New to Calorie Counting - Help!
 

Ok ladies. I'm new to calorie counting because I always thought I didn't have time for it. But, I'm still overweight and nothing else has worked so there has to be something to this calorie counting. I started yesterday and was amazed at how little I ate for breakfast and lunch, yet it still rang in at 1070 calories. Wow, now I'm convinced I need to count calories. So, help me out. I need suggestions on making this work for me. I have my journal out next to the fridge. What about cooking at home, since you don't know how many calories some things have in them. For example: I grilled hamburgers last night and had no idea how many calories a hamburger patty was. I did look it up on sparkpeople.com and it gave me 210 calories. That was before a bun or any condiments. I also read somewhere that it takes 3500 calories to burn 1 lb of fat!! Yikes. I wanted to lose 2-3 lbs/week. Any suggestions for how many calories/day. I am 250 lbs currently and excercise 3-4 days/week. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Welcome to calorie counting! Don't worry, we all start off fairly confused and thoroughly in denial about how many calories are in the foods we eat. I've only been doing this for a few weeks and though it is still daunting I'm getting the hang of it.

I would suggest getting a food scale. That way you can measure your hamburger (cooked) before you put it on your bun. It seems really medical and tedious but you get used to it. You might have found that your hamburger was 210calories, maybe for a 3oz portion, but what if your portion was actually 5oz? That's substantially more calories.

I keep my food journal by the computer, where I usually look up calories online. It's a composition book. I devote one whole page to each day. I write down the time I ate, the food, and the calories and tally it up at the end of the day. Under the date I write my weight and recalculate my BMR once a week. On the bottom of the page I write down the time, length, and type of exercise I do. I also write down the steps and miles I've accrued on my pedometer which I carry with me everywhere.

Begin by just writing down everything you eat, then start taking notice of when you eat, when you overeat, and where you could trim calories.

I've been calorie counting since Jan 09. I use a small, fat notebook from the store and hand write in all my lines, dates, and such. It's a bit of my time to focus mentally on the process I'm in.

I track all food, measuring everything. I have a variety of favorites that I've figured out the calories for, love very much, and can use for particular days (hectic, in-office, running around town). I have a bunch of different kinds of food at the office so I can never say "well, I didn't have time to pack so I get to have chinese take-out".

I like to focus myself on food groups so I make check off boxes in a column to count how many servings of food groups I get as I go along. Although, I usually try to be planning the next day's meals the evening before, I track also as I go through a day (not my best practise). So, as I plan or go through a day, I tick off food groups then basically figure out foods needed to keep on track. I particularly make sure that I get a calcium (not necessarily dairy-based) four times a day.

For me, I have to measure still after so many months because I will still edge up the amounts a little. The scoop just keeps me honest.

I really recommend having your regular meals and not varying too much unless you're able to measure out the portions. It's rare to almost never that I have unmeasured food. Not now while I'm in weight loss mode. Later, once I'm in maintenance, I can dabble a little in unmeasured. But for me, I'm still a rookie and not "allowed" to go to that level yet.

Good luck

I use Fitday to record my calories. You can use the free one online or buy the program for your PC, which is what I did and love it. Get a good food scale. I have a terrific digital scale that zeros out so I can just keep adding food to my plate and record each food item in either ounces or grams. Measuring cups and spoons are a must as well. I keep sticky pads by the fridge and write down all the ingredients and their weight and then enter it into Fitday. Fitday allows me to add custom foods, which is a lifesaver since many of the items I make or buy aren't listed in their food data bank.

As for how many calories you should eat to lose weight, that has to be up to what works for you. I keep mine between 1500 and 1600 a day and seem to be doing OK.

Counting calories is a pain and I fought it for a long time, but there is no greater way to see what you actually put into your mouth.

Great suggestions above. I will add that you might want to eat normally and track your calories for a week or so before you start making changes. That way, not only will you start getting into the habit of logging everything and looking it up, but you will see where you are at and can get a better idea of what calorie range to shoot for.

It gets much easier after awhile, because you'll find that you eat a lot of the same foods over and over so you'll know the calorie counts. For example, I eat the same exact breakfast every morning so in my food journal I just write "The usual" and the calorie count (257). If for some reason I eat something different, I'll just go back to writing the actual foods and the counts.

And if you have an iPhone or iPod touch, there are lots of apps (some free, some not) to log your calories. Good luck!

There are two things you need to invest in. First, go get a digital food scale. I purchased mine at Bed, Bath and Beyond for about $30. Keep it on your kitchen counter and measure everything you put in your mouth. Second, set up an account at FitDay.com - Its free. Enter your food and exercise and track your results. This process of recording what you eat will soon help you see where you have been making mistakes, usually in portions of food. At your height and weight you should be able to consume 1500-1600 calories per day and lose 8-9 pounds/month.

The other part of this is exercise. Try walking and get up to 3-4 miles/day to speed up your metabolism, help you sleep, and increase your cardiovascular health.

Losing weight is a long-term process. You're looking at 6-8 months to reach your goal, but you need to commit to lifelong changes to maintain your new weight. For most of us, maintaining our weight is actually more difficult than losing the weight.

Good Luck!

I enjoy the daily plate, which is also a free calorie counting website online. I'm not sure why I don't like fit day, we just odn't get along. I think the most important thing is finding a calorie counting site you feel comfortable with, since they're all different. Do a google search and try a few out. If you hate the website, then you're not going to want to record your calories - which makes the process way worse than it needs to be.

These are such great suggestions!! I just started also and feel really lost at how to start!

Why do most people use fitday instead of sparkpeople?

I use The Daily Plate, it was the first one I tried and I love it. Sparkpeople reminds me of MySpace for some reason, and I'm not a fan of MySpace. :D

I started using The Daily Plate this week and I like it.

I use caloriecount.about.com and I love it! It's so easy to use and the layout is very simple.

Nutritiondata.com is also good for looking up whole foods.

At your weight to burn 3 pounds a week you will need exercise. 2lbs is a 1000 deficit and 3 is 1500. I've been aiming for 3 and I'm ending up with about 2 hours a day cardio to hit my target. 2lb expectation is probably more reasonable.