how to begin
 

New to calorie counting but def. not diets or weightloss but again im this is not a diet but a lifestyle overhaul so anyway how do i get started calorie counting any tips or sites that have helped you along the way? thanks

I personally make a point of journaling everything I eat. I use fitday.com to track my food and weight. The other thing I do is try to limit temptations (as in not taking 'just one bite' of something I know that triggers me. I also try to keep snacks and water around so I don't have an excuse to eat something off plan. Also remember not to be too strict all the time... I let myself relax on weekends and have a meal or two off plan so I don't feel totally deprived. I'm finding I'm starting to lean toward smaller portions and the healthier options now even when I allow myself to go off plan. Good luck!

For me, the no-brainer approach is 6 small meals a day. So I took my cap of calories for the day, divided it by 6, and that is how many calories I consume per meal.

I chose a protein shake for breakfast. I know how many calories it has and I don't like breakfast anyway.

My first snack is a protein bar.

My lunch is usually a lean cuisine or something pre-portioned from dinner that week.

Second snack is usually an apple and 100 cal yogurt or something.

Dinner is difficult. I weigh my meat and add a vegetable, measuring the amount with a measuring cup. I don't trust my eye yet.

My snack is usually popcorn!! :dizzy: I love popcorn! But I could have a small bowl of ice cream if I wanted to. I use this snack as my buffer depending on how much I had already eaten through the day.

My biggest tip: Plan ahead. Know what's coming. If you're going out to eat, research the menu and know what you're going to eat before going.

My advice when starting out is to check out a few of the different calorie counter sites. Pick just one or two meals to enter, or maybe one whole day's worth, and enter them on all of the sites to see which one you like best. (If you really want to test them out, try entering recipes/groups of foods, restaurant foods, custom foods, and logging exercise. Some of these are more or less confusing on different sites.) These are all free:

www.fitday.com
www.sparkpeople.com (this is what I use)
www.thedailyplate.com (I also like this one)
www.thecaloriecounter.com
www.my-calorie-counter.com
www.myfitnesspal.com

It's totally up to you, but some people like to start out just eating like they have been, but logging it all for a while. After a few days, you can look at where most of your calories are coming from, and start making changes where necessary.

Originally Posted by initfor:
I personally make a point of journaling everything I eat. I use fitday.com to track my food and weight. The other thing I do is try to limit temptations (as in not taking 'just one bite' of something I know that triggers me. I also try to keep snacks and water around so I don't have an excuse to eat something off plan. Also remember not to be too strict all the time... I let myself relax on weekends and have a meal or two off plan so I don't feel totally deprived. I'm finding I'm starting to lean toward smaller portions and the healthier options now even when I allow myself to go off plan.

Ditto! I am very strict during the week, journaling everything I eat into fitday.com. But I also cut myself some slack on the weekends. So far it's working. I also started incorporating cardio a few times a week and it seems to be helping. Good luck!

I journal everything I eat, it keeps me on track. Also, my main tip is don't eat things you don't like. During past diets, I've forced myself to eat things I didn't like because they were really healthy. This time around, I eat what I like. There's almost always low fat, lower calorie, lower something versions of all foods!

For instance, I LOVE snickers. Absolutely addicted. Obviously, I can't eat them if I want to lose weight. Instead, I found snickers kudos bars...and there only 100 calories each! Yeah, they might be small and not taste quite as good, but they do the trick ;)

What helped for me is to make a list of what to eat each day at work. I have the same list every day - for example I have a sandwich every day, but I just change the type, penaut butter, ham, tuna whatever, they all end up around the same average calories. So if you do this, come up with a list of foods you really like (with a few varieties) - mine even has chips soda etc on it - but I also make sure to eat 4 to 5 servings of fruit and a veggie in there too. Doesn't matter what's on your list as long as you have SOME good healthy things on there and the total calories is about 2/3 of what your goal is for the day.

So with my list I make it thru the day, and because I am at work, and I bring everything myself for the day, very easy not to cheat. If I didn't bring it in my lunch bag, I don't eat it.

Then when I get home all I have to do is make it to bedtime and I still have at least 1/3 of my calories still to eat.

Works for me. You'll find that certain bad foods will disappear from your list because they are too 'expensive' in terms of calories for how much they fill you up. Milk for example is almost gone from my diet when before I drank a quart a day.

Good luck - most important thing is the TOTAL calories and like said above, only eat what you REALLY like.

Originally Posted by kochevnik:

You'll find that certain bad foods will disappear from your list because they are too 'expensive' in terms of calories for how much they fill you up. Milk for example is almost gone from my diet when before I drank a quart a day.

"Expensive"! That's a great way to describe it! That's how I feel too. Milk has wandered off my list too, and this 2%-only-please-and-whole-for-a-treat uses only Skim to make protein shakes! Also too "expensive" to me are chips, but chocolate chips are worth the "price"!

I agree with journaling/tracking all your food. I also recommend setting up a blog/journal its good to take out 10 minutes a day to write in and just think about your journey. I would also slowly make changes dont take on too much at once or it will overwhelm you.


kazz =]

I find that keeping up with journaling is VERY difficult. I have fitday and I quit using it after about a week. I think I like a 'hardcopy' better so I handwrite all of my stuff, but then I run into the problem of finding the calories to everything myself. Does anyone have any advice on how to keep up with the journaling if it's not really your thing????

I like to write down everything in my journal. - food & calories, water, exercise, feelings, putting my fork down between bites, aware eating, etc. ( a place to check things off I am trying to do.)

If I have it in my pretty spiral journal then I can flip back and forth and compare days, etc.

I know that most people like to use sparkpeople, fitday, etc - but, old fashioned paper and pencil in a pretty journal works for me.

I keep my journal on the table in front of my recliner. No avoiding the thing.

Hello proudmommy,

Lots of good advice given here. I've been doing this a while and I still appreciated reading what everyone said.

I think the hardest thing for me to grasp, is how slow my progress seems. I know how to do all the numbers. I am learning how to stay motivated. I am trying to learn to like exercise AND do it whether I want to do so, or not. But, in my mind, there should be more progress made for the amount of work that I put into it.

So. Now that I've said that part. I guess the next thing to say is that if you were my best friend, I'd suggest that you take that knowledge inside you and find a way to know it and keep going any way. I can't say I've got this one down yet. I'm trying. I'm working hard. But, it's still one of the more difficult aspects of this for me.

Keeping on when the progress is slow. Find a way to do that and I think we'll be okay. :-)

Best wishes, proudmommy, and to every one else, too!

I am just starting out too and wanted to wish you the best! This is going to be SO worth it! I've been looking around here at the before/after pictures and seeing others progress is so motivating.

I use the daily plate. It's really user friendly, and since I eat a lot of the same things every day, after a week or so it's just a few clicks and I'm done. Every meal I prepare is set up in saved meals, I have probably 50 or so in there now. When I make something new, it only takes a few minutes to add it.

It seems like a lot at first, but keep at it. It gets much, much easier. I can journal a typical day in under 5 minutes, and I do it before I log onto 3FC after work, so I make sure it gets done every day.

I know starting out can seem really overwhelming at first so just pick one new thing youre going to do each week. Like this week start writing down everything you eat, then next week start switching out some of the not so good for you stuff for better. Its not just an overnight thing so take it easy on yourself and dont get burnt out. Hopefully youre in this for life so you have some time to get it all perfect :)

I agree with alot of what people have already said...I keep a tiny, spiral notebook as my Food Journal...I keep it in my purse so I have it whenever I eat something...If I can't write it down that minute, then I'll put the wrapper (or something to remind me later) in my purse so I can write it down later. Also, I've got a Calorie King handbook that gives calories, fat, & carbs for most foods and even lists some restaurants...or if I'm at my computer at work, I'll just go to CalorieKing.com..it's free and super handy. After you've counted cal. for a while, you'll start memorizing counts so you won't have to look up every little thing...especially if you eat alot of the same things from day to day...for me, dinner is usually the only meal that will vary from day to day...

and yes, as someone said, you'll find things that aren't WORTH the calories in them...and then you'll find things that will TOTALLY BE WORTH IT and you'll learn to save for them...I've found that if they have cake at the office & I want a piece, I'll eat it...try to figure the cal. (always better to OVER estimate) and then I'll adjust my cal. intake down a little the next day

the weight will come off slow, but I feel this is the best way...the daily habits you create while counting cal. will become just that...HABITS...so when you reach goal, these habits will be engrained in your head...you should be able to then maintain

hope this helps....and WELCOME TO 3FC! I've only been here a few months and I LOVE IT!! Good Luck with your journey...I'm sure we'll all be here for you throughout it!

a method i use is portion control through small containers...much easier after buy a bento box at a japanese gift store.:) I am fortunate to also have some 6oz, 8oz and 16oz containers to put my meals into. Small plates also help in that they will make your portions seem larger as they take up more room. My meals are also veggie heavy. because veggies don't have the water content as fruit and meat, they take up space in your stomach with little calories added.

I also make it a point to have a different calorie imput from day to day. this is to keep the body guessing. My body has an amazing ability to adapt when there is a pattern to my eating habits. Usually if I have a 2 month stint of lean times and there is little food to have, my weight will maintain. (so much for that old thin person cure for fatness of "just eat less") But i have been very success full bouncing around 1200 to 1600 calories, large lunch small dinner, small lunch large dinners. I also have the benefit of having a fairly active job.

Good luck!

I am glad that you asked the question about getting started. All of the information here is very helpful and now I have some sort of direction. Good luck and I wish you success!

I am also just starting out with the calorie counting and I want to say thank you for all of the info!!

Originally Posted by gasouza87:
I find that keeping up with journaling is VERY difficult. I have fitday and I quit using it after about a week. I think I like a 'hardcopy' better so I handwrite all of my stuff, but then I run into the problem of finding the calories to everything myself. Does anyone have any advice on how to keep up with the journaling if it's not really your thing????

I use the Lose It! app for my iphone. I have it with me all the time and it makes it easy to add everything I eat.

Thanks so much for posting this! I'm new to calorie counting myself and was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed.