Okay, I know what range I should stay in pretty much. I'm a first time EVER calorie counter, but I believe that I should be within the 1600 to 1800 range.

I--
-am 31 years old
-215 pounds
-5'3" tall
-plan to walk for 60 min at 4 m.p.h. per day
-plan to weight train for strength (not bulk) 3 days per week
-need to lose 70 to 75 pounds.

My question is, how meticulous are you guys at counting your calories? I am not used to counting every single morsel of food that crosses my lips and am shrinking at the thought of having to do it!

What do you veterans recommend? Pre-packaged meals seem pretty easy, as they do the counting for you, but I'm a real food, whole food kind of gal and prefer to cook my own food with fresh ingredients. How do I handle this? Should I keep it as simple as possible in the beginning? Should I guesstimate, rather than try to come up with an exact calorie number for meals? How important is planning and preparing your meals ahead of time?

HELP ME PLEASE!

I've been doing this since last November and I also do most of my own cooking. I try to be as exact as possible when determining the calories for any meal that I make. I look for recipes that have nutritional info provided already, so that I have an idea of whether or not something will fit into my calorie plan before I put any effort into it. But because I alter almost any recipe I make (and because I often substitute lower fat ingredients), I recalculate the nutritional info myself before I make any recipe.

I have a spreadsheet where I input the calories and other nutritional data for each individual ingredient, then I add it all up and divide by the number of servings. I print out this analysis and store it with the recipe so that I have it for next time. There are also websites that will do this for you: try fitwatch.com or nutritiondata.com. In the end, though, even with all my "precision," it's still just an estimate.

Any ingredients that I don't have nutritional data for (e.g., fresh fruit and veggies), I look up on calorieking.com or calorie-count.com (if you use the other websites I mention about, however, you won't need to worry about this because they have databases with all of those ingredients already included). I also bought a small analog food scale ($5 at Bed, Bath, & Beyond) so that I could be more exact (and also so I could weigh all the fresh fruit and veggies I snack on all day). But I counted calories for several months without the food scale, so it's not absolutely critical. You can use volume measurements instead and get pretty close.

A few tips to make it easier in the beginning:
1. Look for recipes that include nutritional info. Splurge on a couple of cookbooks if you don't have any. Cooking Light and BHG.com have also been great sources of recipes for me and always include nutritional info. If you stick to the recipe the way it is written, you won't have to recalculate the nutrional data. It's just as easy as buying pre-packaged food, but better for you (usually--obviously not so much if you are making chocolate cake or something like that--LOL).
2. Use the websites I mentioned above when you do need to recalculate nutrition. I like my spreadsheet but I'm a freak. The websites are very easy to use and will get the job done.

I plan out all of my meals on a weekly basis, before I do my grocery shopping. But you don't have to do this, you can plan just one day at a time if you have the ingredients on hand or don't mind running to the grocery store. I do think it is helpful to plan at least a day at a time. If you just wing it for each meal, you may find yourself running out of calories at the end of the day. The other way to do it would be to set a calorie limit for each meal (e.g., 200 calories for breakfast, 300 for lunch, etc.). Then you could eat whatever you want for each meal, so long as you stay within the limit you set.

It can seem overwhelming at first, but I think you'll find that it gets easier pretty quickly. We all have standard meals that we eat and you'll get to know how many calories are in each of them. I have three standard breakfasts that I eat and a number of standard lunches and dinners. I already know the calories for them all, so that makes planning a lot easier for me.

- Barbara

Exact is best-because if you guestimate, then 20 calories here, and 40 calories there can add up over the course of the week.

To start simple-the best way is to start with some basic foods that the calorie counts are pretty easy for-simple, single foods-a serving of oatmeal, a piece of fruit, etc. is easier for a beginner rather than trying to calculate the calories in a casserole with 9 ingredients.

If you are starting in the 1600-1800 range, first try to "space" out some calories. Basically-you don't want to go all morning and noontime on 300 calories, and then eat a huge 1300 calorie dinner. Try to sort of think of a range for each meal for planning purposes. For instance, 400 for breakfast, 400 for lunch, 100each for two snacks, and 600 for dinner. Obviously you don't have to use these exact numbers-but you get what I mean.

You will find that the first couple of weeks is the most dificult-simply because you are having to look up everything. After a while, certain foods that you eat often you "remember" and don't have to look up. For instance, I know by heart that 1 c. of strawberries is 45 calories...and a container of my favorite yogurt is 100. I don't have to look anything up any longer when I eat foods that I am very familiar with. It DOES get easier.

If you have any questions along the way-don't hesitate to ask.

Aphil

I think this is going to be one of those threads where there will be a different answer from just about everyone who replies- and one where everyone who replies has "the correct" answer, because there are very few wrong answers, only ones that do and don't work for each individual.

Here is what I am doing:

I know how much I am striving to eat each day, and how much exercise I want to obtain. I sometimes fall a bit below or above "the numbers", but as long as on par I am doing fine, I don't sweat it.

Portion and measure, measure and portion. I'm the primary cook, and almost everything that I put on a plate has at some point been weighed or measured. All of my recipe cards include a "calorie per portion" reminder to help me balance higher calorie dishes with lower calorie ones. Whenever I try a new dish, I figure out it's calorie count and write it out as a recipe for the next time I want to make it. This may sound a bit retentive, but it makes it a lot easier later- I just add up the cards to get the meal's total.

All snacks and "extra" tidbits are doled out in portions and tabulated. I no longer eat out of the bag or the box, but instead weigh out a proper portion into a bowl first.

I am very particular when tabulating the expensive foods, not so much with the cheep. By this I mean that highly calorie-dense foods (butter, olive oil, breadcrumbs, etc) are very carefully measured, but other foods (lettuce, onions, garlic, etc.) often just get a "oh, we'll call that 10 cal's".

There are lots of little things I do too that help me keep track of my calories, but these are the main ones that have atributed to the dietary success I've achieved so far. These are the kinds of things that can really look cumbersome and time-consuming when you write them down for someone else to see, but I really don't have to spend much time at all "managing" my calorie counting.

I try to be exact too.

One thing that REALLY helps me - I measure out my portions BEFORE I cook, not after the food is already made, and I measure them exactly. That accomplishes two goals - first, anything I taste while cooking (because you do have to taste things for seasoning, doneness, etc) is accounted for in my portion, so I can calculate those calories more exactly. Second, it means I can divide the final product into just the number of portions I need and know my calories are mostly accurate. This helps with most of the "bite, lick, and taste" calories for me.

Being as exact as possible is the only way I know to be sure I'm on plan.

I am not meticulous at all. If I can look something up online (like a Starbucks fat free latte), that's great. If not, then I just ballpark. I am very comfortable with the idea that my daily Fitday calculations are probably +/- 100-200 calories. I understand that an apple may be be anywhere from 60-150 calories based on size of the fruit (or the size of the core!) and if Fitday says 100, that's a happy estimate. I don't like to measure stuff like peanut butter, so I don't. It's more important for me to carefully cover 2 pieces of bread with enough peanut butter to make me happy than to worry if it's EXACTLY 2 tbs of peanut butter.

I do measure stuff like rice or pasta, because it's easy to measure it uncooked. I measure what I can, try to look up things, if I have the package in front of me, I enter it. I try to remain comfortable and flexible with the stuff I just don't know, since it was making me crazy for awhile that I didn't know EXACTLY how much I was eating every day.

My goals are around eating healthy foods and the calorie counting is secondary to that goal. I am currently maintaining and I get on the scale weekly. If the scale trended upwards for several weeks in a row, I would watch more closely until I reached my goal weight again. Luckily, that has only happened one time since I started maintaining.

I OBSESS over calorie counting, which is what got me into trouble with pre-packaged meals. Don't get caught up in that whole sodium-laden industry! My advice would be to train yourself now--maybe for the first few weeks, you will need to actually measure out the 2 tablespoons of peanut butter for your sandwich. Usually, when you just slather stuff on, you are underestimating how many calories it really is. Then, after you've gotten better at eyeballing quantities, you won't have to be as meticulous.

I use my food scale or measuring cups and spoons for everything. I use calorieking.com to track and I log every bite. I get out a measuring tape when it says large or medium or small banana and gives a length range. I do the same thing for apples or peaches - I measure them with a measuring tape to determine the size.

I log recipes and do the calorie counts and then I have that information saved. Although I do pretty simple meals like grilled meats and veggies.

I try to be as specific as possible. I do log everything I eat with rare exception. However, I also know that, despite my best efforts, I will likely be off somewhat (maybe high, maybe low). I use calorie counting as a way to keep myself accountable and monitor nutrition etc as well as calories. So, I don't agonize over whether I am 100% accurate, even tho I try to be and I log everything...

I'm pretty exact. I use my measuring spoons, cups and my scales every day, almost every meal. Somedays I take a break from measuring things that I eat very frequently, then I'll start measuring again to make sure that I'm still eyeing it correctly.

I use Fitday PC and recipes that contain multiple ingredients are pretty easy, since you can drop and drag ingredients. So that casserole with 9 ingredients isn't that difficult. It takes about 5 minutes the first time I enter it, then it's there for the next time.

Most days, it isn't hard to remember what I eat, especially M-F when my life is fairly organized. On days when it is more difficult to remember, I jot it down in a notebook until I can enter it in fitday.

I am not meticulous. I have a pretty good eye for judging amounts (I often don't measure when cooking or baking). I know what a 3 ounce chicken breast looks like and what 1/2 a cup of rice looks like. I don't care if I end up with the breast that is 3.5 ounces or 2.5 ounces. I do try to really load up on all the veggies at my evening meal and I eat a lot of fruit at breakfast and lunch. I figure that way, I am getting a lot of nutrients without a lot of calories. I do try to cut back on baked and processed foods and eat more whole foods.

My biggest problem is that I tend to snack while eating. A nut here, a pinch of cheese there. I know that adds up, but as long as the scale keeps saying I'm losing pounds, I don't care!!!

I can't thank you guys enough for ALL of this wonderful information!

I was worried because I'm a full time mom to a 5 year old and a 1 year old. I just don't know if I have the time to count every single food item, at every single meal, and write it all down! Maybe I'm underestimating myself, who knows?

I would love to say that I'll just reduce what I'm eating and exercise more. But I know that I MUST follow a plan if I am to be successful.

I'm sure you can all relate to that moment when you were about to embark on your life changing weight loss journey. I am scared. Scared of failure. I just want to make sure I do this right. If I mess up, I'll feel discouraged and won't give it the time it takes to work. Atleast, that's been my track record.

You have given me faith in myself that I CAN do this. Thank you all again.

The Weight Watchers "point" system works best for me. Even though it is still a counting system (and ultimately calories), I find it easier, and I obsess less over the exact calorie count in foods (is it an 85 or 110 calorie apple).

By the WW system, certain foods don't add to your total (most veggies are 0 points, for example). Technically you could eat enough vegetables to affect your weight loss, but most people don't have a problem eating too many veggies.

It can be tempting not to count the BLTs (Bites, licks and tastes), but they can add up very quickly. I know my mom lost 75 lbs, and her weight loss had stalled, and she didn't know why. I spent a week with my family, and noticed that she had stopped measuring all of her food, and while her measurements didn't appear to be off by much, I could tell her serving sizes had increased.

I think you need to be careful without being obsessive, and watch the scale.

By the way, it really doesn't take much time to look up and write down the point values for foods, and I write the points values on the containers of things like cereal, mashed potatoes, rice..... Before long, you have the points of most of your food items memorized, without even trying.

Tammy, is Somersizing a combo of sticking to low GI food choices AND low calorie choices? Or did you customize your own plan?

And Glory, were you losing weight just by eating the SuperFoods alone, before you began counting calories? Or did the loss really kick in after you started watching your caloric intake?