Food... I am having a hard time keeping up with my calorie intake... any suggestion?

[beth7899]

Food... I am having a hard time keeping up with my calorie intake... any suggestion?

[Dagmar]

Just to make sure, do you mean that you surpass your calorie intake?

It could be helpful to (slowly) change what you eat or maybe you just set your calorie intake too low, meaning your goal is too ambitious.

How does your diet look like now? Homecooked food or mainly ready made & processed?

[Ukase]

Keeping up with the calorie intake can be a chore. There are so many things to eat that are offered and no way to know how many calories are in them. At best, you can do a search online for that item, but even then, you're just guessing. The only way to properly keep track of your intake is to write down everything you eat, and then dilligently search for the numbers to log them. I believe - I don't have a smart phone myself - that if you have a smart phone, you can use certain apps to tell you how many calories is in a certain product at certain restaurants or grocery stores.

If you're cooking at home - I just tally up all the calories of all the ingredients and divide by how many servings I get. My servings are defined by how many calories I think I can handle in a meal or main course. For example, I made chicken chili - and it came out to a 20 cup batch. There's no easy way to figure out exactly how many calories are in a given cup, but since I'm eating all 20 cups over this next week, the numbers will eventually be correct. Yes, it is tedious to look up how many calories are in 7 ounces of celery. It's all tedious. But, I either do the work or eat too many calories.

[kimslamp]

i have a  digital food scale that has 500 pre program foods this helped me alot to no were i am at

[Stephenray]

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@beth7899 wrote:

Food... I am having a hard time keeping up with my calorie intake... any suggestion?

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Beth,

There are two different suggestions I have. The first is kind of obvious, trial and error. Start with your favorite foods and see how many calories are in it. After that toy around with serving size until you see what you can do. Don't worry much if you overeat or undereat at first, just keep making little adjustments until you get there.

The second option, which is my highly suggested and preferred method if you can handle it, is to eat multiple small meals per day. Let me clarify a little more of what those small meals might be.

*NOTE* The below is something from the top of my mind and not to be taken to heart. The nutrition planning would need to be a little better...it's just to give you an idea of how a day might go.

Breakfast: Egg whites and a slice whole grain toast. (Approx 200 calories)

Morning snack: Small (1oz) bag of mixed nuts (180 calories)

Lunch: 2oz grilled chicken breast, small salad (mainly greens and very little dressing), and an apple. (Approx 300 calories)

Afternoon snack: Granola bar (150-200 calories)

Dinner: Hamburger sandwich on whole grain bread/bun, a baked potato, and a small/medium fruit of your choice. (725 calories)

Evening snack/dessert: Yogurt with honey and bananas. (Not only healthy, also contains tryptophan that will help you sleep)  (340 calories)

That would bring you to 1,945 calories for the day. That is about what you burn in a day but, when you consider how your metobolism should increase and add in any exercise you do, you should end up with a calorie deficit each day. 

It's difficult to start on a diet like that but is very easy to adapt to after a couple days. Anyways, what do you think?

[Dagmar]

I'll also second using a digital weight scale to learn good portion control. My portions tend not to be huge but I use the weight when I'm extremely hungry and it stops me from loading my plate when my appetite seems bigger than my common sense.

What also helps is to reduce your meat intake, lower the carb intake and eat more fruit and veggies instead.

[SunsetRunner]

Beth, I've started using My Fitness App on my iPhone & iPad. It syncs with Fitbit. If that is too cumbersome, or if you do not have a smart phone, then the suggestions from the others here to write down everything that goes in your mouth is the best suggestion. It stops mindless eating.

[beth7899]

Thank you everyone for the great advise!!! I will work on this!! We are moving this Saturday so life has been kind of hectic... But I love my fitbit and I just orders the Aria scale.. so hopefully that along with really watching my calorie intake will help me get to my idea weight!! thanks again!!

[SLL3]

Get the MyFitnessPal app! You just scan everything or look it up and it shows you everything about what you eat. And you can link it to your fitbit! Cause fitbit app doesn't have as big of a good database.

[SLL3]

Food*

[PaleoBonnie]

Healthy fats......nuts, avacados, olive oil, coconut oil, salmon......

[badminton]

what isthe name of the scale?

Does it break foods into categories?

[jennyo20]

I am on my second round of a program called the 21 Day Fix - it really helps with portion control. Because of this program I will never have to count another calorie again in my life!! YAH!!! It comes with these fun colorful containers you use to measure out your portions and use them to store food for when you're out. It is so awesome!!