Ok! So I've just celebrated 2 whole months of eating Vegetarian! I'm very excited I feel TONS better, I'm able to dance a full 2 hour class, and I don't feel tired anymore!!! (Well..except when I don't get enough sleep.. lol)

I lost about 5 pounds my first 2 weeks, then have plateaued at a very annoying place: 170. I want to be 160-SOMETHING so bad!!!!

So in the past I tracked calories on Daily Plate--which was all well and good, except that if I ate out at a ~random restaurant~ they wouldn't have anything CLOSE to what I need.. (although, that's the problem with WW, too...) Like my main pet peeve is that they wouldn't have a "diner-quality grilled cheese", they'd have ONLY the healthy grilled cheeses that people make on their own!!
How is that realistic????

Anyhoo--I digress. I'm wondering what everyone uses to track calories? OR if you use a different method besides calorie counting? Also-- I'm a Snacker to the max.. So if I'm eating "some carrots" with or without dressing to dip them in... Or eating a side salad, or maybe even a handful of various dried fruits and nuts.... How can I count those easily without becoming obsessive?

I dunno... a lot of time "tracking" my calories makes me feel like I can't leave the house!!!!

Any suggestions?

Hey! A step dancer?! Woot! I'm a piper.

I actually haven't been tracking my calories that closely, some things I KNOW by reading the lable, so I keep that stuff in mind and I estimate on the rest based on similar packaged foods if I can find something. I keep track more of my amounts... Though somethings are high calorie in small amounts.

I eat about six times a day, and I try to keep my portions resonable, though when I get to the half way point I will probably need to keep a closer eye on things.

I track my calories with a pen and a tablet, takes me about 5 minutes per day.

I track my calories with weight watcher. It helps me alot not to over do it with the cashew nuts that I love to munch.

Hello
Not that im trying to turn you vegan or anything but if you cut out dairy and replaced it with soya products and drank loadsa water the weight would come off more. Anything that involves cheese etc still will keep the weight on.
I found this worked for me anyway
Good luck
Jade
xxx

I have to agree. When I lost the dairy, especially the cheese, I lost thirty pounds without changing anything else. It's bad stuff, at least for me.

I agree too. Going veggie makes me lose 10 pounds without changing anything. Vegan is an easy 20 to 30 pound loss. This is especially helpful with keeping salads low calorie. No meat, no cheese, no creamy dressing (just a lite vinaigrette for me). I have never bothered counting calories and I've always been successful when I diet. I only diet after pregnancy and maintain my weight loss easily (I say this to explain why I think you don't have to count calories based on personal experience - if I was successful, why would I need to diet? Because of childbearing!). Just get an idea of which foods are low cal and which are high cal. If you intend on remaining vegetarian you won't even need this much. Just watch out for butter, fried foods (especially breaded and fried), etc... Also, don't cut these out completely - just limit them.

I have a notebook with me at all times. Whenever I eat I just jot down what it was. It really helps to plan ahead too, that way you count before you eat it. The Calorie King website is frickin' amazing. It has alot of restaurants and brands for your calorie counting pleasure.

I use pen and paper. For stuff like dried fruit and nuts if you measure them out its pretty easy to know how many calories there are.

I've tried online calorie websites, but being in the uk our brands arent the same and so I really dont trust these sites. I'd recommend just going by nutritional info you can get on packets/foods and doing it that way.

To track my calories, usually I just alot myself a certain amount of calories for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. Then, as long as I don't go over that amount... I'm cool.

Lynnwood, eh? I'm in East Everett and I used to work in Lynnwood. :]

Woah.. somehow I lost this thread.. I swear I was subscribed!!!

Thank you all, so much, for your feedback! I think I'm going to give my transition about a week or so more time (since now I'm dancing 12 hours a week, as opposed to the 3 hours/week I was dancing in the summer!) and see what the upped-exercise does to me.

I think I might try the soy instead of cheese thing... I do love cheese.. *sigh* What's the best substitute brand? Or.. is it more a fact of just not eating it? lol Anything's worth a try!

hi kat,

i've been vegan for about 3 months now after being vegetarian for a year and a half or so and i don't miss cheese at all. however, it was the one thing keeping me from going vegan for a long time and when i finally went vegan, i was ready to say goodbye to cheese. so my advice, is don't do it unless you're ready.

soy cheese: not the same so don't think of it as a substitute, but still some decent ones out there and some super gross ones. i bought a block of soy cheddar cheese and immediately threw it out probably one of the grossest things i've ever put in my mouth. but i like the tofutti mozzarella slices and use them to make vegan reubens along with yves "roast beef" slices and some rye bread and sauerkraut. and there are some "cheese" sauces you can make at home in the blender with soy milk, nutritional yeast and some other ingredients to go on casseroles and whatnot. lots of good recipes on fatfreevegan.com . try em out before you decide.

as far as counting calories i do it online, but there are lots of days i don't. after tracking my cals on and off for over a year, i know in my head what's too much and too little.

cheers!

Thanks so much, Ollie! Yeah-- I think I'll definitely dabble and see how it is I'll check out that site, too!

Everyone's been really helpful-- I appreciate it a lot!