cause it's a pain.

I hear you. I found it to be difficult at first (remembering to write everything down, trying to figure out the calories) and it seemed like a tedious pain and a whole lot of wasted time. After a while it became second nature to me. Writing things down is a habit now, and since I cook most of my own food (and I don't have that much variety) I pretty much know all the calorie counts. Stick with your plan, counting calories is a change at first but after a while it becomes so ingrained that you'll hardly think about it, you'll just do it.

Yep, I second what Gracie said. After you've done it for a few weeks, it won't seem like a pain anymore. You'll get used to it, you'll automatically know most of the calorie counts for all your favorite things and you'll almost enjoy knowing exactly what you're putting into your body. You'll catch on!

Also if you can find a digital format to log everything it really helps. Especially if it's something that can keep track of your recipies. Then you just do it once and you have a record of it so when you eat that again you don't have to look it up and count all the ingrediants. I like LoseIt, but there are TONS of others. Good luck, it worth it I promise.

I third 'em! You'll get it. I actually have a file on my laptop with the calorie counts for things I eat frequently and for a serving of recipes I cook often. And once you are losing weight on a fairly regular basis, you might even get excited when you find out there are ways to eat things you love and you don't have to feel deprived. I am amazed at how many things I can now prepare with less fat and fewer calories. It must taste just fine after the makeovers, too, becuase we have friends for dinner a lot and they have no clue whether it's diet food or regular food unless I am eating it right along with them. My husband has told co-workers what we eat for dinner and they are all *jealous*.

You're gonna be fine. it does get easier.

Barb

It will get easier. And it does work. You can do it.

If you have an iPhone or blackberry, there are a bunch of apps on there. I have been using the sparkpeople app this week and have found it to be very helpful. It doesn't seem tedious or like a pain either.

I have also been making a schedule/allowance for myself the night before. I write a couple of snack options on there so I don't feel stuck. It seems to be working out well so far. Just experiment and find something that works for you. What works for other people might not for you.

I use Fitday - I can pull up my recent foods and check them off and input them all at once. Since I tend to eat mostly the same things, I can usually input an entire day's food in about 2 minutes, including adjusting the quantities as needed (I weigh and measure so one day, the piece of chicken may be 3.5 oz, another day, it's 5 oz, so I just adjust the amount each day). I generally plan out my whole day in advance - I can go back and change if I have to, but I find it easier to stay on plan when I have the day's eating planned out in advance.

Thanks, ladies, i've been counting for 2 days now. Caloriecount.about.com has helped me a great deal.


Here's to me getting the hang of this quickly.

Good luck! It gets easier, especially when you see the scale moving