New to Counting Calories

Tanzinite21 · 12-20-2011, 03:17 PM

I'm brand new to this. I've struggled with my weight for 10 years now. I've never really changed my diet. There are so many diet plans out there that it's overwhelming and I'm not sure where to start. Counting calories seems like a good idea but then I see percentages in some of the posts. Can someone explain how this generally works? I'm sorry if this has already been answered in another thread, I would appreciate a gentle nudge in the right direction if it has.

linJber · 12-20-2011, 04:17 PM

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure you'll find the help and support you need in here. I'm not sure what you're asking for help with. Actually counting the calories in a particular food? Or figuring out how many calories you need to lose / maintain a certain weight? I think counting calories is a good place to start. Most plans, regardless of how they present themselves, really do keep calories under a certain limit to get results.

First, there is a calorie counter support group sub-forum you can check in with to see what they tend to do. But there are lots of people in this 100 pound sub-forum who count calories, too. You can stay right here!

Your daily requirements can be calculated on any number of sites. Here's a link to an easy one. You have to put in your height and weight, along with age and gender. It will calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate. That's the number of calories required to keep you alive if you are just lying flat on your back doing nothing. Then there are multipliers to use to figure the caloric needs for your activity level.
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

This one gives your caloric needs right off the bat without showing BMR because it asks you to pick an activity level before you calculate.
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/too...alculator.html

Once you know your needs at any given weight (recalculate often - it goes down as you lose and as you age) you subtract calories to create a deficit and lose. Theoretically, a deficit of 3500 calories will result in a loss of a pound, so by cutting 500 calories a day, you should lose a pound a week. Never go below 1200 calories a day with out a specific plan from a doctor. I just put in your weight, height, gender, and 35 for your age (just guessing) and "lightly active" and got about 2500 calories. By cutting to 1500 a day, you should be able to lose 2 pounds a week.

As for help in counting the number of calories in a particular food, you'll have to read labels and check on-line sites for specific information. Come back with more specific questions if that didn't answer your first post at least in the most basic fashion.

Good luck - we're all in this together. You can do it.

Lin

Tanzinite21 · 12-21-2011, 08:28 PM

Thank you for the links. That is exactly what I was looking for.

I didn't even really know where to start and there is so much information that it's all a bit overwhelming at first.

linJber · 12-23-2011, 12:52 PM

it can be overwhelming. I think a good place to start is cutting portions and things you know are empty calories. I had great success when I eliminated rice, potatoes, pasta, and bread. Carb and sugar cravings went way down, energy went up, and it was way easier to stay on plan. good luck whatever you try.

Lin

Tanzinite21 · 12-24-2011, 11:07 AM

I'm super picky so it's hard to eliminate stuff from my diet. It's going slowly but I am making better choices most of the time. Dinner always messes me up though. We had pasta and garlic bread last night. I figure as long as I stick to an actual serving I'll be okay. It will just take longer to get where I want to go.

Salley · 12-24-2011, 11:38 AM

Hi, Tanzinite, welcome!

Here's a site I'm currently using that calculates how many daily calories to eat and to burn:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/food-fitness-planner

Some of the things I like about it are: it automatically recalculates the calories as you lose weight; it's free; it tracks how nutritionally you're eating; there's a lot of other great information on the site. If you wish, they'll send you links to informative articles/videos, and recipes.

The only thing I don't like about it is, I like to have access to my food tracking in spreadsheet form. You can access past days with WebMD, but it's clumsy compared to tracking everything in my own spreadsheet.

Good luck!