Tracking calories at restaurants
lethalxminx
Posts: 9 Member
Hi all! First time poster. I’ve finally come to the end of myself and I’m desperate for help. I’m so lost on nutrition that I don’t even know where to begin. But most important thing first.... restaurants. How do you track your calories/macros at restaurants?? Sure, I know that some of the bigger chains will have their calorie counts (some of them will have nutrition facts), but I mean the smaller, local places. I have no idea how many calories are in that chocolate torte, or in a burger, or the pancakes. Some of them have hundreds of calories in difference if I try to go into MFP and select a food that’s similar.
Additionally, I know that a trained eye can see what a cup of rice, or a cup of veggies on a plate looks like. But to an untrained eye, how do you measure your side dishes?
And a third question, how did you guys find out what diet food works for you? Friends say that if I don’t look forward to my diet, I’m not going to eat it, but that’s the thing... I haven’t found anything! Everything is just “healthy” and none of it is what I look forward to. I’m always on the go, and the thought of 5-7 day old chicken from meal prep Sunday’s absolutely kill me.
Please help
Additionally, I know that a trained eye can see what a cup of rice, or a cup of veggies on a plate looks like. But to an untrained eye, how do you measure your side dishes?
And a third question, how did you guys find out what diet food works for you? Friends say that if I don’t look forward to my diet, I’m not going to eat it, but that’s the thing... I haven’t found anything! Everything is just “healthy” and none of it is what I look forward to. I’m always on the go, and the thought of 5-7 day old chicken from meal prep Sunday’s absolutely kill me.
Please help
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Replies
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Estimate. The meaty part of your palm is about as big as a deck of cards. A piece of meat that size is 4 oz.
A dessert is going to be about 50% fat and 50% carb. If it appears to be 4 oz in the bowl, that's 56 grams of fat and 56 grams of carb. The math is about 224 calories from carb and about 504 calories from fat. So that torte is about 778 calories if it is about 4 oz. The burger: 250 calories for the bun, then if it has avocado add another 100. The meat and other vegetables in there are maybe another 150 calories. Cheese is another 100.
A pound of steamed broccoli is less than 100. A serving of steamed veggies, which you can usually find on a menu, is under 50.
Pancakes are a big hunk of bread, so about 150 each. It's the syrup that jacks up the calories there.
Just do a little bit of research before your road trip and have your battle plan ready.9 -
You don't have to eat healthy to lose weight, you just need to have a calorie deficit. Decide what foods you do like and you would look forward, and then work out a way of incorporating them into your diet which will still leave a calorie deficit.
Lol, I regularly have chocolate, and other supposedly bad things but I'm still losing weight because I'm at a calorie deficit10 -
When in doubt, go simple at restaurants. I'm not going to choose a very specific, 5 ingredients and over dish when eating out because I have no idea how to identify and estimate the correct amounts of base ingredients. Found out that any kind of meat + a veggie side works best. Further than that, you can always ask what's in the food, and you can also usually opt for small modifications of what you're asking. Most restaurants here have the amount in grams listed for every dish so my way of going is to estimate based on that, eg. 250g chicken gorgonzola = 200g chicken breast grilled + 40g gorgonzola + 40g cream (sauce loses water during cooking... But going over the grams is just me making sure that I don't log lower)3
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lethalxminx wrote: »Hi all! First time poster. I’ve finally come to the end of myself and I’m desperate for help. I’m so lost on nutrition that I don’t even know where to begin. But most important thing first.... restaurants. How do you track your calories/macros at restaurants?? Sure, I know that some of the bigger chains will have their calorie counts (some of them will have nutrition facts), but I mean the smaller, local places. I have no idea how many calories are in that chocolate torte, or in a burger, or the pancakes. Some of them have hundreds of calories in difference if I try to go into MFP and select a food that’s similar.
Additionally, I know that a trained eye can see what a cup of rice, or a cup of veggies on a plate looks like. But to an untrained eye, how do you measure your side dishes?
And a third question, how did you guys find out what diet food works for you? Friends say that if I don’t look forward to my diet, I’m not going to eat it, but that’s the thing... I haven’t found anything! Everything is just “healthy” and none of it is what I look forward to. I’m always on the go, and the thought of 5-7 day old chicken from meal prep Sunday’s absolutely kill me.
Please help
If going to a restaurant is one off thing, then I wouldn't even worry about it. If it's a regular thing and it's causing you not to lose weight, what I do is I just eat only high protein foods with little carbs and little fats (example: Whey Protein shake, egg whites, chicken, tuna....) during the day so that I have enough room for the restaurant meal. The other option is cutting out the calories throughout the week in order to fit that one day food binge or simply make good selection at the restaurant (example: Choose always grilled chicken over crispy. Pick balsamic vinegar salads over caesar salad). That's not my favorite option, but I know some will eat less calories throughout the week so that they can eat big for that one day as long they still remain in a caloric deficit on average throughout the week. I don't like that option because women who eat less than 1500 calories would have to cut down the calories even more throughout the week. For men, it's easier since we have a higher metabolism in general.1 -
You don't have to eat healthy to lose weight, you just need to have a calorie deficit. Decide what foods you do like and you would look forward, and then work out a way of incorporating them into your diet which will still leave a calorie deficit.
Lol, I regularly have chocolate, and other supposedly bad things but I'm still losing weight because I'm at a calorie deficit
See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.12 -
If going to a restaurant is one off thing, then I wouldn't even worry about it. If it's a regular thing and it's causing you not to lose weight, what I do is I just eat only high protein foods with little carbs and little fats (example: Whey Protein shake, egg whites, chicken, tuna....) during the day so that I have enough room for the restaurant meal. The other option is cutting out the calories throughout the week in order to fit that one day food binge or simply make good selection at the restaurant (example: Choose always grilled chicken over crispy. Pick balsamic vinegar salads over caesar salad). That's not my favorite option, but I know some will eat less calories throughout the week so that they can eat big for that one day as long they still remain in a caloric deficit on average throughout the week. I don't like that option because women who eat less than 1500 calories would have to cut down the calories even more throughout the week. For men, it's easier since we have a higher metabolism in general.[/quote]
It’s unfortunate, but I do go out quite often. I’m hardly ever home enough to make myself anything, so going out to eat has been an every day (or most of the week) thing. It’s also tough when your significant other isn’t quite on board with what you’re eating, and will opt for Wendy’s instead (which sounds so much better when I’m exhausted and cooking is the last thing I want to do).
In the interest of being healthy, I chose to do a spinach and feta omelet (3 eggs), and it has 23g of fat (according to MFP, I have no idea ho accurate it actually is...). I just can’t understand why or even how others have such an easy time, and despite all my fitness and health knowledge, seem to climb the scale at an alarming rate. It’s so frustrating.1 -
When in doubt, go simple at restaurants. I'm not going to choose a very specific, 5 ingredients and over dish when eating out because I have no idea how to identify and estimate the correct amounts of base ingredients. Found out that any kind of meat + a veggie side works best. Further than that, you can always ask what's in the food, and you can also usually opt for small modifications of what you're asking. Most restaurants here have the amount in grams listed for every dish so my way of going is to estimate based on that, eg. 250g chicken gorgonzola = 200g chicken breast grilled + 40g gorgonzola + 40g cream (sauce loses water during cooking... But going over the grams is just me making sure that I don't log lower)
Which I’ve done! But even that 14oz steak with a side of mash potatoes is so high in calories. How on god’s green earth do people survive on the 1200 calories that MFP assigns to them (based on goals)?? Even the healthiest of filling and nutrient food (with meat) is 300 calories at least.
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »Estimate. The meaty part of your palm is about as big as a deck of cards. A piece of meat that size is 4 oz.
A dessert is going to be about 50% fat and 50% carb. If it appears to be 4 oz in the bowl, that's 56 grams of fat and 56 grams of carb. The math is about 224 calories from carb and about 504 calories from fat. So that torte is about 778 calories if it is about 4 oz. The burger: 250 calories for the bun, then if it has avocado add another 100. The meat and other vegetables in there are maybe another 150 calories. Cheese is another 100.
A pound of steamed broccoli is less than 100. A serving of steamed veggies, which you can usually find on a menu, is under 50.
Pancakes are a big hunk of bread, so about 150 each. It's the syrup that jacks up the calories there.
Just do a little bit of research before your road trip and have your battle plan ready.
Dang! How do you know how many calories are in that 4oz dessert? I get that it’s makeup is 50/50 in carbs and fats, but where do you get that number for dessert?
I know it’s much better to have lots of fruits and veggies, but it’s not satisfying or filling at all. I don’t know how people stay full on such diets. I’m also rather picky when it comes to veggies... I like corn, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and white potatoes. I despise peppers of all kinds, cucumbers, tomatoes, and honestly, practically all else.1 -
lethalxminx wrote: »
See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.
Well, your research is faulty. It's all about CICO as far as losing weight goes. If you take in fewer calories than your body burns, you will lose weight. If you take in more, you will gain weight. You can't avoid physics. Eating crap will make you feel lousy and result in poor health, though.3 -
lethalxminx wrote: »You don't have to eat healthy to lose weight, you just need to have a calorie deficit. Decide what foods you do like and you would look forward, and then work out a way of incorporating them into your diet which will still leave a calorie deficit.
Lol, I regularly have chocolate, and other supposedly bad things but I'm still losing weight because I'm at a calorie deficit
See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.
You need to understand that calories are simply a unit of measurement of energy. Nothing more, nothing less - each calorie is identical.
Your body doesn't make any moral judgements about what you eat - it just turns everything into puke and uses the nutrition and calories available. Yes of course you need an overall healthy diet but calorie balance drives weight management.
It's a false dichotomy that a diet is either all "healthy" or all cookies. Look at the sum of the parts, not the individual parts.
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So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight.
Let's take this one phrase and "run with it" - see what I did there?
You have no doubt seen newsreel of the poor souls that emerge from concentration camps as walking bags of bones - they didn't have a healthy diet. They had a huge caloric deficit from being underfed and overworked.
So why would you at a moderate caloric deficit NOT lose weight? Where is that missing energy actually coming come if not your own body's reserves?
Less extreme example:
I cycle long distance events. I could fuel them solely on carb gels (glucose/fructose mix).
Eating at a rate of 90g an hour (roughly the maximum rate someone exercising hard can absorb) would give me 360 cals an hour calories in.
But my calories out are more like 600 cals/hour. That energy deficit has to come from my own energy reserves (mixture of glycogen and fat).
Virtually no nutrition in those gels apart from the energy yielded but they can't cancel out anything (everything!) else in my diet.2 -
It’s unfortunate, but I do go out quite often. I’m hardly ever home enough to make myself anything, so going out to eat has been an every day (or most of the week) thing. It’s also tough when your significant other isn’t quite on board with what you’re eating, and will opt for Wendy’s instead (which sounds so much better when I’m exhausted and cooking is the last thing I want to do).
In the interest of being healthy, I chose to do a spinach and feta omelet (3 eggs), and it has 23g of fat (according to MFP, I have no idea ho accurate it actually is...). I just can’t understand why or even how others have such an easy time, and despite all my fitness and health knowledge, seem to climb the scale at an alarming rate. It’s so frustrating.
In life you have choices to make. If you go eat out often and wonder why you can't lose weight, that's because of the choices you've made...and it's not because you eat healthy all the time that you are guaranteed weight loss, it doesn't work that way. As a user on mfp above me said, it's all about how much calories you eat vs how much you burn. If you burn 1500 calories per day, well if you eat above 1500 calories even if it's an only veggie diet, you will still gain weight. If you eat less than 1500 calories even if your diet is just donuts, you will lose weight. The food doesn't matter when it comes to body composition, it only matters for health reasons (ex: lack of fiber will give you a good chance of constipation, lack of vitamins and minerals means you may get sick often, etc....). Ideally you want to track and weigh your food, that will give you an accurate way of losing weight although you can still get away with not tracking, but usually people with tracking experience usually are able to do that, in your case, you are nowhere near that level yet.
By the way, just to prove that a calorie is a calorie, I was able to lose 20 lbs without doing any cardio, eating carbs (which some people compare it to the devil when it comes to food) and having fast food once in a while. How is it possible considering I ate at fast food chains like Mcdonald's for example? Through calories that is...and my diet didn't consist of just Mcdonald's, I also made sure I had my fruits and veggies, I made sure my fiber was high and I also made sure I hit my minimum protein (I am a lifter). Once my bases were covered, then if I was able to fit a junk food, I would. Your body doesn't give you an award for eating healthy, it is not healthy food detector.7 -
lethalxminx wrote: »See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.
You need to do better research; you seem to have got yourself quite confused!
You’re conflating two different things here: weight loss and nutrition. In terms of weight loss, a calorie really is a calorie, and if all you ate was one cookie a day, you would lose weight (how could you not?!). You’ll lose weight eating cookies, if the calories are under your TDEE; you’ll gain weight eating salad, if the calories you get from it are over your TDEE. The nutrient makeup of those calories is entirely irrelevant from a weight perspective.
Where nutrition comes in is in whether your body is healthy while it’s losing/gaining weight. Entirely aside from the calories, are you getting the macronutrients, vitamins and minerals that your body needs? If you are, then you’re not going to do any harm eating the odd cookie.
The reason you can’t outrun a bad diet is that a) if you’re not getting the nutrients you need, then exercise won’t fix that and b) exercise burns way fewer calories than people tend to assume. What it absolutely does not mean is that exercise somehow doesn’t burn off the calories from cookies.
I’ve lost over 14 stone without giving up chocolate, cheese or anything else I really love. That is how to do weight loss. Giving up cookies and making yourself eat ‘diet food’ you don’t like is just setting yourself up to fail hard.11 -
lethalxminx wrote: »When in doubt, go simple at restaurants. I'm not going to choose a very specific, 5 ingredients and over dish when eating out because I have no idea how to identify and estimate the correct amounts of base ingredients. Found out that any kind of meat + a veggie side works best. Further than that, you can always ask what's in the food, and you can also usually opt for small modifications of what you're asking. Most restaurants here have the amount in grams listed for every dish so my way of going is to estimate based on that, eg. 250g chicken gorgonzola = 200g chicken breast grilled + 40g gorgonzola + 40g cream (sauce loses water during cooking... But going over the grams is just me making sure that I don't log lower)
Which I’ve done! But even that 14oz steak with a side of mash potatoes is so high in calories. How on god’s green earth do people survive on the 1200 calories that MFP assigns to them (based on goals)?? Even the healthiest of filling and nutrient food (with meat) is 300 calories at least.
I am assigned about 1270 calls a day. How I make it work for myself is that I workout on most days which gives me excercise calories. I always eat my target 1270 and at least 50% to 100% of my excercise calories.
Some times I go over my calories for the day, I dont sweat it usually. I just log my food intake and excercise and move on from there.
On days I cannot work out, I divide my target by 3 and then I try to eat three meals of that many calories. I choose foods that keep me fullest for longer on those days.
If I am too hungry to keep to those smaller meal targets, I go ahead and add a little more food (such as a piece of fruit, or some veggies, or even a little extra protein foods, etc). Again I track any extra food if I need to eat a bit more.
I am not saying my strategy will work for you, but perhaps it could be worth a try.
Some people have eating disorders for instance, and what I do on my lower calorie days that works for myself, might not work for them at all.
Just keep in mind though that it might seem some folks have an easy time losing weight, may be a false impression.
There usually is a lot of work behind the scenes with each successful "dieter" and/or "athlete": such as logging food accurately, planning out what to eat, buying the foods that fit their plans best, and for many also doing excercise activity on a regular basis.
In the end you have to find what things work for you to create enough of a calorie deficit each day to lose weight at a safe pace.2 -
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lethalxminx wrote: »When in doubt, go simple at restaurants. I'm not going to choose a very specific, 5 ingredients and over dish when eating out because I have no idea how to identify and estimate the correct amounts of base ingredients. Found out that any kind of meat + a veggie side works best. Further than that, you can always ask what's in the food, and you can also usually opt for small modifications of what you're asking. Most restaurants here have the amount in grams listed for every dish so my way of going is to estimate based on that, eg. 250g chicken gorgonzola = 200g chicken breast grilled + 40g gorgonzola + 40g cream (sauce loses water during cooking... But going over the grams is just me making sure that I don't log lower)
Which I’ve done! But even that 14oz steak with a side of mash potatoes is so high in calories. How on god’s green earth do people survive on the 1200 calories that MFP assigns to them (based on goals)?? Even the healthiest of filling and nutrient food (with meat) is 300 calories at least.
The only restaurant I can eat at and that fits in my calorie allotment in deficit, is Panera or a fast food restaurant that lists calories. Otherwise, at a "real restaurant" I have to consider it a cheat meal, because at the least it will be 800 calories (some kind of salad with dressing, bread or breakfast) or 1000 plus, if it's an actual entree. I'm not one of these people who can go and eat half the entree.
I used to eat a lot of take-out and at restaurants because my previous job left me little time to cook. I now work part-time and closer, so I am able to prepare food at home. I hate leftovers so I will only eat food from the night before. After that it is too late! I am able to cook all my meals except for a few lunches, and that is the only time I batch cook and put those in the freezer to take with me and heat up in the microwave at work. I have tried eating sandwiches or other buying out and I didn't lose as much as cooking my lunch myself (probably since I couldn't really estimate how many calories were in that sandwich) and it is more expensive.
I do get meal recipe delivery (Like Blue Apron, Sunbasket, etc.) from time to time when I'm busy. I'll also order my groceries delivered if I don't have time to shop. I simplified recipes that I need to cook daily--just a protein, veg and starch that can easily be prepared in 30 minutes (or heated up from the night before).1 -
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lethalxminx wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »Estimate. The meaty part of your palm is about as big as a deck of cards. A piece of meat that size is 4 oz.
A dessert is going to be about 50% fat and 50% carb. If it appears to be 4 oz in the bowl, that's 56 grams of fat and 56 grams of carb. The math is about 224 calories from carb and about 504 calories from fat. So that torte is about 778 calories if it is about 4 oz. The burger: 250 calories for the bun, then if it has avocado add another 100. The meat and other vegetables in there are maybe another 150 calories. Cheese is another 100.
A pound of steamed broccoli is less than 100. A serving of steamed veggies, which you can usually find on a menu, is under 50.
Pancakes are a big hunk of bread, so about 150 each. It's the syrup that jacks up the calories there.
Just do a little bit of research before your road trip and have your battle plan ready.
Dang! How do you know how many calories are in that 4oz dessert? I get that it’s makeup is 50/50 in carbs and fats, but where do you get that number for dessert?
I know it’s much better to have lots of fruits and veggies, but it’s not satisfying or filling at all. I don’t know how people stay full on such diets. I’m also rather picky when it comes to veggies... I like corn, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and white potatoes. I despise peppers of all kinds, cucumbers, tomatoes, and honestly, practically all else.
This is way up thread at this point but ... Fat contains 9 calories per gram, while carbohydrates and protein each contain 4 calories per gram. He calculated the calories in the dessert by multiplying the estimated number of grams of each macronutrient by these numbers.
You've received a lot of good advice. I just hope that you're receiving it. Weight loss is distinct from nutrition. From a weight loss perspective, all calories are absolutely created equal.4 -
JerSchmare wrote: »lethalxminx wrote: »You don't have to eat healthy to lose weight, you just need to have a calorie deficit. Decide what foods you do like and you would look forward, and then work out a way of incorporating them into your diet which will still leave a calorie deficit.
Lol, I regularly have chocolate, and other supposedly bad things but I'm still losing weight because I'm at a calorie deficit
See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.
Misleading dogma.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say, every time you knock on my door, and I say, “come in”, and you see my laying on the couch watching. Over a period of time, you’d think I’m lazy as hell. What you don’t know, is that each time you’ve come over, it’s later in the day. I may have run 15 miles each morning, and I’m just chillin.
If you see me eat a cookie, as I’m laying on the couch, you’ll think, ‘he just lays on the couch and eats cookies all day.
No. Remember, I ran 15 miles that morning. And, I’m only having 1 cookie because I enjoy them. But, my overall profile for food is amazing. You just never see that.
What I am saying is that you cannot say that a cookie, or a hamburger from a fast food place is bad until you look at the overal food profile of that person. Food, by itself, is not good or bad. It doesn’t carry those properties. It’s the overall context of a diet over time. So, look at a week or month. Then, you’ll probably notice how insignificant that cookie was to the overall diet.
Totally correct! Definitely not under the delusion that eating a single cookie will ruin everything. But I notice that every day, I tend to have some sort of sweet, which can range between a candy bar, a donut, to two pieces of cake (like the chocolate torte - that I split and shared with a friend, and a slice of Irish cream cake). My sugar cravings are the absolute worst and I have no idea how to quell them.0 -
lucerorojo wrote: »lethalxminx wrote: »When in doubt, go simple at restaurants. I'm not going to choose a very specific, 5 ingredients and over dish when eating out because I have no idea how to identify and estimate the correct amounts of base ingredients. Found out that any kind of meat + a veggie side works best. Further than that, you can always ask what's in the food, and you can also usually opt for small modifications of what you're asking. Most restaurants here have the amount in grams listed for every dish so my way of going is to estimate based on that, eg. 250g chicken gorgonzola = 200g chicken breast grilled + 40g gorgonzola + 40g cream (sauce loses water during cooking... But going over the grams is just me making sure that I don't log lower)
Which I’ve done! But even that 14oz steak with a side of mash potatoes is so high in calories. How on god’s green earth do people survive on the 1200 calories that MFP assigns to them (based on goals)?? Even the healthiest of filling and nutrient food (with meat) is 300 calories at least.
The only restaurant I can eat at and that fits in my calorie allotment in deficit, is Panera or a fast food restaurant that lists calories. Otherwise, at a "real restaurant" I have to consider it a cheat meal, because at the least it will be 800 calories (some kind of salad with dressing, bread or breakfast) or 1000 plus, if it's an actual entree. I'm not one of these people who can go and eat half the entree.
I used to eat a lot of take-out and at restaurants because my previous job left me little time to cook. I now work part-time and closer, so I am able to prepare food at home. I hate leftovers so I will only eat food from the night before. After that it is too late! I am able to cook all my meals except for a few lunches, and that is the only time I batch cook and put those in the freezer to take with me and heat up in the microwave at work. I have tried eating sandwiches or other buying out and I didn't lose as much as cooking my lunch myself (probably since I couldn't really estimate how many calories were in that sandwich) and it is more expensive.
I do get meal recipe delivery (Like Blue Apron, Sunbasket, etc.) from time to time when I'm busy. I'll also order my groceries delivered if I don't have time to shop. I simplified recipes that I need to cook daily--just a protein, veg and starch that can easily be prepared in 30 minutes (or heated up from the night before).
Ok, so you sound a lot like me in that after a few days, I don’t want those leftovers. And that if I’m going somewhere that doesn’t have a calorie listing, then I’m totally out of whack. Let it be known, I find calorie counting despicable and obsessive. I know that I have to change my perspective, which is why I’m going to try and use MFP and utilize the community forums more often. There’s no way I’m the only one going through these difficulties.
I thought about doing a meal service. I tried blue apron for a week, but those servings that are supposedly two servings per recipe? It’s, in my opinion, laughable. It’s SO small! I have no idea how people can be full on one actual serving. Maybe my stomach is so used to the quantity that comprehending eating something so small in size is a bit baffling. I thought about doing more research on meal prep services, and trying to find one I like. One that I want is where the meals are already done for you, because it’s not that I don’t have the time to food shop - it’s that I don’t have time to cook. So if Blue Apron just mails you ingredients, it’s no different than going to the store and buying it myself. But it’s great for people who either 1. Don’t have time to shop and/or 2. Don’t have the means (such as the elderly/disabled)
I did a massive meal prep a month or so ago of chicken breast with lemon, broccoli, and a sweet potato, and stored it in the freezer. But if I defrost it, then all the ice that melts from the food makes everything mushy. No idea how to avoid that...0 -
lethalxminx wrote: »JerSchmare wrote: »lethalxminx wrote: »You don't have to eat healthy to lose weight, you just need to have a calorie deficit. Decide what foods you do like and you would look forward, and then work out a way of incorporating them into your diet which will still leave a calorie deficit.
Lol, I regularly have chocolate, and other supposedly bad things but I'm still losing weight because I'm at a calorie deficit
See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.
Misleading dogma.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say, every time you knock on my door, and I say, “come in”, and you see my laying on the couch watching. Over a period of time, you’d think I’m lazy as hell. What you don’t know, is that each time you’ve come over, it’s later in the day. I may have run 15 miles each morning, and I’m just chillin.
If you see me eat a cookie, as I’m laying on the couch, you’ll think, ‘he just lays on the couch and eats cookies all day.
No. Remember, I ran 15 miles that morning. And, I’m only having 1 cookie because I enjoy them. But, my overall profile for food is amazing. You just never see that.
What I am saying is that you cannot say that a cookie, or a hamburger from a fast food place is bad until you look at the overal food profile of that person. Food, by itself, is not good or bad. It doesn’t carry those properties. It’s the overall context of a diet over time. So, look at a week or month. Then, you’ll probably notice how insignificant that cookie was to the overall diet.
Totally correct! Definitely not under the delusion that eating a single cookie will ruin everything. But I notice that every day, I tend to have some sort of sweet, which can range between a candy bar, a donut, to two pieces of cake (like the chocolate torte - that I split and shared with a friend, and a slice of Irish cream cake). My sugar cravings are the absolute worst and I have no idea how to quell them.
Discipline....if you really struggle with discipline, then the other way is to not buy it at all. When I was a teenager, I craved chips and Coca Cola, I stopped buying them altogether or else I would be just eating that and drinking that. Nowadays, I know about the concept of calories, so if I feel like grabbing some chips I will and I know I am disciplined enough to say no if I am at a point where I'll be screwing up my diet. Once again, it all comes down to choices. If you always give in to your cravings, then you were never serious enough to lose weight, you only wished it. You need to remind yourself that your goals comes first, if it doesn't, then your goal was never that important to you.2 -
lethalxminx wrote: »See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.
You need to do better research; you seem to have got yourself quite confused!
You’re conflating two different things here: weight loss and nutrition. In terms of weight loss, a calorie really is a calorie, and if all you ate was one cookie a day, you would lose weight (how could you not?!). You’ll lose weight eating cookies, if the calories are under your TDEE; you’ll gain weight eating salad, if the calories you get from it are over your TDEE. The nutrient makeup of those calories is entirely irrelevant from a weight perspective.
Where nutrition comes in is in whether your body is healthy while it’s losing/gaining weight. Entirely aside from the calories, are you getting the macronutrients, vitamins and minerals that your body needs? If you are, then you’re not going to do any harm eating the odd cookie.
The reason you can’t outrun a bad diet is that a) if you’re not getting the nutrients you need, then exercise won’t fix that and b) exercise burns way fewer calories than people tend to assume. What it absolutely does not mean is that exercise somehow doesn’t burn off the calories from cookies.
I’ve lost over 14 stone without giving up chocolate, cheese or anything else I really love. That is how to do weight loss. Giving up cookies and making yourself eat ‘diet food’ you don’t like is just setting yourself up to fail hard.
But see, I’m still lost! Because on one hand you say that a calorie is a calorie, but then you say that I can’t outrun a bad diet because of the nutrients it’s made of.3 -
OP, are you currently tracking on MFP? Once you start logging those numbers, it may quell your sugar cravings, if you are motivated to lose the weight. I also like sweets, but if I want to lose weight I CANNOT regularly eat donuts (at least 300 calories each), two pieces of cake (especially if I didn't make it myself, since it probably has upwards of 500 calories a slice), muffins (500 calories a piece), gourmet big cookies (500 calorie each). These baked goods have the equivalent calories of a MEAL for me, since my calorie allotment is 1580 net. This is doable for me and I don't starve and I eat back exercise calories. However, it will not work if I eat one of those items an have not burned off the equivalent in exercise calories. None of those baked goods satisfies like a meal, and I will be hungry later, causing me to eat over the deficit.
However, I have found some alternatives. Hot chocolate (90 calories), smaller cookies, baking my own cake and freezing slices--cutting smaller slices so that I can eat them without guilt, lara bars (90-200 calories), fruit--less than 100 calories, brownie brittles (120 calories a bag). Even a candy bar at 200 calories (now they have snickers at 100 calories) are less calories than eating one of those baked goods!2 -
So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight.
Let's take this one phrase and "run with it" - see what I did there?
You have no doubt seen newsreel of the poor souls that emerge from concentration camps as walking bags of bones - they didn't have a healthy diet. They had a huge caloric deficit from being underfed and overworked.
So why would you at a moderate caloric deficit NOT lose weight? Where is that missing energy actually coming come if not your own body's reserves?
Less extreme example:
I cycle long distance events. I could fuel them solely on carb gels (glucose/fructose mix).
Eating at a rate of 90g an hour (roughly the maximum rate someone exercising hard can absorb) would give me 360 cals an hour calories in.
But my calories out are more like 600 cals/hour. That energy deficit has to come from my own energy reserves (mixture of glycogen and fat).
Virtually no nutrition in those gels apart from the energy yielded but they can't cancel out anything (everything!) else in my diet.
I have, yes, and it makes sense. However, those people walk out as bags of bones because their body needs energy to live, so once it goes through it’s nutrient stores from food, and everything they can from muscle and fat, then there’s nothing left.2 -
lethalxminx wrote: »lethalxminx wrote: »See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.
You need to do better research; you seem to have got yourself quite confused!
You’re conflating two different things here: weight loss and nutrition. In terms of weight loss, a calorie really is a calorie, and if all you ate was one cookie a day, you would lose weight (how could you not?!). You’ll lose weight eating cookies, if the calories are under your TDEE; you’ll gain weight eating salad, if the calories you get from it are over your TDEE. The nutrient makeup of those calories is entirely irrelevant from a weight perspective.
Where nutrition comes in is in whether your body is healthy while it’s losing/gaining weight. Entirely aside from the calories, are you getting the macronutrients, vitamins and minerals that your body needs? If you are, then you’re not going to do any harm eating the odd cookie.
The reason you can’t outrun a bad diet is that a) if you’re not getting the nutrients you need, then exercise won’t fix that and b) exercise burns way fewer calories than people tend to assume. What it absolutely does not mean is that exercise somehow doesn’t burn off the calories from cookies.
I’ve lost over 14 stone without giving up chocolate, cheese or anything else I really love. That is how to do weight loss. Giving up cookies and making yourself eat ‘diet food’ you don’t like is just setting yourself up to fail hard.
But see, I’m still lost! Because on one hand you say that a calorie is a calorie, but then you say that I can’t outrun a bad diet because of the nutrients it’s made of.
For nutrition. Not for weight loss. You need to clearly define your goal (s). Is your goal to lose weight? Is your goal better nutrition? Both? These are two completely distinct things.
ETA: typo.4 -
So here's the deal. You have choices. Eat mostly whole foods and less of them. Log the calories. It's truly not that complicated. Even Wendy's has baked potatoes, salads, chili. Eat what you want but there's really no getting around that you have to decide to sacrifice something. My mantra is "Being fat is hard; losing weight is hard; choose your hard." You can do this; take a breath and regroup 1
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OP you sound a little upset and frustrated. Take a deep breath and start over. To lose weight you do in fact have to eat less food than you ate before (that caused you to gain weight). To lose weight you might have to eat some things that you don't want (like a huge pile of steamed broccoli or leftovers) but you can definitely eat sweets and restaurant food...BUT to lose weight you can't eat lots of sweets or lots of restaurant food. A lot of this comes down to attitude. You can't blame being busy, you can't blame your significant other, you can't even blame loving food. Everyone has those issues. If you want to lose weight, you have to figure out what works for you. I eat out a lot more than many of my mfp friends. But I either go to places that list their caloric info. (Panera, Panda Express, even McDonalds sometimes) or I "bank" calories if I'm going to a regular restaurant. As someone else mentioned, restaurant food is high in calorie, either because of big portions or added ingredients (butter!). You sound like someone who likes to do research. Comb this site for great advice because many people here have had great success! (Myself included) But you do have to accept that you don't get to eat whatever and how much ever you want. That's how you gained weight. It isn't how you'll lose weight!11
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Also — Track your calories for a week or so, honestly. It helps to know the price of the stuff you regularly eat now, when you aren’t trying to lose anything yet. And then see what items are out there that you like or might like that are under your calorie goals per meal — I pro-rate my meals, so I try to hit about 250 cal for breakfast, 300 or so for lunch and 500 for dinner. That’s hard to do while eating out!! But you can buy quick grab foods — pots of yogurt (I buy plain and sweeten it with Splenda) with chopped up fruit, which is one of my go-to breakfasts that I eat with coffee at my desk (replaces the muffin). And my fridge is stuffed with small, no-cook low calorie things that I can grab when starving: turkey pepperoni; hummus and crisp bread; veggies and dip (yogurt or cottage cheese based, usually). And salad. And tinned soup. And packets of tuna. And shoving a hunk of meat into a frying pan and throwing a bag of beans into the microwave isn’t *that* hard, really.4
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lethalxminx wrote: »JerSchmare wrote: »lethalxminx wrote: »You don't have to eat healthy to lose weight, you just need to have a calorie deficit. Decide what foods you do like and you would look forward, and then work out a way of incorporating them into your diet which will still leave a calorie deficit.
Lol, I regularly have chocolate, and other supposedly bad things but I'm still losing weight because I'm at a calorie deficit
See, that’s what I don’t understand, because from what I’ve done research on, a calorie is not a calorie. Your body doesn’t look at calories- it looks at the nutrient makeup of those calories. So, if all I ate was cookies and then I ran it all off as well as putting myself at a deficit, I highly doubt I’m going to lose weight. The one thing everyone says is “you can’t outrun a bad diet.” So if I can’t outrun a bad diet, but then you say that I just have to be a caloric deficit, then those two concepts cancel each other out.
Misleading dogma.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say, every time you knock on my door, and I say, “come in”, and you see my laying on the couch watching. Over a period of time, you’d think I’m lazy as hell. What you don’t know, is that each time you’ve come over, it’s later in the day. I may have run 15 miles each morning, and I’m just chillin.
If you see me eat a cookie, as I’m laying on the couch, you’ll think, ‘he just lays on the couch and eats cookies all day.
No. Remember, I ran 15 miles that morning. And, I’m only having 1 cookie because I enjoy them. But, my overall profile for food is amazing. You just never see that.
What I am saying is that you cannot say that a cookie, or a hamburger from a fast food place is bad until you look at the overal food profile of that person. Food, by itself, is not good or bad. It doesn’t carry those properties. It’s the overall context of a diet over time. So, look at a week or month. Then, you’ll probably notice how insignificant that cookie was to the overall diet.
Totally correct! Definitely not under the delusion that eating a single cookie will ruin everything. But I notice that every day, I tend to have some sort of sweet, which can range between a candy bar, a donut, to two pieces of cake (like the chocolate torte - that I split and shared with a friend, and a slice of Irish cream cake). My sugar cravings are the absolute worst and I have no idea how to quell them.
You have identified your problematic sweet treats (ie calorie bombs).
I have had problems with the same type of foods all of my life, until MFP.
GOOGLE "food addiction" for info and tips for dealing with your addiction for "sugary foods."
Consider overeaters anonymous and certainly participate on the mfp groups and forums. Find groups that deal with food addictions.
Log all you eat even if they were "calorie bombs", "cheats" and "treats". This is for accountability and for insights (such as figuring out how much % of the calorie's you eat in a given day or week are all those "calorie bombs" .)
Find foods to replace those "sweet treats". For myself I substitute a fruit (if I crave something sweet), protein foods and complex carbs.
Examples of my own go to substitutions for "sweet calorie bombs" are
1.fruits (apple, orange, banana, berries and such). Raw veggies also good for snacks.
2. Complex carbs, fiber foods: My go to snack is a fiber 1 bar, or Kirkland Protein Bar (has fiber and protein in it).
3. Protein snacks like jerky, string cheese stick, protein bar.
4. Limited amounts of sweets. Sometimes I got to have something sweet. I measure it and track it. My go-to treats in limited amounts include dark chocolate doves (2 pieces), a small pouch of welches gummies (80 kcals).
5. Try if you are able to, do get in a sensible amount of excercise each day. That can help to decrease your cravings as well as boost your mood.
6. Get enough sleep. Some folks eat more when tired.
I encourage you to stick with your efforts to lose weight in a sensible manner. You may have bad days and go overboard on treats. Don't beat yourself up when such bad days happen. Log every food anyways, then proceed forward. You can do this!
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It really is about choice. You can choose to eat the same as you always have, and you will continue to have the same results: weight gain. Or you can choose to change the way you eat so that the result changes. Eating out all the time does lead to weight gain, unless you are very careful (i.e. 6 oz filet vs. 15 oz NY strip, broccoli without butter or cheese rather than loaded baked potato). Eating a lot of desserts will lead to weight gain, unless you eat less of other foods that are more healthy. If you continue to make excuses for why you can't change, then you'll continue to gain weight. If you decide to cook more meals at home, eat fewer desserts, exercise more so you can include more calories in your day - then the outcome will be different.4
This discussion has been closed.
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