So much math!

[BaileyC93]

Morning guys,

So I've realised the value of math in so many different aspects of life, including calorie-counting.

My total calories yesterday only came to 1023 so I thought I'd treat myself today with a bag of twirl bites, before I realised the full bag was almost 600kcal. Given that I thought I'd be good and follow the serving size; 25g. Simple enough right? Only issue is the bag is 109g. So I figured out exactly how many calories are in a quarter of a bag.

First I separated out the quarter of the 100g; 25g. Easy enough as the bag itself says 25g is 133kcal.

To figure out what 1g of kcal was, I divided the 133kcal by 25 and came to 5.32. Then I multiplied that by 9 and got 47.88. Viola! 9g of calories. But then I had to divide that by four, making it 11.97 (rounded up to 12). Add that to the 133kcal making 145.

Final result: 145kcal per quarter-bag of twirl bites.

Overcomplicated or what? I certainly prefer when they say how many calories per a certain number of the sweets/chocolates rather than grams!

Anyone else had overcomplicated fun with calorie-counting.

Update on my second day: lost 1lb since yesterday which I am very happy about. Probably due to water-weight but still good.

[Portlandprincess]

Love maths problems ...but the biggest problem for me would be to leave the remaining 3/4!....

[BaileyC93 in reply to Portlandprincess]

Haha I might have trouble with that later! Chocolate is so addictive. Worth noting though I only had to do this maths because I don't have any scales at work. I had to count out all of the pieces and found 44 in the bag. At least dividing that into quarters was easy!

[Penel]

Perhaps have a think about non-food treats! Less maths to do and better for you.

[Hidden]

Blimey hun, and did you really still have the will to eat after that? For future reference here's an easier way to calculate. Divide the per 100g by 100 and then simply multiply by however many grams you want. So if the bag had 109g, you just multiply it by 109.

Easy done the other way round too, if the given calories are for the total weight, just divide by that number then multiply by however many you want.

Eg. 600 kcals = 109g, so 5.5kcals =1g. If you want 1/4 of the bag just multiply the 5.5 by 27 ( or 28 if you would rather slightly over than under calculate) = 149kcals.

Even easier is just to divide the quantity in the pack by the total calories eg. 600kcals = 25 pieces = 24kcals each.

Love math, total geek. Was an accounts clerk many moons ago when it was all done by hand and your own brain, lol.

Congratulations on the 1lb off hun. Keep up the complicated math, does your brain the power of good, lol. 😊

[Hidden]

Yes concerned if the bag had a total of 580kcals for the 109g, then 1/4 bag would be 145. If you read what I wrote as an example of 600kcals for 109g, then obviously just dividing it by 4 would give 150kcals if EXACT. As I said I gave an EXAMPLE, the figure could be 100, 200 etc.. it is irrelevant, just tried to help with easy ( easier) calculation. Not always easy to split into 1/4s if for example there are 11 chocs, or 25 chips, etc...so sometimes it helps to work out how much each has and then multiply by however many you eat.

Perhaps I was a bit unclear that It had nothing to do with the bag of twirl bites, just to do with trying to calculate in general. A little pocket calculator is handy to have too ( most mobiles have a calculator on them in 'extras')

Glad you got some pleasure out of trying to prove me wrong though, I will delight you further and tell you I have been wrong many times in the past and will no doubt cockup in the future too. Have a good week. 😊

[Jenever]

Go to the top of the Maths Class Bailey,

I can suggest a very simple way of dealing with such dilemmas...don't eat twirl bites and the like. That may sound harsh but I found it so much easier to cut this type of thing out of my diet completely. Good luck.

[BaileyC93 in reply to Jenever]

No I appreciate that but psychologically diets that cut certain foods out just don't work for me. They make me irritable and angry, and I fail them every time. It's early days but this calorie-counting one seems to be working well for me. Filling in my calorie counter and looking up the calorie value of my food seems to actually become enjoyable at times! But calorie-counting can be a maddening affair to others, which is just further evidence that people are different and find that a diet that works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another.

[Hidden in reply to BaileyC93]

Spot on hun, spot on. 😊

[Hidden]

A lot of people use the eatwell plate method, if it works for them all for the good. We all have very differing ways and ideas as to what is considered a good way to keep our bodies healthy. We can back our reasons up with many pieces of documented info to either back it up or rubbish it. The main thing is to try our best in a way that can work for us, and if it doesn't work for us then it may just work for someone else. 😊

[fenbadger]

Sounds a bit like blackadder:

Blackadder: I have 5 beans. If I take away 3, how many do I have left?

Baldrick; Some beans

[BaileyC93 in reply to fenbadger]

Well he's not wrong!

[Hidden]

Personally, I do a lot of guesstimating, rounding up and rounding down, count all apples as 47cals whether large or small, a punnet of strawberries always has 4 portions of 30cals, even though punnets come in different sizes. It seems to be working well for me. Also myfitnesspal takes a lot of the maths out of it. Look up cadbury's twirl bites, I'm sure it's on there, the cals for the whole bag, then for portion size just put 0.25

(of course, I don't actually recommend twirl bites myself, I prefer Tesco ecuadorian dark chocolate now, but you can't expect your taste buds to adapt overnight!)

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I tend to round up or down most of the time myself Ruth, don't know if it's because I have lots of weight to lose but it works for me too. If a time comes when it isn't working I will re-evaluate. Swings and roundabouts really I think, if something is average 47 kcals i'll round up to 50kcals, if something averages 42 kcals, i'll round down to 40kcals. I aim for around 1500kcals a day, sometimes I hit it, sometimes I don't, the odd day i'm over. I am enjoying my food, that's the main thing, adapting recipes, inventing new ones, love it, I certainly won't get hung up on going over 100kcals in a day every now and then. It works for me. 😊

[skinnylizzie]

Its easier not to eat them , have now given away the lindt choc balls after discovering they had 79 calories each!! When I got home today on doorstep was a tin of belgium choc biscuits and some thornton cherry liquers, very nice thought but everyone is out to jeopardize my efforts!