After only 3 weeks, I've dropped an entire pound!!! Woo Hoo!!
Replies
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SimoneBee12 wrote: »For the bacon, I would have used the raw cals, and ignored the "removed fat" calories.
mayo is tricky ... i found out the hard way (via peanut butter) that it's better to weigh mayo than use tbsp units, because a) you're probably using a measuring spoon, b) you're probably getting a bit of a rounded spoonful than a flat spoonful.
Get a digital scan, zero it out with the spoon on it, weigh it with the mayo, and then you'll know how much you're really getting.
PS -- in my case, my 1 tbsp of peanut butter was closer to 2.5 ... that's a lot of extra cals. Mayo can pack quite a few cals in a small space as well.
This is totally off track, but I wanted to say, it's actually easier to put the jar on the scale, tare the scale so it's zero, and then take out what you need, the scale will then say -10g or whatever. That way you just dirty the knife instead of a measuring spoon too.
Actually it's much easier if you build your sandwich on a plate on the scale
Zeroing it before adding each ingredient
No need to be convoluted about it
Weigh bread ..log it ..take off one slice
Zero it
Spread butter ..log it
Zero it
Add bacon..log it
Zero it
Add tomato and lettuce ...log it
Zero it
Add mayo ..log it
Top with bread ...done0 -
SimoneBee12 wrote: »For the bacon, I would have used the raw cals, and ignored the "removed fat" calories.
mayo is tricky ... i found out the hard way (via peanut butter) that it's better to weigh mayo than use tbsp units, because a) you're probably using a measuring spoon, b) you're probably getting a bit of a rounded spoonful than a flat spoonful.
Get a digital scan, zero it out with the spoon on it, weigh it with the mayo, and then you'll know how much you're really getting.
PS -- in my case, my 1 tbsp of peanut butter was closer to 2.5 ... that's a lot of extra cals. Mayo can pack quite a few cals in a small space as well.
This is totally off track, but I wanted to say, it's actually easier to put the jar on the scale, tare the scale so it's zero, and then take out what you need, the scale will then say -10g or whatever. That way you just dirty the knife instead of a measuring spoon too.
Actually it's much easier if you build your sandwich on a plate on the scale
Zeroing it before adding each ingredient
No need to be convoluted about it
Weigh bread ..log it ..take off one slice
Zero it
Spread butter ..log it
Zero it
Add bacon..log it
Zero it
Add tomato and lettuce ...log it
Zero it
Add mayo ..log it
Top with bread ...done
I use to do that, but because of the size of my plate and the size of my scale, I could never see the actual display properly, so I do it with jars because they are so much smaller.0 -
SimoneBee12 wrote: »For the bacon, I would have used the raw cals, and ignored the "removed fat" calories.
mayo is tricky ... i found out the hard way (via peanut butter) that it's better to weigh mayo than use tbsp units, because a) you're probably using a measuring spoon, b) you're probably getting a bit of a rounded spoonful than a flat spoonful.
Get a digital scan, zero it out with the spoon on it, weigh it with the mayo, and then you'll know how much you're really getting.
PS -- in my case, my 1 tbsp of peanut butter was closer to 2.5 ... that's a lot of extra cals. Mayo can pack quite a few cals in a small space as well.
This is totally off track, but I wanted to say, it's actually easier to put the jar on the scale, tare the scale so it's zero, and then take out what you need, the scale will then say -10g or whatever. That way you just dirty the knife instead of a measuring spoon too.
Agreed, this is a better way to do it. Thanks.
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My scale is so old it doesn't do negatives
And I often have to squint under the plate
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I weigh as I'm building the sandwich or fixing my plate too. I bought a square plate which makes it easier to see the weights with the plate sitting on top. My scale won't weigh negatives, so if I'm going to weigh something from the jar, I just weigh the jar, take out what I want and subtract the ending number from the beginning number.0
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purelyprimitives wrote: »
That TDEE number seems high to me, based on other calculators I have used.
I think you're going to be disappointed with your results if you follow that one.
If you go back to page 2 of this thread, you'll see what numbers I got for you via a different calculator.
Regardless, the net is, set a target, weigh/measure/record meticulously, and based on results after 3-4 weeks, make adjustments.
I have a question then. For lunch today I had a BLT. The bread is easy because the calories/slice is listed on the label. I assume I can use this. The lettuce is fresh lettuce and I have no idea other than to take the default setting for lettuce. Same for 2 slices of tomato. I can measure 1 TBSP of mayo. The problem is the bacon. Raw, its 90 cals/piece. Cooked its ?? My wife bakes it in the oven on a corregated aluminum foil sheet which captures the melted fat and after she dabs it with a paper towel. So after its cooked I have no idea what the calories are.
How do I know how many calories I ate?
You can probably find the answers to your questions here:
This is the government website that everyone copies for food calorie and vitamin, nutrient and mineral counts.
Agricultural Research Service National Agricultural Library
Welcome to the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference
Start your search here.
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/
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My scale is so old it doesn't do negatives
And I often have to squint under the plate
Haha same same. Sometimes I get a torch and shine it under the plate, while becoming a contortionist in my kitchen!
I'm going to get one of those super duper scales where the number display pulls out.
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or you can put a wide can or something on the scale and then the plate on top of that to make more room to see. :-)0
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I've averaged my daily calories for the last 29 days to be 1250/day. Now, irrespective of whether this number is particularly accurate or not, it shows that eating this amount results in just maintaining my weight. Theoretically, I can set this number as my nominal TDEE and therefore, reducing this to around 1000 should result in weight-loss. My only concern now will be if there is a fine line between what's required to lose weight and maintaining a healthy diet.0
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Can you open your diary? Your theory is good, as in perhaps your 1250 is really 2050, so if you lowered to 1000 you'd really be eating 1640. But I hate to think you're NOT at least eating the 1640. Remind me, is the "1000" going to be "net" calories or total calories?0
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OK its open. The 1000 would be the total calories disregarding any activity.0
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purelyprimitives wrote: »OK its open. The 1000 would be the total calories disregarding any activity.
OP, I feel like this thread is going in circles. People keep talking about weighing your food and not using generic entries and you disregard that. It's fine -- that's your choice. But it's pretty clear that your results are being driven by your logging. You have "Hamburger 7 oz" as an entry. Okay, what type of meat? My store sells at least two different types of ground beef and they have different calorie contents. I also get the feeling that you didn't weigh the burger (although you may have). You have things like "2 pieces bacon." How much is that? ".5 cup tuna salad" -- is it made like my grandma makes it with a little bit of low fat mayo and lots of veggies or how my aunt makes it, more like a mayo dip with a bit of tuna in it? These things change the calorie count.
It's your logging. As much as you want to fight it, the issue seems pretty straightforward.
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janejellyroll wrote: »purelyprimitives wrote: »OK its open. The 1000 would be the total calories disregarding any activity.
OP, I feel like this thread is going in circles. People keep talking about weighing your food and not using generic entries and you disregard that. It's fine -- that's your choice. But it's pretty clear that your results are being driven by your logging. You have "Hamburger 7 oz" as an entry. Okay, what type of meat? My store sells at least two different types of ground beef and they have different calorie contents. I also get the feeling that you didn't weigh the burger (although you may have). You have things like "2 pieces bacon." How much is that? ".5 cup tuna salad" -- is it made like my grandma makes it with a little bit of low fat mayo and lots of veggies or how my aunt makes it, more like a mayo dip with a bit of tuna in it? These things change the calorie count.
It's your logging. As much as you want to fight it, the issue seems pretty straightforward.
I agree entirely with @janejellyroll. For example, instead of recording generic homemade chicken, weigh the raw chicken, weigh the breadcrumbs, measure the milk, note the egg, note any oil used for cooking. For the mayo, instead of "2 tbsp", weigh the amount of mayo in grams with a digital scale. Mayo packs a lot of calories in a small space, so accuracy helps here.
In addition to the generic entries, I am wondering about missed items. For example, you list home made fries. What about the cooking oil? For the popcorn, what about the oil?
As long as your entries remain generic, your true calories in will be inaccurate, and you'll be asking the same questions.
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Is it just dinner that's hard to weigh? I totally understand the hesitation of asking your wife to change anything she is doing with dinner. I get that. But outside of dinner, can you weigh things? Tomato slices at lunch? How many grams of mayo you're putting on your BLT? Can you weigh the bacon before you fry it?
I'm really racking my braintubes trying to think of a way to help out. And IF IT WERE ME in your shoes and I truly could not negotiate something different regarding dinner, I think I would keep doing my best to measure things and use portion control at dinner, but just assume dinner is 1000 calories. Just assume it. And then track the rest of my day to be 600-800 calories at most as accurately as I possibly could by weighing things. I don't know if you'll lose weight, but you'd at least be in control of a portion of your intake.0 -
Is it just dinner that's hard to weigh? I totally understand the hesitation of asking your wife to change anything she is doing with dinner. I get that. But outside of dinner, can you weigh things? Tomato slices at lunch? How many grams of mayo you're putting on your BLT? Can you weigh the bacon before you fry it?
I'm really racking my braintubes trying to think of a way to help out. And IF IT WERE ME in your shoes and I truly could not negotiate something different regarding dinner, I think I would keep doing my best to measure things and use portion control at dinner, but just assume dinner is 1000 calories. Just assume it. And then track the rest of my day to be 600-800 calories at most as accurately as I possibly could by weighing things. I don't know if you'll lose weight, but you'd at least be in control of a portion of your intake.
I've been here. I didn't ask my wife to do anything differently. I just worked with her the first few weeks, and I meticulously weighed everything before she started, and then she went on and cooked as normal. Then, once the food was done, if it was a casserole dish, I sized up servings (e.g. cut into equal sections) so I'd know what portion I had, or if it was individual bits, I sized/measured my servings again relative to the whole, so I could say I had 1/4 or 1/8 of all the ingredients. It worked well in that she got to cook as she wished, and I got to measure as I needed.
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And look at your results! Good job finding something that worked for your marriage and your healthIs it just dinner that's hard to weigh? I totally understand the hesitation of asking your wife to change anything she is doing with dinner. I get that. But outside of dinner, can you weigh things? Tomato slices at lunch? How many grams of mayo you're putting on your BLT? Can you weigh the bacon before you fry it?
I'm really racking my braintubes trying to think of a way to help out. And IF IT WERE ME in your shoes and I truly could not negotiate something different regarding dinner, I think I would keep doing my best to measure things and use portion control at dinner, but just assume dinner is 1000 calories. Just assume it. And then track the rest of my day to be 600-800 calories at most as accurately as I possibly could by weighing things. I don't know if you'll lose weight, but you'd at least be in control of a portion of your intake.
I've been here. I didn't ask my wife to do anything differently. I just worked with her the first few weeks, and I meticulously weighed everything before she started, and then she went on and cooked as normal. Then, once the food was done, if it was a casserole dish, I sized up servings (e.g. cut into equal sections) so I'd know what portion I had, or if it was individual bits, I sized/measured my servings again relative to the whole, so I could say I had 1/4 or 1/8 of all the ingredients. It worked well in that she got to cook as she wished, and I got to measure as I needed.
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I completely understand the weighing. The point is that an accurate food scale is not in our budget at the moment. Yes, I realize that they go for as little as $20 but we don't even have that at the moment. Times are tough for us.
This was the reason I was trying to approach it from the 'generic' standpoint. Eating less, quantity-wise (even without weighing) should mean less calories averaged over time. And, if this doesn't work maybe I'll ask for one from my family for Christmas. 0 -
purelyprimitives wrote: »I completely understand the weighing. The point is that an accurate food scale is not in our budget at the moment. Yes, I realize that they go for as little as $20 but we don't even have that at the moment. Times are tough for us.
This was the reason I was trying to approach it from the 'generic' standpoint. Eating less, quantity-wise (even without weighing) should mean less calories averaged over time. And, if this doesn't work maybe I'll ask for one from my family for Christmas.
In that case, all you can do is practice portion control, and get a rough idea of intake v burn.
Watch your portions; filling up with water and low-cal raw vegs helped me with that.
Best of luck, and hopefully that scale will be under your tree come December.
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So back in the days when phones were dumb, I followed the ADA diet (even though I wasn't diabetic). Maybe that would help you. Instead of calories and weight, it uses cups and portions and "exchanges." Maybe that will be more manageable for you and you'll find better luck. You can find books on exchanges in the library and in bookstores. Some foods even include the exchanges on their nutrition label.
glycemic.com/DiabeticExchange/The%20Diabetic%20Exchange%20List.pdf0 -
Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions!0
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purelyprimitives wrote: »I completely understand the weighing. The point is that an accurate food scale is not in our budget at the moment. Yes, I realize that they go for as little as $20 but we don't even have that at the moment. Times are tough for us.
This was the reason I was trying to approach it from the 'generic' standpoint. Eating less, quantity-wise (even without weighing) should mean less calories averaged over time. And, if this doesn't work maybe I'll ask for one from my family for Christmas.
Kind of feel like an *kitten* hat for insisting on the stupid scale. :laugh: Your strategies should help, and also it's possible that weight loss is just not being linear for you and you have a big drop in your near future
As for the scale, personally I'd post something in your local Craigslist. Somebody may be willing to get rid of theirs for free. Or even friends/family may be in the same boat
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I don't know. I am quickly becoming a believer in the 'set point' theory. Back on July 7th I was 233 and today (41 days later) I am also 233. Regardless of how much or little calories I eat, my body always seems to settle back to this weight. Either that, or I am eating the exact same calories every day! This would be quite a feat seeing as how I am not even weighing my food! 0
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purelyprimitives wrote: »I don't know. I am quickly becoming a believer in the 'set point' theory. Back on July 7th I was 233 and today (41 days later) I am also 233. Regardless of how much or little calories I eat, my body always seems to settle back to this weight. Either that, or I am eating the exact same calories every day! This would be quite a feat seeing as how I am not even weighing my food!
That's an excuse for people who don't want to do a diet change. Your body 'set point' is the one YOU set with your diet habits.0 -
purelyprimitives wrote: »I don't know. I am quickly becoming a believer in the 'set point' theory. Back on July 7th I was 233 and today (41 days later) I am also 233. Regardless of how much or little calories I eat, my body always seems to settle back to this weight. Either that, or I am eating the exact same calories every day! This would be quite a feat seeing as how I am not even weighing my food!
Sorry, but the only thing stuck at a "set point" is your mindset.
But if you'd like to believe that you are forever stuck at 233, that's your choice.
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OK I can take a hint. No one here is willing to believe that I am eating less calories than I ever have and still not losing weight. My apparently heretical opinion is not welcome. I get it. I won't be back.0
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purelyprimitives wrote: »OK I can take a hint. No one here is willing to believe that I am eating less calories than I ever have and still not losing weight. My apparently heretical opinion is not welcome. I get it. I won't be back.
That's fine
One thing I was actually going to add is that sometimes it's not the carefully logged food that is wrong, but the blow out meals/days that we choose not to log for whatever reason. "Cheat meals", Meals out, nights out drinking, celebratory cookouts with the fam, etc etc. We may not log it but our body does...
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Ok.....So I've just read this whole thread and there is one thing that is confusing me....
You're MALE and eats, or is trying to eat, around 1,200 (or there about) every day? Is that your actual goal?
That just seems quite low to me but maybe I missed something.0 -
kpeterson539 wrote: »Ok.....So I've just read this whole thread and there is one thing that is confusing me....
You're MALE and eats, or is trying to eat, around 1,200 (or there about) every day? Is that your actual goal?
That just seems quite low to me but maybe I missed something.
No one else has been too worried about this 1200 calorie goal because the OP isn't losing weight, so he must be eating above it by quite a bit, but yes, it's definitely low for a male and most females.0 -
SimoneBee12 wrote: »kpeterson539 wrote: »Ok.....So I've just read this whole thread and there is one thing that is confusing me....
You're MALE and eats, or is trying to eat, around 1,200 (or there about) every day? Is that your actual goal?
That just seems quite low to me but maybe I missed something.
No one else has been too worried about this 1200 calorie goal because the OP isn't losing weight, so he must be eating above it by quite a bit, but yes, it's definitely low for a male and most females.
He is estimating his input, not measuring properly, and believes he is only taking in 1200 cals a day, yet he weighs ~234 lbs right now. The numbers just don't add up.
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