Weighing food to count calories

[lighterflyer]

Hello to the community and thank for all the encouraging posts. I just joined the weight loss programme last Monday. It's going well but the only thing I find difficult is counting the calories for your own home cooked food. Weighing everything is so tedious so I have been relying on a couple of calorie checker apps but I don't think Im getting the right results. Do I really have to weigh everything? For example how would you calculate baked spaghetti squash with home made bolognaise?

[Hidden]

Hi - I weigh everything and I saw a post on here from Cracker - they set up a spread sheet of stuff they had in the fridge freezer etc to make it easier

Also have you read this healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone]

I weigh everything. I don't use an app but I assume you have to tell it the quantities so I can't imagine how you can get round weighing the ingredients

[Hidden]

If you enjoy cooking, invest in the Hairy Dieters cookbooks. Hundreds of everyday meals, and some special “fake aways” , no weird ingredients, everything calorie counted for you. All usually for four people. There’s only two of us so I freeze a portion for when I’m in a hurry or don’t feel like cooking. But providing you follow the quantities correctly, it takes all the effort out of worrying if you have counted calories correctly. Well worth the investment.

[rachyjones 7lbs in reply to Hidden]

That's a good tip, thank you! I might invest in those books. I'm not much of a cook but we have eaten loads of take out over the years and I am slowly changing that. I simply have to or I fear I will lose the weight, get back to eating 'normally', as in take out, then back to my original weight. I am currently eating separately from hubby a lot as this works for calorie counting. As I work away a lot this is also normal for us but I want to stealthily improve his health as well!! Thanks

[lighterflyer in reply to Hidden]

Great idea. Thank you.

[ary88 Restart July 2023]

No easy way, weigh/check all the ingredients for cal value, before you start the recipe.