Everyone has a different way of going about calorie counting, some include other plans (atkins, south beach) in their plans and cut out certain foods while others have the rule "if its within my calories, i can eat it.". Some eat 3 meals, while others eat 6, while other still believe in small snacks to get through the day.
So. What's YOUR calorie counting style?
Mine: I've learned through trial and error that I function better with three meals of about equal calories with some form of complex carb, protein and a serving of fruit and/or veggie at each meal.
I have a hard time sticking to any plan religiously. I make a lot of mistakes, and in the past would feel like that made me a failure, and I'd give up (not because I was failing, but because I felt like I was failing).
So that's my only rule "this time," no giving up. I play around with different food plans both in terms of what I eat, and how often/how much.
I do best when I'm logging everything I eat. For convenience, I use an exchange plan. I like the short-hand form of calorie counting. On the same number of calories, I lose more on low-carb/low GI, so I choose more protein, non-starchy vegetable, dairy, and fat exchanges and fewer fruit and starch servings than I would have in the past.
I try to keep grain foods to a minimum as I test which ones cause me problems. Wheat for sure, aggravates my autoimmune symptoms, and I'm experimenting with other grains. Rice seems to cause no problems. Quinoa seems ok so far, too. Corn I'm not entirely convinced is problem free (it will take dozens of experiments before I'm satisfied that we're not dealing with coincidence)... Sweet corn in fresh kernels and baby corn seems to be fine, but corn in the form of tortillas and pastas is a little iffier. I had corn pasta last night (no wheat) and my skin was a little inflamed this morning (not nearly as bad as when I eat wheat).
I like exchange plans because they help me focus on balance, and I'm just more familiar with exchange plans than other methods. I do have a lot of calorie counts memorized, so I tend to tally calories along with my exchanges to double check that I'm staying in range. Exchanges are all essentially determined by calorie count, so it's just a short-hand form of calorie counting to me. I play with the exchanges a bit, but try to stay in the same calorie range (it's how I found out that I do better on 1800 calories of lower-carb eating than on 1800 calories of high-carb eating).
I log as I go on mypyramidtracker.gov and try to earn my smily faces in dairy, fruit, and veg categories. And really work on keeping a smile in the Sat Fat category. That one strategy alone has taken me to borderline high cholesterol reading of 224 down to 179. So when I was ready to count calories, I already knew how to use that website and based my eating on those guidelines.
Last edited by caryesings; 04-17-2010 at 08:32 PM.
I write down my calories before I eat them, usually the night before, and keep the pages in a 3-ring binder. My diet is mostly whole foods, very little packaged stuff, and almost no "junk" food. I include protein at every meal, or I get too hungry before the next one. Most of my carbs are complex ones. You won't find many "diet" products in my house. I like to follow the teachings of Michael Pollen, and especially like his little book Food Rules.
I use a nutritional software, enter my meals for the day in the morning and adjust if it changes. I have all the usual foods already in as easy picks.
I count every bite. I care more about the monthly calorie average than I do the daily number. I eat very low calories (800-1000) for 5 weeks and then for 1 week I have been eating about 1200-2000. I will no longer do that, instead opt for a consistent range of 800-1200 until I reach goal.
I count calories with a piece of notebook paper on my fridge and a little notebook in my purse. lol
Meatwise, I only eat wild caught salmon and such, no land animals, and as many whole foods as possible. I am a person who like volume, so I tend to eat a lot of big salads, raw veggies -- though I do indulge in the occasional sweet or 'unhealthy' carb.
I typically have a smallish breakfast, small snack, decent lunch, and consume many calories in the evening which is my trigger time and time I tend to snack -- so I allow for it as to not feel deprived
I zig-zag calories, count daily, tally weekly and aim for an average of 1600-1800 a day.
I use a nutritional software, enter my meals for the day in the morning and adjust if it changes. I have all the usual foods already in as easy picks.
I count every bite. I care more about the monthly calorie average than I do the daily number. I eat very low calories (800-1000) for 5 weeks and then for 1 week I have been eating about 1200-2000. I will no longer do that, instead opt for a consistent range of 800-1200 until I reach goal.
Wow, do you think this is sustainable for you? When I've done very low cal diets they've come back to bite me in the arse later. Just make sure what you're doing is healthy and sustainable! For your weight that's a VERY low calorie level. Are you getting all your nutrient requirements fulfilled?!
I'm being a little more flexible day to day this time around. I was using a rigid approach before with 1 'cheat' day and it was working but I found it difficult to get back on track the day after the cheat day. I'm allowing some wiggle room in my daily calories this time as long as my weekly average is a number I'm comfortable with. Some days I'm just not hungry so it works out. This way I'm not forcing myself to eat on days I don't feel like it and on days when I feel snacky it's not a big deal.
I cram in as much protein and fiber as I can because I find they keep me full and satisfied best .
I seem to go in cycles for what I eat, eat it for a while and then want something dfferent. I always have milk for my coffee, so that's standard. I usually have a snack in the morning, then lunch or brunch, then a snack then dinner then a snack. I almost always have protein for my afternoon and evening snacks. For the morning snack, when I have one, it's usually fruit. Lunch is either a pita/ham/spinach sandwich or hot cereal with almond milk and fruit. My other snacks usually end up being yogurt and fiber one cewreal, sometimes with fruit added. Dinner is usually my biggest meal, with protein, complex carbs, veg. in different configurations. Sometimes I have a skinny cow or a small frosty from Wendy's for my snack/dessert.
I add my calories in the morning, then adjust if something changes. I write down EVERYTHING I eat. I don't sample food as I cook because I can tell what it tastes like by the way it smells.
I'm not too rigid in calories, usually between 1300-1600, occasionally a little lower or higher, never less than 1200 and never more than 1800. I find that I need to at least feel like my plan is flexible even though I don't change up my particular foods much except for dinner. I would rather have "leftover" calories than eat too many, but there's so much play, it's easy to do.
I have not eaten out since I started my plan on Feb. 20 of this year. I imagine I will occasionally eventually, but right now it just isn't worth blowing all my hard work for a piece of fried chicken.
I am one of the "I can eat whatever I want as long as it fits in my daily calories" people. I keep track of how many calories I have eaten on a dry erase board on my fridge. I erase the previous days numbers every morning. I try and keep my calories between 1200-1800. I am usually in the 1400-1600 range, although somedays I fall closer to the 1200 or up near the 1800. Although I can eat whatever I want, I try and get the most bang for my caloric buck. I don't eat as many starches as I used to. I have also switched to eating whole grains for my starch choices. They seem to keep me fuller longer and have more fiber. I eat lots of veggies since I can eat a lot of veggies for very few calories. I try and pay attention to fat, cholesterol and fiber content when making my food choices, but I don't record those regularly.
Fitday PC. I'm primarily a calorie counter though I think of serving sizes in the standard diabetic/dietetic exchange units. I measure or weight food out accordingly. I eat between 300 - 500 calories per meal spaced out 4 hours or so apart.
I aim for around 2000 cal right now.
I'm pretty solid on 25-30 g fiber a day.
I range between 40-50% carb, 20-30% protein, 30% fat.
I consider myself flexitarian, but am fine with all vegetarian or all vegan meals. As far as I can afford -- I choose natural, organic, whole foods with minimal food coloring, artificial ingredients, processing, etc. I grow some of our produce in the garden.
mee mmm I am mess at all point of views, I have used dayfit, calorie counter (i love it) and now weight watchers, I always lie to myself. I am extremist I can go under calories, or way over board. I have a book that i liked a lot is 90/10 joy i dont remember her lastname, but she says that if you eat 90 percent of good calories, you can eat 10 percent as bad calories, or you know chips, chocolate, ice cream etc. I save that for the evening when my internal lion is awake. of course is just theory, for me. but maybe it will work for you. start with 1600 or 1500 calories. 300 breakfast, 300 lunch, 500 dinner and snack the rest.
Best meal for breakfast, for 200 or 300 oatmeal sugar free at walmart. you feel full until lunch. And try to dont eat anything that comes in a meatlic little bag, such as chips, chex mix, cookies or anyting that comes out of the vending machine. string cheese, apple,90 cal bar quaker, sugar free jelow qith fat free whip cream on top. for snacks, good luck Bless
I eat just about anything I want as long as it fits into my budget. For instance, I love Coke and will have a can of that, or get an ice cream cone, on my high calorie days. I add everything into LoseIt as I eat it, and I do zig zagging, which has my lowest day at 1,100 and my highest at 1,700 (I think I'm going to have to recalculate it next week to account for more loss). I add in extra calories when I work out, or I don't lose any weight. I end just about every week right at my goal, I am never over or under by more than 100 calories. I do not eat very large meals and snack a lot.
No zig-zagging. I'm actually really, really consistent, between 1525-1575 calories a day.
Kitchen scale for almost everything. I am not comfortable with volume measurements. I lie to myself.
Breakfast is my only meal. Everything else is nibble, nibble, nibble. I eat, say, broccoli, baked chicken, and strawberries for "dinner", but I eat the broccoli at 5, the chicken at 6, and the strawberries at seven.
For macronutrients, I aim to maximize protein and fiber, and let the carbs and fats fall where they are. I eat about 50 grams of fiber a day and get 40% of my calories from protein.
I don't count crystal light, mustard, pickle relish, salsa. All of these are low enough in calorie and naturally consumed in small enough portions that I think I can let it go.
Virtually everything I eat is "quick and easy". I don't cook dishes with lots of ingredients, unless you count putting cinnamon and cloves in my oatmeal. Mostly it's plain baked chicken w/onion soup seasoning, raw carrots, microwaved broccoli and cauliflower w/ seasoning salt, frozen strawberries. I love what I eat. I don't enjoy cooking, so all that effort when I already love simple foods doesn't appeal.
I track everything on Fitday.
Twice a week I have a McD's ice cream cone. I count that. Once a month I have a nice sit-down dinner including desert. I don't put that in the system just because the numbers would be a total guess in any case, but it doesn't seem to effect my weight loss.
I just type up what I eat each day and balance the calories and everything. I tried using online calorie counters, and I didn't like them very much. Instead I just opt to use microsoft word. I keep an on going list of my days, what I have ate, etc. It's nice to be able to simply scroll down and look at the totals and everything. I sometimes plan out exactly what I eat before I eat it.
I was just keeping up with calories in my head for a while, but I find things easier now to type it up for the day.
My diet is complicated, but I have illness related restrictions. I am:
* Low calorie (currently cycling 1200-1600)
* No refined sugar/flour
* Low calcium/Low dairy
* High protein
* Low sat fat
* Low soy (I use soy sauce, but no tofu, fake meat)
* No berries, bananas, or certain melons (allergies)
Pretty much I eat a lot of veggies, and low fat protein. I LOVE eggs. I eat at least 2 a day. I eat lots of salads and soups. Right now I am looking at Japanese and Asian cooking styles because they use a lot less dairy.
Your Calorie-Counting Style
