[LARWife]

Lately I've just been cutting out sugar and all starchy foods like bread pasta and potatoes and focusing on lean protein and fruit and veggies. So far just doing that is working but I'm wondering exactly how much I'm eating. As in how many carbs? So how does everyone track them and do you count calories too? Thanks!

[StephanieM]

I weigh all my food on a kitchen scale and measure everything out, then I log it into a little notebook I have. I look at the packaging for the carb and calorie amounts, and if it's something that doesn't come in packaging (like vegetables) I use the fatsecret app (there's also a website) to figure out how many carbs are in it. The app is nice, you can put in the weight of say, tomatoes, and it tells you the calories and carb amounts. It even breaks down the carbs so you know how many of them are fiber.

[LARWife]

Awesome! Thanks!

[kaplods]

I use a reduced-carb exchange plan because the exchange plan does the calorie and carb counting for me. In exchange plans all the foods within an exchange category have similar calorie and carb counts. For example a fruit exchange (such as 1.25 cups of strawberries, a medium orange or half a banana or half a large apple) has about 60 to 70 calories and about 15 carbs.

A low-carb exchange plan (as opposed to a high-carb or standard exchange plan) basically swaps out the high carb exchanges (bread and fruit) for low-carb exchanges (protein, fat, and veggies). Dairy exchanges have about 90 calories each, but can be low or high carb.

I used an 1800 calorie low-carb exchange plan (like that found on the frugalabundance website) and then experimented with it (trying slightly different combinations of exchanges such as more fruit and less bread).

I now have a couple different plans I follow. For example my PMS/TOM exchange plna is a little bit higher in carbs (that is incorporates more high-carb exchanges) than the one I follow the rest of the month. I also use the slightly higher carb plan for days when it'll be easier to follow (such as if we're going to be eating at friend's homes or at a restaurant).