Problems with calorie counting

[firefly91]

So I'm finding it really hard to remember weigh all the ingredients I use in the food I make... All of the meals I make are from scratch and I usually use different quantities each time I make the meal as I do batch cooking plus my partner has bigger portions than me so its not so easy to divide it equally.

Please say there is a way of doing this without counting all calories... I'm currently keeping a food diary and counting calories I'm having in snacks and things. Do you this will be OK to carry on or should I really start counting calories of everything?

[fibronfedup]

I Calorie count everything, after a while you will be able to work out calories roughly by sight. If you use an app like myfitnesspal you can put in set meals, so when you have it again you dont have to work it out each time. Maybe if you use similar items each time have a section in your diary that tells you calories ie: 1/2 red onion = 20 cals, 1/2 red pepper = 22 cals that way when you are cooking you will be able to see what you have at a quick glance. But find what works for you, i find counting it all works best for me whereas others dont count calories they just keep a diary of what they are eating and watch portion control etc..

[DebsWilder]

Yes, apps are great for doing all the maths for you and making it much easier to eat healthy food. There's also Cook&Count app which is designed for cooking from scratch, lets you make your own digital recipe book, and doesn't have crowdsourced data which can be inaccurate.

[firefly91 in reply to DebsWilder]

Hey thanks for the replies yes I have heard of my fitness pal, I'm sure installed last time and wasn't fond but will give it a go again though... As for the cook& count is there a version for android I only see apple apps

[DebsWilder]

Android version on its way, there's a link on cookandcount.com to be notified. Keep up the home cooking. Did u see Truth about Sugar tv prog (it's on again today)

[firefly91 in reply to DebsWilder]

Ah thank you I shall use that and no I didn't I don't usually watch television what channel was it on and I'll catch up online?

I take it you do a lot of home cooking too? Have you got any favourite low calorie food? I've got myself the 5:2 cookbook not that I do that but has good ideas for very low calorie food

[DebsWilder in reply to firefly91]

Sorry, just seen your message. It was on BBC. The next one this week (thurs) is called The Truth About Calories. The basic message from both of them is cook from scratch - then you know what you're eating.

Yes, we do loads of home cooking. Low cal - I snack on carrots, celery, beetroot, radishes. And yesterday in the news there was something about if you eat cold rice, cooked and cooled, 12 hours later there can be as much as 60% fewer calories. I love rice salad, made with tomatoes, capers, olives, peppers. Tho don't go too low on the calories - we need them for energy! I love some cake or dark chocolate. Just keep it balanced. I do 10,000 steps a day (tho often it's not easy) and I manage to keep weight off.

Cookandcount is my app. I developed it after my son got type 1 diabetes - we found it really difficult to count carbohydrate (which you need to do to work out insulin injection doses) when cooking from scratch.

[Deb17totoGo]

My tips: what I've been doing is every time I've used the on-line calorie calculator I've made a note of the food and the calories in it on the back of the weekly record print-out to refer to throughout the week so I don't have to keep going on-line. I've started repeating meals so that I only have to calculate what the calories are once for a meal. I also just tot up day's calories at home just before evening meal to see what I have left for my evening meal, and because I seem to err on the side of caution when 'guessing' calories from memory when at work, sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised and have up to 700 calories left for evening meal. Maybe repeating meals/snacks etc. bit lazy/repetitive but it really seems to be helping! I don't think about food or the diet much at all during day. For example every morning I have the same thing, 40g cereal, 120 mls of milk, pot of tea with 60 mls of milk, g/mls measured first time then 'guessed' subsequent times = 280 calories, on target for breakfast! Also I know now in advance that an apple, a small orange and a medium banana and 2 coffees with milk (no sugar) is about 280 calories, my day snack quota, and these fruits are highly portable. Had a few times either for lunch or evening meal 2 slices of unbuttered wholemeal bread, 100gs cottage cheese, big heap of lettuce, a dozen cherry tomatoes and 10 carrot sticks which add up to approximately 420 calories. I've been losing 1-2kg (2.2-4.4lbs) per week on average with this lazy totting up method! Now, I have to start exercising, quite bad on this front! Good luck to everyone!

[firefly91]

Hey thank you for your reply. I your method a lot, I think I was just going a bit overboard with my calorie counting as i would weigh the fruit then weigh it again after and with meals two carrots can weigh different amounts each time so was always weighing things every time I made the meal haha.

Yes I think I will certainly do that thank you