I know that most people underestimate their calorie intake by A LOT. I've been lazy about counting calories lately and yesterday I started up again. It seems like I'm eating barely any food and I think I'll end up going over my calories every day. I'm aiming for 1500-1600 each day. This might be a little high to actually lose weight, but I work out a lot so I want to make sure I'm eating enough. Here is what I'm having today:

Bfast:
Berry protein shake (about 275 calories)
String cheese
Skim latte

Snack:
Grapes (scattered throughout the morning)

Lunch:
Chicken & veggie stir fry (left overs from last night's dinner. Not much chicken but lots of veggies)

Snack:
Special K bar

Dinner:
Small pork chop
Veggies again (squash, snow peas, string beans, red peppers)
2 small red potatoes

These are all pretty small amounts and I estimate it to be about 1500 calories. I say "estimate" because I don't feel like the calories I'm getting from Calorie King for certain things are 100% accurate. Does this seem like a "normal" diet? Do you think I'm overestimating or do people really underestimate THAT much that I need to re-train my brain?



Thanks!!!!

Hey! The idea is that you actually look up the calories, write them down, and total them. That is how you know how many you are eating. Websites like FitDay allow you to do this easily. Why not go there, open a free account, and enter what you just posted? That way you will know.

Jay

I use Calorie King, which is what I used to arrive at 1500 for what is listed above. But for some reason I have it in my head that it's not accurate. I've tried to compare calories from different websites and there is usually a small variance, but sometimes it's hard for me to determine because the measurements are different. Some just say "serving" as opposed to "ounces" and I don't know what they consider a serving.

Yep, that's why I posted the thread I just did about calorie counting websites. I feel like a lot of them say different calorie amounts for different things. I try to measure most of my food, so I know I'm pretty accurate on what I am eating, but I feel the same as you.
Maybe we're just conspiracy theorists

me personally i have a small digital scale in my kitchen, and i weigh everything and then use fitday to figure out the calories.

i know what you mean, its all approximate, you just have to have faith you'll be in a good ballpark!

Weight EVERYTHING. And if something says "serving," keep looking at the site for something similar that has an actual serving size.

However saying that, the only things that usually just say "1 serving" are restaurant dishes and other complex dishes that are combinations of lots of other stuff. But honestly I've only ever seen calorieking.com use "1 serving" with restaurant dishes.

You know that you can click next to the unit listed and get most things listed in other unit, right?

Also, remember that if something doesn't have a measurable quantity next to it you can look for other similar items that DO.

An example of what I would do with your meal:

Bfast:
Berry protein shake (about 275 calories)
String cheese
Skim latte

All your breakfast items could be figured out easily using calorieking for the ingredients in these things. If you make something a lot, like the protein shake, all you have to do is figure it out ONCE, then make sure you make it the same way. String cheese should be labeled on the package. If you're making the latte, you know what goes into that, too.

Snack:
Grapes (scattered throughout the morning)

Here I would weight out a certain amount of grapes and set them aside and eat from that pre-measured portion as you snack throughout the morning.

Lunch:
Chicken & veggie stir fry (left overs from last night's dinner. Not much chicken but lots of veggies)

For me PERSONALLY I would only "count" the chicken, estimate the amount of sauce and count the calories in that, and only count any starchy veggies. (I build in a calorie buffer so that I don't have to worry about counting very low calorie veggies like lettuce and cucumbers and broccoli.) Again, if I were trying to be VERY accurate I would actually pick out the chicken and weight just the chicken, then mix everything together to eat it. For the stir fry sauce I would estimate if I was eating 1/2, 1/4 etc of the original recipe from last night and, knowing how much sauce I put in there last night, I would know how much sauce I was eating today.

Snack:
Special K bar

Calories on the package.

Dinner:
Small pork chop
Veggies again (squash, snow peas, string beans, red peppers)
2 small red potatoes

Super easy. Weigh porkchop either before or after cooking. Calorieking usually has both raw and cooked calorie counts for most cuts of fresh meat. I wouldn't count any of those veggies. I would weigh the potatoes and use calorieking for those. Remember to add in some butter or oil if you are using them to cook in.

There is nothing difficult about calorie counting, you just have to put a little time into it. A food scale is your friend. I trust calorieking with all the raw foods and ingredients that go into other dishes. I have to do some guessing and estimating if I eat out and have something hard to count, like Chinese or Thai food in a restaurant or something -- but I don't do that frequently enough that being off by a few hundred calories a few times a month is going to make a difference. When I cook, I usually make dishes that have fewer than 6 ingredients or so because they are easier to count.

Calories will always be an estimate- generally people estimate too low as it is- so I'd just do my best- I use sparkpeople.com btw.

I'm always suspicious of calorie counts too, but over the long run, it doesn't matter so much how truly accurate you are - it matters that you're consistent. If you adjust your counting to 1500 a day, and that where you lose, it doesn't really matter if you are off by 100 calories, as long as you're off in the same way every day. It's like a scale that weighs you 5 pound too high. It will still work to track your progress and keep you accountable.

I'm in the same boat as you. I try to calorie count, but I aiming for 1500 +/- 200 calories. When I look at what I'm eating, I'm also just wondering where the calories went!? Even with fruit like bananas and apples, I'm left wondering where the calories went... only 100!? But, if you're losing weight, there's nothing wrong with your method.. obviously, there is a deficit!

Have you tried going to SparkPeople.com????

It is one of the better sites I found that you can keep track of ALL of your consumptions... Good or Bad. It provides you with a daily report of your day to day intake on calories, fat, sugars, etc. Great to use as a guide on decisions to cut back or add to your diet.

Give it a try if you haven't yet. You just might like it.