long time ago, I tried counting the calories I was consuming in a day. It lasted only about half a day as I saw it as more of a bother than as something helpful. It seemed like so much work, and I guess I didn't see the point in it.
Well, I've changed my mind…sort of. I don't want to count calories forever, but I think it would be good to have an idea of how many calories I'm consuming day to day. At this point in time, I have not now nor have I ever had even the slightest clue how many calories I've consumed in a day. I couldn't even give a good estimate. This isn't part of SCBR or anything, but just something I'd like to do for myself.
So, I'm planning on starting to count calories for awhile…just long enough that I can get the gist of it and start to estimate my meals and plan what I eat and snack on throughout the day more accordingly.
Does any one have any tips on calorie counting? I'm already tracking what I eat, but is there a website that you can key in various foods and it will tell you how many calories are in that food? I've seen a couple books at Barnes & Nobles that have calorie data, but if I can get that info for free online, that would seem to be the better option.
Any tips around the whole calorie-counting process are appreciated! 🙂
Thanks!
You could try fitday; I think I've heard other people used Calorie King. Good luck!
I also recommend FitDay for counting calories…
http://www.fitday.com/
I've tried these two. I used them both for about 10 days, but it got to be a pain to do it everyday. But its a good way of getting an idea what your calories run for a normal day.
http://caloriecount.about.com/
http://www.sparkpeople.com/
I used fitday for about a month. It worked great, since it had anything and everything I ate. I am now doing WW so I stopped using it.
Give the Daily Plate a try!
It's free and their database of food is huge.
It makes calorie counting easy!
a lot of foods have the calories listed on labels too…
I have an old Nutrition Almanac that I've found really handy, but the only thing is…modern sized muffins have about twice the amount of what those old books declare…because they have become twice the size. After you do it for a while…you get a general idea of amounts and calories anyway…. then you won't really need one to know that any muffin is about 300 calories… doughnuts are probably double that….etc….
every tsp. of sugar is 15 calories…every tsp. of butter is almost 40 calories… so at least when you bake your own goodies..you can easily calculate calories. It's a guessing game with fast food cuz there are no labels….
try to eat much less fat and sugar…a lot more veggies and grains…. some protein early in the day as well as for main main meals… do have snacks..healthy ones… fruits etc….eat smaller portions of everything … oh yeh… and the tough part… we have to move a lot more…okay..I'm off to have my yogurt, mixed grains and a peach for my midmorning snack….
I use daily plate and love it. It is really easy to search the data base and their data base has pretty much anything and everything. A couple pointers though: 1) I put my activity level down as sedentary and then input my workouts as I do them. In the alternative, you could put that you are modernately (or whatever) active and then not track your workouts. Otherwise, in determining your calorie needs, you would end up factoring in your workouts twice. 2) Sometimes I recently purchased a food scale and it has really opened my eyes. I always just guess when it came to meat/cheese/size of fruit serving, so a scale really helps with accuracy. Turns out my "medium" apple is really 8oz – ie "large". Also, cereals and things tend to settle, so measuring out a 1/2 cup serving might really be 3/4 cup that has settled.
You probably know I am a fan of CalorieKing. It's the most user-friendly. But it costs – I thnk $50 for a year? It was totally worth it to me while I was losing, but since you say you just want to do it for a bit, FitDay and Daily Plate are both great options.
I have no advice for you Diana, but I've always wondered how people could diet without counting calories. How much one weighs is based on how many calories one takes in. I'm sure the "experts" of all the diet variants would disagree with me, but it always boils down to that. Point counting, etc., are just a different scale of counting calories.