Please explain: HOW do you make it fit your calories?

CrossfitOCRunner

I would get rid of the calorie dense junk. its not filling and will leave you nutritionally and physically starving. limit the crap to one day per week where you aren't making yourself sick but allow yourself to cheat. stay strict, lean and eat whole foods the other 6 days.

Lizzy622

I buy quite a bit of quick frozen things that I can take out a single or double portion depending on the day. You can freeze most dough in small portions so you only bake what you will eat. You can also freeze left over wine in ice cube trays for use in sauces. I also do much of my indulging outside my house. I can have one glass of wine at a restaurant or one slice of pie at the diner and not worry about a whole bottle or pie.

dutchandkiwi

There is just the two of us and I loath throwing food away.
Bread and anything like that - freeze and thaw as needed. Really the freezer is my friend. But also buying smaller portion sizes of anyhting for instance chips and dip I buy small packs (30g max) and then share. Dips can also be used as a sauce base or frozen or even a sandwich topping.

I plan lots of things in advance. Even the special things and because of that our waste is actally quite low as compared to many other households.

hamstermann

I hate throwing away food too - it's expensive. But when it comes down to it, I try to remind myself that it's better to waste the food than it is to waist the food.

WWnot

Wrt leftover wine (yes, i know... ) and depending on how much is left, I'll either pour it into a 1c freezer container or I'll make "ice cubes" with it. And then it's ready for cooking. No, i have never defrosted it to drink; I'd just open a new bottle for that!

Francl27

My kids and husband will finish most packaged things, so it helps. If they don't like it and it only comes in a big package, I just don't buy it.

I love baking too but a lot of things my kids won't eat, and freezer space is limited, and IMO most things are just not as good after being frozen, so apart from bread (that freezes well), I just don't bake much anymore, so if I want something that badly, I'll go to a good bakery and buy a single serving. Homemade cinnamon rolls disappear pretty fast though!

ashleyfreeman17

I try my best to not bring it into the house. That way when I want a donut or something, I have to go out for it. I find this sometimes makes me want it less because I have to go out and it isn't there to mindlessly eat. And two it makes it a treat. I have worked really hard to not have these things in my regular diet and want to keep it that way. Having a treat makes it easier to enjoy and then move on and stay on track. Another thing is that I also try to make my own healthier version. For example is granola bars. They are great for my sons lunch but store bought ones are so full of junk and he has a nut allergy so the healthy ones aren't an option. So I make them, wrap them individually and put them in the freezer. That way they aren't easily accessible but if I do want something sweet I have a healthier version there too!

DearestWinter

I'm a single person with daily calories of about 1,400 so this is something I've dealt with regularly although I'm still learning tricks!

Over the course of the week I'll have less of a variety of things because I'll have leftovers more often. I also cook smaller portions if the recipe isn't going to freeze well. I don't end up wasting much food. My biggest problem is buying produce that I never eat! (I'm working on this next.)

Potato chips & dip - Chips keep quite a while if you seal the bag or transfer to another airtight container. (I don't eat a lot of chips but if I clip a bag shut then it stays fresh for months.) Dip can be refrigerated. This may be a situation where my go-to snack for that week is chips & dip so I can eat the dip before it spoils.

Cinnamon Rolls (assuming these are already baked, otherwise see biscuits below) - Freeze the ones you're not going to eat in the next two days. Pull one or two out the day before you plan on eating them. Alternatively, defrost in the microwave.

Glass of wine - I don't drink wine that often but if I commit to opening a bottle then I use a vacuum seal stopper and drink it over the course of a week. I can't imagine keeping a bottle around for months!? If you drink wine that rarely consider a boxed wine! (Even the worst boxed wines MUST taste better than a bottle that's been open for weeks!)

Cake/Pie - Both refrigerate well. Cakes usually freeze really well. This is another food where if I have pie then I'll likely eat a piece of pie every day that week and the pie will be consumed. I'll probably cut the cake into chunks (each the size of 2-3 pieces) and freeze those chunks for later thawing/eating.

Bread - Freezes really well. I always make two loaves at a time. I cut one loaf into thirds then freeze 2/3s of the first loaf and the entire second loaf. This also works with grocery store bread. I'll freeze the entire loaf and when I want to use a slice or two then I'll pull those out and toast them. I pretty much only use bread for toast or toasted sandwiches but if I needed soft bread I'd pull the bread I need out the night before and leave it on the counter in a ziplock bag.

Other things I eat over time:

Homemade meals - if it will freeze (soups and some main dishes freeze well) then I'll freeze whatever I don't plan on eating in the next few days. For example, I made a pumpkin Alfredo sauce two weeks ago. After I let the sauce cool in the fridge I spooned individual portions into ziplock bags and put them on a baking sheet to freeze flat. Once they had frozen I took them off the baking sheet and just stashed them where they fit best in the freezer. Since then when I want to use it I'll cook my pasta (about a minute short), drain it, then put the frozen block of (pre-portioned) sauce into the pan and heat it along with the cooked pasta until it's hot. It's extremely easy. Also since I weighed them as I portioned them I know exactly how many grams to log.

Cookies - I make a batch or two and then I drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet or two (tightly packed) and throw it into the freezer. The next day the balls are frozen and I transfer them into ziplock bags. When I want cookies then I pull however many balls of dough I want out of the freezer and drop it onto the cookie sheet and pop it into the oven for fresh cookies.

Scones/Muffins/Etc - I bake these and then freeze what I don't plan on eating immediately. Pull them out the thaw in advance or defrost in the microwave.

Biscuits (in cans) - I'll open it and bake one or two biscuits, then I'll separate the pieces, freeze the biscuit dough pieces on a cookie sheet, and then transfer to a ziplock bag to keep in the freezer. When I want a biscuit I can put the frozen dough on the cookie sheet and bake it without thawing. Always freeze soft things (anything runny, doughy or easily squished) flat on a cookie sheet and once it's frozen transfer to ziplock bags.

When it comes to freezing things it is also a good idea to portion it out into sizes you know you'll be using over the course of two days. E.g., freezing the cake into a chunk that's equivalent to 2-3 pieces lets me thaw the cake and then eat a piece a day for a few days. The only thing I don't bother doing this with is banana bread and that's because I can cut it when it's straight out of the freezer and I like eating it that way.

All of this portioning and freezing may seem like a lot of work but it cuts down on future cooking/baking time drastically. I love having a well stocked freezer!

Penthesilea514

I just wanted to say for the wine lovers out there I highly recommend Vacu Vin (http://www.amazon.com/Vacu-Vin-Vacuum-Bottle-Stoppers/dp/B000GA3KCE/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1459184681&sr=1-1&keywords=vacu+vin).

Really helps keep my (bottle) wine fresh for so much longer without change in quality. Really worth it for $10.

TheUntamedMainer

Freeze it.
Bread is a daily thing for me, even when I'm losing weight.
It is very easy to eat it every day and maintain your calories.
As for the snack/desserts I vote buying small portioned ones.
To begin with they cost less. Plus none will go to waste.

minizebu

Most of the comments have been related to portioning and preserving the freshness of the remainder of a package, or buying smaller sizes/individual portions.

One thing that hasn't been addressed is the general composition of the diet.

My diet now is different than it once was. I eat fewer carbohydrates overall and more protein overall than I used to and this has changed my overall satiation with the food that I do eat.

The old Doritos ads (I think? Or maybe it was Lays potato chips?) said "You can't eat just one" and that was very true for me before. But now, I actually can eat just one or just one portion (28g), which at one point seemed like a minuscule amount to me. I don't feel cravings to eat more than the portion that I measure out.

I have not read every entry, so I don't know if someone has mentioned this already: If I do want to have a particular treat (like hot cross buns the other day on Good Friday), then I will sometimes pre-log the treat at the beginning of the day (even if I'm not eating it until later on in the day). Having the treat pre-logged then allows me to work the rest of my daily calories around it. I may have to eat a bit less avocado or skip my dark chocolate or have a smaller portion of XYZ if I want to fit the treat in.

Hope this helps!

amusedmonkey

I usually look for single serving items. They sell single serving chips, and single serving dip packets. For pies, we have 4 people in the house, so it's guaranteed to be eaten.

For bread, we usually eat pita bread so home baked regular loaf kind bread does go stale if we don't do something about it because we don't eat a lot of it. In this case, we usually have the loaf around for a couple of days, then cut it into slices, put little wax paper squares between them so they don't stick and freeze. Then whenever you feel like having a slice, just take one out and let it thaw.

Sometimes when one or two people want pizza and the rest don't we buy a personal pizza and split it.

We are usually not huge wine drinkers, so we only buy it on holidays and it's all gone that during the holiday, so I can't help you with that.

If I'm making a dessert for myself that is lower in calories (my family doesn't care much for lower calorie desserts) I only make 3-4 servings if possible which I can go through before they go stale. Some recipes can even be made into one serving.

For things like pelmeni and similar dough creations, we make them and freeze them raw in individual serving bags and whoever wants some they just take out a bag and throw the content into boiling water.

heatherwartanyan

I don't eat that kind of crap. Sorry. I get my calories from nutrient dense foods. I eat healthy fats. And get full fast. Besides your body better uses whole food calories for energy then things that are overly processed that can get turned to sugar and fat.

minizebu

One more thing: You can always pawn extra food off on someone else.

I know you said that there are just two of you in the household, but if one or both of you are still working, then take the extra food to the break room at work. It will disappear within the hour or by the end of the day, I'm sure.

If you aren't working outside the home, if you don't want to freeze or otherwise preserve the food, if you don't want it to go to waste, and if you don't feel weird about it (a LOT of ifs!), then you could take extras to a neighbor (it depends on how friendly you are with your neighbors), or you could give them to a friend/relative, or you could dump the extras in the kitchen at your place of worship (if you have one), or you could give the food to a homeless person.

ASKyle

When I hear "make it fit into your calories", I'm not thinking of how to fit in a package of food, but rather how to make the number of calories of the food fit into your daily goal.

For instance, knowing I'm going out for dinner, so I eat less for breakfast and lunch. Or bank calories throughout the week.

MelissaPhippsFeagins

lorrpb wrote: »

Lots of people say you can eat any food you want as long as it fits within your calorie goal. I understand the concept but How, in reality, do you do this? Please be specific. For example:

Potato chips & dip. If you eat 10 chips and a spoonful of dip, do you throw out the rest?

A package of cinnamon rolls. You have one or split one, do you let the rest go to waste? Even if I planned one per day, which I don't necessarily want to do, they would go stale first.

A glass of wine at home-do you keep the unused portion of the bottle on hand for weeks or months, then throw it out when it gets too old?

A cake or pie-you have one small piece that you want, then throw out the rest?
A loaf of homemade bread, you have one or two slices then the rest goes stale?

There are only two of us & we're both watching what and how much we eat, so its not like I would just nibble off a stash that someone else will eat up.

Helpful suggestions only, please. No sarcasm and no attacks. Thx.

Potato chips, buy an individual package and eat it. 150 cal of my 400-450 lunch. Not every day, but when I really want it.

Cinnamon rolls: I eat one (or half) and freeze the rest until I want it again.

Wine: No idea. I am not a wine drinker. My husband and i have had the same six pack of hard cider in the fridge since November. I think we've each had one.

Cake or pie: Eat a piece and freeze the rest or bring it to work and give it away. Often my cakes get made into cupcakes now because the freezer is my friend and it's easier to stop at one cupcake.

Pizza: Half of a GF bacon and pineapple pizza is 450 calories from Domonos or Pie Five. I can eat that and a salad and have the other half for lunch the next day.

Cheeseburger: 93/7 beef, diced onions, red peeper flakes, quality cheese and no bun. Lots of things I used to eat on or with bread, I just skip the bread. It's the other stuff I really want to taste.


Good quality freezer bags and a Sharpie can be your best friend.

vikinglander

My recommendation is if you know anyone who opens a bottle of wine has any left over, un-friend them immediately...

_lyndseybrooke_

So...if you're NOT fitting it into your calories and just eating as you would like to, would you be eating the entire thing of cinnamon rolls and the whole cake? Probably not. Either other people help you eat it or you eat it over the course of several days until it's either gone or no longer good depending on how long it will keep.

I'm an obsessive pre-logger and I hate wasting food, so if I'm going to fit something fun into my macros, I'll make sure I have it pre-logged the following days as well so I don't end up buying something just to throw most of it away. If I can't fit it in over several days, I freeze it. Easy peasy.

jkal1979

Most of the things that you mentioned I will just buy individual servings of that item. I can get individual cookies, two slices of cheesecake, or a cupcake instead of an entire cake from the bakery. They also have smaller cakes but since it's just me the items I mentioned are more than enough. I don't drink wine very often but when I want a glass I will get the small 187 ml (about 6 oz) bottles.

janejellyroll

heatherwartanyan wrote: »

I don't eat that kind of crap. Sorry. I get my calories from nutrient dense foods. I eat healthy fats. And get full fast. Besides your body better uses whole food calories for energy then things that are overly processed that can get turned to sugar and fat.

Unless you're eating more than you burn off, your body isn't going to turn anything you eat into fat.

And even if you eat a nutrient-dense and whole foods diet, you can still chime in with how you fit calorie-dense foods into your plan and account for potential spoilage. Nutrient-dense doesn't equal low calorie.