Hi...I am VERY new to calorie counting. This week is my first week and since I started, I have noticed that many things have WAY more calories than I thought! Some of the foods that I have been eating that I thought were healthy really aren't. I know the basics, but I would really like some meal ideas, especially for breakfast (I hate oatmeal). I figure I can always make extra dinner to take for lunches. Also, how do you split up your calories between meals and snacks? I noticed that I am using about 500 for breakfast, about 250 for a morning snack, about 350-400 for lunch, about 150 in the afternoon for a snack (sometimes), a piece of fruit at night between dinner and bedtime and whatever is left for dinner. I am seeing that my breakfast and morning snack choices are not as good as I thought they were, so I am using a lot of calories there. I guess I just need some advice on how to split up the day, like what percentage for each meal or something. I appreciate everyone's help!

Oh, I am trying out 1800 calories to see how that goes, b/c have no idea how many I should be eating. I am also open to suggestions here as well. I am @320 lbs, 5'6". I work in an office, so I don't move around too much, but I do walk, about 3.0 mph, for 30 mins every M-F.

Thanks again!!
Misty

First of all, yay! Great job getting started. Isn't calorie counting an eye opener?

I think 1800 is a good estimate. See how it works and how it feels as you go. I see what you mean about your meal breakdown, though. Your menu is kind of 'front-loaded'. Maybe 350-400 for breakfast and lunch, and more complex snacks with fruit/veggies and a protein too, like hummus, pb, or lowfat cheese would feel better? Also you say you use whatever's left for dinner - are you finding you have enough left for something satisfying? Something you may want to try is planning the whole next day, so you don't wind up hungry in the evening.


So, non-oatmeal breakfast ideas:

Lowfat cottage cheese or yogurt with fruit and/or cereal
Whole wheat toast, whole grain waffle, or a rice cake with PB&J
Egg whites and veggies in a tortilla
Cream of wheat with banana
Homemade low fat muffins or breads (see recipe websites like recipezaar and allrecipes)

These are off the top of my head. I hope at least one is appealing!

Congrats on getting started!

1800 is probably a reasonable place to start. You could probably lose on a bit more, but give 1800 for a month or so and see how you go.

I keep my breakfasts around 300 and have eggs almost every day. I vary the method but pretty much always have 1 whole egg + 1/2 cup of 100% egg whites. My favorite is a mixed mushroom and goat cheese omelet. I saute up all the mushrooms with some garlic at the beginning of the week and then just throw a 1/2 cup into my omelet in the morning along with the goat cheese. I also love what I call a "burrito omelet": 1/2 cup of black beans and some salsa inside the omelet, topped with low fat sour cream and hot sauce. Yum!!! There's nothing wrong with a mixed veggie omelet either. I find that as long as I do the sauteing in the evenings and have the fillings ready to go in the morning, I can easily find the time to make the omelet before work. (Although sometimes I do find myself rushing back and forth between the kitchen and putting on my make up in the bathroom. )

I've also started having lentil soup for breakfasts. It's surprisingly good. I just make a big pot of the stuff and freeze it in individual servings. Then all I have to do in the morning is nuke and eat.

For lunches, we take it in turn to make a giant pot of soup once a week and then freeze it in individual portions. There are a million ways of making soup with chicken, veggies and either a whole grain or legume, and most of them are very delicious. A big bowl of soup plus a nice salad usually brings my lunch total to between 350 and 400 and I eat better food than anyone else in the office.

hey I am doing a 1400 cal diet. But my breakfast is either 2 scrambled eggs (165 cals) or fruit smoothie or fruit salad

Sounds like you're doing well! Lots of us have those revelations about how many calories are in foods.

As for the meal breakdown, you may have to use trial and error to figure out what works for you. Tweak it and see what happens when you try different things. I've been calorie counting for a number of years and still "shake things up" from time to time in terms of timing of meals and calories, etc. Don't feel you have to get everything right all at once... your plan will evolve!

And 1800 sounds reasonable... only you can tell how it works for you!!

As I know, if you are doing absolutely NOTHING (just sleeping), your body needs to burn 1calorie/kg/hour. If you have 320lbs that means 145kg. So, for now, your body is burning 145 calories/hour, wich means 3480 calories per 24 hours. But it is impossible to only sleep during 24 hours. Let's say you have a very sedentary life and you don't exercise at all, just sitting and watching tv. You still burn an extra 3-400 calories/day. That means, your body needs around 3800-3900/day. If your intake per day is 1800 cal, that means (theoreticaly) that your difference (cal intake/cal out) is 2000 cal/day. Every 3500 calories means a pound. Theoreticaly you should loose around 4 pounds/week. Pure theory. But don't forget that at every 2,2lbs lost (2,2lbs = 1kg) you should adjust your formula (1cal/1kg/1hour).

I eat an average of 1829 calories a plus via calorie cycling:

Sun: 1800 (30 min intense cardio every other Sunday)
Mon: 2000 + 30 min intense cardio and strength training
Tue: 1400
Wed: 2800 + 60 min intense cardio and strength training
Thu: 1200
Fri: 1500
Sat: 2100 + 30 min intense cardio and strength training

I also take a free day every 2 weeks. I'm down to 250 lbs from 319 lbs since last June. I love it. Check out this calculator: http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm it will help you figure out the right calories for your weight and activity level.

Breakfast ideas - note that my daily calories are around 1300-1400, so I try to eat around 250 cals for breakfast.

~leftovers
~Morningstar farms patty on a flatout bread
~Thomas light multigrain english muffin with hummus
~one egg omlet made with soymilk, feta and a LOT of veggies
~yogurt with granola mixed in
~waffle with peanut butter (I do have a waffle maker)

Don't be afraid to mix it up - I've had pizza for breakfast and waffles for dinner

I think that 1800 is a good place to start, but if you start losing too fast (more than 1-2 lbs per week) then you should up your intake a bit.

I usually eat more calories at night, so when I was losing I tried to keep my breakfasts between 300-350 calories. If you tend to not eat as much at night then adjust accordingly and eat more during the day.

Myself I LOVE steel cut oatmeal, but you don't have to eat it if you don't like it! Here are some other ideas:

~Serving of Uncle Sam cereal with 1/2c frozen blueberries and 1/2c soymilk (under 300 calories and lots of fiber!)

~Large La Tortilla Factory ww tortilla with 1T low sodium peanut butter wrapped around a banana (under 300 cals and really yummy!)

~1 cup of low fat plain yogurt with 1/2T of pure maple syrup and ww toast with 1T peanut butter (around 350-ish I think~depends on your bread)

~Poached egg on ww toast and a piece of fruit (under 300 cals)

~Smoothie made with 1/4 pkg of lite mori-nu tofu, 1 cup of soymilk, 1/2 a banana, 1/2c frozen berries, and either cinnamon or a splash of vanilla (under 300 cals)

My snacks are larger now, but before I tried to keep them in the 100-150 calorie range. My favorite were/are:

~1/4 cup pistachios

~2 rye crisps & 3/4oz pkg of Cabot Light Cheddar

~small apple & lite string cheese

~hard boiled egg

~carrot sticks & 2T of hummus

Have you signed up for an online food tracking site? Fitday and mydailyplate seem to be the popular ones and it makes planning your day out much easier! Plus, once you get used to it you can use it to track other things like vitamins, percentages, etc.

Just a note about the rate of weight loss -- people who have a lot to lose often lose over 2 pounds/week for a while. Because they have so much to lose, it isn't really a problem like it might be for thinner people.

2 pounds is 1.1% of my current body weight (175). But at 295 (my starting weight) 3.2 pounds was 1.1% of my body weight. In other words, people who have a lot to lose can safely lose more pounds a week -- but they probably don't want to lose at a greater rate, on average, if that's making sense.

Welcome to 3FC and to calorie counting! Here is the good news - you've had an awakening about the number of calories that you have been eating. So now you know how you gained the weight and what you need to do to lose it.

I think 1800 is a reasonable starting point. I am eating closer to 1400 calories so my breakfast is maximum 350 calories but I almost always have a morning snack that is like 100-200 calories. If I am not that hungry it might be a piece of fruit and if I am hungry typically nuts or a piece of cheese.

There is no one right answer. Find out what works for you. I so love cereal, I can eat this everymorning and it sticks with me. But there are others that need more protein. There is a thread about what everyone likes about calories counting and the one common theme is that it is flexible and you can find what works for you individually.

By the way, I lost 3lbs per week to start then it slowed down to 1 or 2. At higher weights you can lose more at the start, just don't let that disappoint you later when it slows down because that is normal and probably best for you.

Lori

I'm usually rushing around in the morning, so my breakfast is usually a bowl of Berry Cherrios with skim milk(about 250 cals). Then I have an apple mid morning. I just don't have time to make anything else, but it works for me.

Here's a way to get some of the benefits of oatmeal without it tasting like oatmeal. Protein pancakes! Toss a 1/4 c each of oatmeal, eggbeaters and cottage cheese in a blender with a little splenda and a teaspoon of vanilla. Blend until smooth and toss in a nonstick pan. I put unsweetened applesauce on top with some cinnamon and it's

Another quickie breakfast idea, Whole Wheat Low carb tortilla with low fat cheese and some sliced turkey - I heat it in a pan and make a quesadilla.

WOW! So much great information and ideas! Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I have a picky boyfriend that I am either going to have to start having him eat a separate breakfast or he is going to have to learn to eat better. One breakfast with I found stuck with me for quite awhile was nonfat light yogurt with 1/3 can peaches in juice and one bar from a nature valley granola bar, with a small glass of juice it was about 370 calories. I also love cereal, I am going to have to find a few good ones to always have around.
For lunch, I was bringing a lean pocket b/c it only had 7 grams or so of fat, but then I saw they are around 300 calories! So, I have decided to cook up some extra chicken, brown rice and veggies at dinner and bring that for lunch. I am sure it will stick with me a lot longer and it is much better for me! My boyfriend pretty much hates all cooked vegetables except for peas and spinach, I hate both, so I end up cooking everything separate, but I know that it is worth it. I am going to look for some soup recipes, even if I am the only one that brings them for lunch.
Thanks again for the ideas and all of the information!! I am so thankful to have found this place.

Oh, I do track my food through calorie-count plus. I have found that they have many more foods in their database than fitday. They also grade each food and your day's intake based on fat, protein and carbs. They have a running calorie counter as well where they estimate how many calories they believe you have burned based on your answers about weight, lifestyle, activities, etc.

My breakfast:
1/2 of a big grapefruit
1 hard boiled egg
2 mugs of fresh grounded coffee with Splenda (no milk added)
Plus a biiiiiiiiiiig portion of browsing this site and my FitDay page in order to motivate myself for the rest of the day.