I use the myfitnesspal app for the iPhone. I can enter all of the ingredients and the number of servings and I get a calorie count for each serving. There are other recipe anylzers on the web, but my favorite is myfitnesspal app.
I just print the recipe (or write it), look up the calories of the ingredients, and write them beside each ingredient. Yes, it's somewhat of a pain in the neck, but you only need to do it once, and then you'll have the calories for that recipe anytime you make it thereafter.
I use Sparkpeople to track. I put the foods in that i eat, after weighing/measuring them and it tracks the calories. I log breakfast and lunch in the morning while I have my coffee and stuff, and then I log dinner in the evenings or at work while I'm thinking about dinner.
I use recipes with nutrition included (cooking light and eating well mostly) and if not, I just add in my head. After a year of this, and as someone who eats a wide variety of foods, there are very ingredients I don't know off the top of my head. I'm also good at mental math, so that helps.
I do the same thing as popspry. It's over a year I'm doing it, so I find of memorized the nutritional facts of certain foods..
But recipes that come with nutritional facts are also a big help.
Good luck!
I believe in you!
Tessa
I use an exchange plan, but the principles are the same. (and exchange plans are a form of calorie counting, but most of the counting is done for you in pre-counted blocks - for example all fruit exchanges average about 70 calories. So if you eat three exchange servings of fruit, you've eaten 210 calories.
With exchanges and "straight" calorie counting, there are online calorie counting resources such as calorie/exchange databases. There are a hard-copy books - hardback and paperback that you can purchase (if you prefer low-tech some or all of the time).
What I like about exchange plan dieting as a way to count calories is that it helps me stay focused on balance, and it's a lot easier to memorize more exchanges than calorie counts. For example you don't have to memorize the calorie counts for most fruits and vegetables, because for most veggies 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked = 1 veggie exchange (25 calories). For most fruits 1/2 cup = 1 fruit (70 calories). There are exceptions (for example with strawberries you get a whole 1.25 cups for 1 exchange).
It sounds more complicated, but in the long-run it's easier to memorize by category (that is exchanges) and similarity.
Of course, "now-a-days" there's really no reason to memorize at all, because huge calorie-counting databases are at your fingertips. I just find exchanges easier because I grew up with them, in the low-tech days, where you either had to memorize the exchange/calorie counts, or lug around a 3 to 4" thick paperback book (with nearly microscopic print).
You break it down to its basics. Meat? How much. Veg? How much. Rice, Potato, Pasta? How much. Easy to do for an individual. Is it a one-pot meal or casserole? Figure out the individual ingredients, then divide by portions to get the calorie tally. Weigh and measure. If it is a generic thing like, say, fried chicken and biscuits and corn and salad....then you figure out the individual components of YOUR plate. Maybe it takes some time, but simple enough.
When cooking I break down the ingredients and find out how much of eat I'm putting in and how many calories each item is. I then add everything together to find the total amount of calories for the recipe. I then figure out about how much a serving is or how much I'm going to eat to figure out how many calories I'm consuming.
Like others, I often find recipes with calorie counts in them already. If it's something that I'm making that doesn't have a calorie count, I find the calories (either by ingredient label or internet database), write down the total number of calories for the amount of each ingredient, add together, and divide by portions.
When I pack up my dish, I like to make sure it's in portion sizes and I label it with the food description, date, and count.
Oh, and when I'm just throwing food together, I'll purposely cook the amount for each serving. Ex, I'm making a casserole in a dish. It has eight servings. I need 4 cups of cooked rice (1/2 cup is one serving), 16oz of chicken (portioning 2oz per serving), cheese, etc. I always bulk things up with random veggies - 12oz container of mushrooms (75/8 = 9 calories per serving), 10oz package of spinach (65/8 = 8 calories per serving), etc. Sometimes I just add in another 20-30 calories per serving if I don't feel like counting all of the low cal veggies.
How do you count?
