Hello,

I have been on many forums on 3 Fat Chicks, and many diets like yourselves. I feel that counting calories is the true and healthy way to a very good lifestyle. Please, I need any help from all of you out there. I have read many inspiring stories on this forum that truly made up my mind to live a healthy lifestyle with exersize and good eating habits. Here is my question that I am sure you have answered so many times:

How do I get started? Any help you can generate towards me will be so returned to others when asked. I know journaling is one, but how do your really know how many fats, proteins and carbs you are truly getting? How do you know how many calories and what it contains when you make a meal from scratch? These are my mysteries on how to get started.

Any help you can give to a rookie calorie counter would be so appreciated. At a young 56 year old the yoyo dieting has to stop.

Thank you all for any help you can give me.

Melanie in Colorado

I recommend either signing up for one of the tracking websites, like thedailyplate.com or buying a calorie book and writing everything in a journal. I started out by using one of the books, but I find it much easier to do it on thedailyplate. I do calorie counting with an emphasis on whole foods. I'm still working on getting that part right.

I agree. I've been a long fan of dietpower but just discovered sparkpeople yesterday and I find it awesome, because it gives you statements at the end of your food or exercise logs telling you how much you've eaten/done, how much more you need to do. I don't know all the parts of the site yet but it seems very helpful.
A lot of these sites give you an estimated calorie budget for the day but one of the best ways to start with calorie counting is to log what you eat at the moment, for a week; maybe follow that with a week of making what you would normally consider to be healthy choices, and just log what you Do eat without worrying what a site says you Should eat. It might sound a bit long winded, because we'd all rather start our calorie counting tomorrow and have lost it all by next week, but from my experience it really helps to take it slowly and to have an understanding of how your body reacts to particular foods.

Good luck!

I would suggest starting out by just counting calories, and not worrying (yet) about protein, carbs, or fat calories. By just counting calories you will probably see an improvement in your diet as you learn which foods give you the most "bang for your buck" and keep you full and satisfied. You'll gradually learn little tricks to save calories that you don't even miss, and also ways to burn a few more calories throughout your day.... it all really adds up! Later on, after you're settled in with the lifestyle (and have already started losing weight) you could begin tracking the protein, fat, etc.

I'm back to calorie counting after many years of not paying attention and slowly gaining weight. Looking back, this is the only way that I've ever been successful at losing the pounds, and like you, I've tried many diets! I prefer to log my food in a small journal, since I can take it with me in my purse. If you think you might want to try this method, two good pocket-sized journals are the The Ultimate Pocket Diet Journal or the Calorie King Food & Exercise Journal. I also use the Calorie King Calorie Counter book for on-the-go reference.

Melsie, I'm new to this thing too but I thought I'd chime in here and let you know what this newbie has been doing for the last week. I'm tracking what I eat (and I mean everything) along with exercise on the Daily Plate and also keeping a detailed log of my gym activity separately. So far I've lost almost 3 lbs and am able to see what works, how I felt, etc...
Best of luck to you!

I use Calorie King book from B dalton.Its a small book.Easy to carry and was cheap to buy.I take it everywhere I dont take my laptop.I write it all down in my journal.Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!

The only thing about The Daily Plate is that users can enter calorie values, so you have to be really careful to make sure you're getting the correct calculations. A lot of times I double check the numbers on calorieking.com

I would also not bother trying to keep track of calories burned during exercise, as it's very inexact an varies widely from person to person.

Good luck! You'll find a lot of support on this forum.

Thank you all so much for some great hints, I've read them all. I think this is the true and only plan that is a real reality of living strong and healthy and knowing what truly goes in your mouth and what's it worth in calories.


ThinPossible, where in Colorado? I am in Highlands Ranch.

Melanie in Colorado