I've been waiting for a new month thread to start before I joined in the chat and finally it's here. And I'm too busy to stay and chat. I'll come back later tonight. Have a good on plan day.

No Oops. We usually start a new one every month anyway, you just got to it before any of the rest of us did. :D

I've been waiting since August 1 for a new thread so I could get in on the convo! Thanks for starting a new one.

If you are going to calorie count the first rule is to BUY A FOOD SCALE! measuring cups and spoons...don't cut it. you want accuracy, not fumbling around in the dark. The day me and my scale met my weightloss picked up speed that even had me baffeled. CC is a fine art, thats all I can say. It requires work, balance, motivation, finesse, and some serious skill to know how many cals are in a cough drop when you're nowhere near your google source. And I love a good challenge. Otherwise I'd be doing medifast or nutrisystem that took the thinking and planning out of the equation.

Love to join you all. I have tried to count my cals in the past but NEVER recorded them...So here I am . Ireally need all the help in the world. What kind of scale do you all own??? That may be something I need to invest in... I recorded everything today but did not do the #s. I can not find my book., I did good until dinner. I had to pieces of Italian bread..Small ones with homemade brusseta(spelling???) on it. plus I made marinara sauce so I had about 1 1/2 cups of pasta. I think I blew it. I need to look up the #. I did workout though today, weights and hard cardio...Maybe I burned about 600 cals....So the instructor says. Hopefully, that helped my mistake.

Anyway, glad to be here. any suggestions would be great.... Thanks Barb

Skinny
Welcome
I have found counting calories is the most natural way to lose weight. This journey isn't about doing without. This journey is about eating healthy and exercise. Those two things combined have a great side effect :) we lose weight. When I first started counting I didn't bother with fat or carbs either. Now I keep not only my calories but my fats and carbs in order two. I found, for me, that was the only way I could stay within proper ranges of everything and still eat the required amounts of the four basic food groups.

zenor
You are doing great :). Each of us have, from time to time, a day that doesn't go exactly how we plan. We can only do all we can do.

its
I have found to measure or weigh everything really helps a great deal. After you do it for awhile you just do it and don't think anything of it. Never put anything into your mouth if you don't know what is in it, guessing doesn't do a darn bit of good lol. I love fit day. It is free and with a little work putting all your foods in you can just click on things and put in exactly what you are going to eat for the day. It tells you how many calories, fats and carbs you are taking in. Also, and one of the most important things as far as I am concerned is planning. I plan tonight what I am going to eat tomorrow. It has become a game for me. What can I eat to get all the required amounts of the four basic food groups eaten and stay within some ranges I have set for myself.

mj
You have a nice plan going there. Make sure you are getting all the foods eaten you want to eat. For me, exercise doesn't help me lose weight but I love the toning that is going on.

Rain
God make the reduced fat cheese its for people like us lol. I know there are times I have eaten all the required amounts of the four basic food groups and am a couple hundred shy of my 1200 basic calorie amounts. I really have to make myself eat stuff to get up to at least 1200.

shannon
Do you know something else a scale is good for hehehehehe weighing m&m's there are 3oz in a serving. Well you can't put that in a measuring cup nor can you guess how many that is lol. If I am going to have m&m's as my snack for the day ( I have already made sure I have eaten the required amounts of the four basic food groups and I still have enough calories, fats and carbs left over ) I want to weigh those delicious devils to make sure I get every single one I can get for those 3 oz lol. Chips and reduced snacks like Cheeto's are great to measure too. You can eat way more of them than you think you can for a serving size.

ghost
You are correct. I count calories because I think it is natural. You an eat what you have in your house not have to have special meals. Sure we get lower fat things, we have somethings that we don't eat at all because the portion size just isn't worth the calories or fat but generally we eat normal things.

dj
When I bought a scale ( it's a Talor and cost 14 dollars ) it was not the most expensive one they had. I got it at Target but other places sell them. Open the scales up and check them. Put something on them that you know how much it weighs ( laugh if you like but I took a 4oz piece of meat from the butcher shop with me and a 1 pound piece of meat from the butcher shop with me ). Make sure the scale works properly. Not all scales hold weight very well. I happen to like the digital ones because they are easier to read and you can go from grams and oz. I like the site fit day. It is free and after you put your own foods in. I don't like what they have in. I found it isn't very accurate the site will be your best friend at recording what you eat.

shy - I had no idea that 3 oz. of M&Ms make a serving... I haven't had the nerve to have more than 10 at a time since I started this process... :) I am eating Nilla Wafers and chocolate milk as my snack right now, though, and feel like I'm really walking on the wild side! I do weigh chips now - regular chips, tortilla chips, cheezits, I have to get some cheetos now that I've thought about them... I have to be careful - if I don't watch it I'll put all my calories back in with junk food. :o

So I just really discovered Trader Joe's - I got pork carnitas, some roasted chicken breast and some pulled white meat chicken with barbeque sauce, 170, 120 and 140 cals per serving respectively. And, decent size servings, too. I'm pretty excited - my meals had gotten kind of boring...

You ladies are making me want M&Ms. :lol:

Sooooo tomorrow morning is my start date on Calorie Counting and I have redone my calories on my Deal A Meal cards to approxiamately 1595 calories.

This gives me:

12 one-ounce servings of proteins. (approx 75 cals each)

6 servings of vegetables (approx 25 cals each)

4 servings of fruits (approx 60 cals each)

5 servings of fats (approx 45 cals each)

1 servings of starch (approx 80 cals each)
.....I'm going with starchy veggies mainly with this...like parsnips, sweet potatoes and yams and later on I will incorporate rice and wild rice since I tend to want to overeat those. I am also going to not eat that portion on days I am not very hungry.
That will bring my daily calories somewhere between 1500 and 1600 depending on what foods I have chosen for my cards.

My local supermarket is having a great sale this week on local produce. I plan to stock up a LOT this week. I already have all my meats and fish in the freezer and my healthy fat choices bought.



dgramie-We can get string cheese here in Canada but I am lactose intolerant (as well as Celiac) so I avoid all dairy. ......which sucks because I like dairy.

That flaky salmon sounds good. Was it?

canidian
Deal a meal cards are great. I remember people using them and they really do work. Make sure you are getting all the required amounts of the four basic food groups in. That was part of the point of the cards. I too am lactose intolerant and it can be a challenge but you can get the dairy in with a little bit of effort. Do you know there is lactose ice cream and milk. You can also get the pill that you put into regular milk that makes it ok for people like us to drink milk.

Shannon
That is the reason why I plan tonight for tomorrow. I make sure I have all of the required amounts of the four basic food groups ( there is a reason they taught up about that food pyramid when we were children, to bad many of us didn't listen lol ). Once I have the stuff I need eaten I know what I have left over to have the stuff I want. If I didn't do it that way I would one serving at a time by self to death on m&m's lol. I am over the m&m's now and have moved on to something else. Have you ever tried skinny cow ice cream sandwiches or weight watchers fudge bars. Oh my gosh, both are yummy snacks and fit right into a healthy diet. Isn't it great that they have come out with the lower fat products. Gram cacklers is another you can get in lower fat and town house crackers. One really has to read labels and look at the fats and carbs and sodium. Sodium can sneak up on us like a thief in the night if we aren't careful.

Hi! Welcome to the sweet madness that is Calorie Counting. :D Please don't feel as if you ever have to wait for a new thread to join in on a convo. Just jump in, introduce yourself and start swimming. The water is fine and all are welcome. :D:D Do stop in when you have time.

You have been waiting since August first? Awww... You should have just jumped in and said hi! much sooner. Welcome to Calorie Counters. :D

I agree, a food scale is just as important as measuring cups and spoons. I have an older dial food scale. It isn't dead on accurate but it is amazing how my portion sizes changed the day I dug it out of my cabinet and started using it all the time. Now, I can't live without it. I am planning on buying a fancy-schmancy digital scale, one day when I have a few extra clams lying around. :D

Hi Barb! Welcome to Calorie Counters. :D Actually, your dinner doesn't sound like a disaster. Bruschetta is tomatoes, olive oil and herbs. Olive oil is 119 cals per tablespoon. A medium tomato is about 26. Herbs? Not many. A one ounce slice of Italian bread is 81. I don't know what kind of pasta you had but it is in the range of 200 cals per cup. I couldn't find pasta sauce in my book, but I don't think it is terribly high, unless it is packed with meat. If you can't find a book, there are calorie counters online and a sticky in this sub forum with a lot of calorie counts, too.

That sounds like a good plan. :D


Shy, I forgot about reduced fat and calorie cheese. I have been dying for cheese. I am a serious cheese lover and not having any has been really, really hard for me. I must look at different brands and types and get some. MMmmm... Cheese...

Okay, who said M&Ms? Now I am wanting M&Ms. Have you tried the dark chocolate ones? Yum!

Had a good, on track day, yesterday. I still had to have a rather hefty snack last night to bring my calories up to snuff, again. Yeah, like it really hurt to eat a container of yoghurt and a 100 calorie packet of cookies. Oh, break my heart... :lol:

Went out for dinner at the last minute again and ate too much. So, this weekend is called damage control. Ugh! I just want to get back to my maintenance weight so bad. I need to fit into my winter clothes before winter gets here. It'll happen.

Hi everyone! :wave: Just checking in real quick.

Looks like a few of us (myself included) were waiting to get in on the thread. (Not sure why i was waiting.) But I'm glad we're all here now!

Yesterday went well for me, stayed on the mid to lower end of my calorie range and got in a 30 min walk on the treadmill. Just gotta make it thru to Friday without any slip-ups. I'll be weighing in for two challenges I'm involved in ... don't want to start off on an "up" day.

What ever happened to the crispy rice M&Ms? I liked those a lot!

Have a great day! :sunny:

I just read the posts since I first posted and there are so many. I don't know if I'll ever keep up with everyone but I do read them all.

Talking about cheese, I totally pigged out on cheese and crackers last night (and 2 homemade cookies). I must have eaten about 3 oz of cheese and not fat reduced cheese either. And I had 12 ww saltines to go with it. I didn't lose any weight this week and I think (I know) I gave in to my feelings instead of thinking with my head. It was very good though but I felt lousy this morning and couldn't stomach the thought of breakfast and I love my breakfast. I haven't even punched the food into fitday yet but I know my calories are going to be sky high for yesterday. I had just over 1200 calories eaten for the day when the feeding frenzy began. To make matters worse I did the same thing last weekend with cheese cake. I hope this isn't the beginning of a trend.

HI everyone,
Welcome to all the new members and any lurking..just join in anytime.
I do not have a scale and need to pick one up at walmart next time i go. I use the deck of card method=3ounces of meat. I measure all veggies. Hubby said he is so use to my measuring cup being by the pans of food. I also do not dish up food and put it on the table anymore..to tempting to have just another bite.
Eating on a salad plate has helped me alot. I feel special eating on a really pretty plate and i feel like i get to eat more because my plate if full. MIND GAMES but they work for me.
As for cheese..i couldnt live without it!! I snack on WW string cheese only 50 calories. I also use fat free cheese all the time. I do eat my sandwiches without cheese now. I also use the reduced calories wheat bread 35 calories a slice and i have found it stays fresh alot longer than any other bread.
Im 1lb from my halfway mark..cant wait to be on the lower end of this!! I have been dieting and counting calories for 32 weeks now.
time to get ready for church..
hugs to all

dg
Switching from a dinner place to a lunch plate and a lunch plate to a salad plate really makes a difference. Be carful about the fat free cheese. The stuff is high in sodium. Really better to eat the low fat made with 2% milk. You get a bit more fat but much lower in sodium.

retire
1200 is the lowest people should eat. That generally isn't enough for a healthy diet. Don't beat yourself up to much. Just take a look and make sure you are getting the required amounts of the four basic food groups eaten. Even those crackers are a nice bread/cereal group for you.

Blue
Glad you had a good day. I haven't seen those around in ages.

zenor
I feel for you. I am wanting to get this weight off that those dreaded meads put back on so I can go forward. Hard when you have to play catch up. Not so much fun as losing it the first time.

Rain
I am not a real chocolate eater and I sure don't want them messing up what chocolate I do eat by making it dark lol. Do you know in heaven we can eat all the milk chocolate we want and not gain an oz lol.