Advice / Guidance
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I think I've seen this asked before, but I can't remember where I saw it at.
How do you all measure calories for things that are like gravy/sauces?
For example. I'm going to make this smothered chicken in the crock pot today, and it's cooked in this gravy stuff (low fat cream of chicken, low fat cream of mushroom, onion soup mix, chicken broth and fresh mushrooms). But I have no idea how to measure how much of that I will eat. I don't plan on scooping a lot of it out, mostly just the chicken with whatever is on it when I pull it out. And I'm not making mashed potatoes on the side which would normally use a gravy, but instead I'm just going to season up a little brown rice and have that.
Do I just ignore the gravy when figuring out my calories and just measure the chicken and all the sides?0 -
rieraclaelin wrote: »I think I've seen this asked before, but I can't remember where I saw it at.
How do you all measure calories for things that are like gravy/sauces?
For example. I'm going to make this smothered chicken in the crock pot today, and it's cooked in this gravy stuff (low fat cream of chicken, low fat cream of mushroom, onion soup mix, chicken broth and fresh mushrooms). But I have no idea how to measure how much of that I will eat. I don't plan on scooping a lot of it out, mostly just the chicken with whatever is on it when I pull it out. And I'm not making mashed potatoes on the side which would normally use a gravy, but instead I'm just going to season up a little brown rice and have that.
Do I just ignore the gravy when figuring out my calories and just measure the chicken and all the sides?
Here are 4 options that come to mind (in decreasing order of accuracy).- Enter the gravy recipe (sans chicken) into the recipe builder. When the chicken is done, remove it, scoop out and weigh just the gravy. Set the number of serving in the recipe to the number of grams you weighed. Now weigh the portion you serve yourself, and enter the number of grams as the serving size. (40 grams = 40 servings). A little more work, but most accurate calorie count.
- Same as above, but guesstimate serving based on volume (4 cups total, 1/4 cup serving size). Requires some math and good ability to "see" volumes.
- Guesstimate based off the higher calorie ingredients in the gravy and your portion size. (i.e. log an 1/8th cup of each soup and the broth).
- Find a random gravy entry in the database and call it close enough.
If you plan on making it often, then I think #1 is the way to go. For a one-off dinner, I'm lazy, so I'd most likely do #3.2 -
@eliezalot , thank you! I don't know why I never thought of doing option #1, but that's probably the route I'll go since I have a feeling my husband will like this dinner, so it'll probably make it into the rotation.2
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Thanks for bringing this up @rieraclaelin - I've been pondering a similar question lately. How do you measure for things cooked in oil/butter?
If I'm making a sauteed veggie, I obviously count all of the olive oil I add to the pan. But the other night, we deep fried some samosas. Or for example, I was looking at baked cod recipes for tonight - some involve baking it in a pan with a stick of butter. Obviously I wouldn't eat all of the melted butter (I mean, I'd want to, but I wouldn't). How much butter actually stays with the fish?
These are all kind of one-off, fairly infrequent scenarios that I usually just guesstimate and call it a day. But if you have a method, I'd love to know what it is!
(I suppose the easiest answer is to cook things in healthier ways lol)2 -
_inHisGrace wrote: »I’m working on figuring out what my long term weight loss goals look like.
I have been obese since I was 12 years old. I’m 45 now.
This time around I’m looking at this day by day. Sometimes minute by minute.
I have disordered eating and food is my drug of choice.
I’m not sure about my goal weight anymore. I thought it was 125 but now I look at the weight charts and I am supposed to be like 105-110.
It’s unmanageable for me to think I have so much weight to lose.
Is it wrong to not make long term goals at this point?
@_inHisGrace
My long term goals have always been vague.- Be at a healthier weight.
- Be fitter.
- Have better reports from the doctor.
It is impossible for me to know what weight number I can sustain. Sure my "healthy" BMI number might be X but what if it is a constant struggle? Do I want to be in "diet" mode for the rest of my life to hit a number or will X+7 be easier and good enough?
Vague goals work better for me. They keep me from having tunnel vision. I don't need to be dismissing the progress I have made because there is still more in front of me. Weight loss takes too much time. I need to enjoy my accomplishments even if there is more I can do. And that is how I view it. It is not what I must do. It is what I can do. I will never be fit enough to be in the Olympics but I can be more fit than I am now.
My initial goal was to improve and stabilize my health. This happened about 15ish pounds before I left obesity. Being thin or having an appearance that I didn't mind as much in the mirror was not on my radar. I am still not sure being thin is a goal but I am capable of losing more. For this reason I had a chainsaw phase to my weight loss and now I have moved on to the scalpel phase(s).
But to really answer your question I can't know what I have never experienced. I left puberty overweight. I have never seen my adult body at a weight that I would have considered "thin" or at least "not overweight". No matter what goal I might set it will not be based on me and will likely change so I do not have a final weight goal.
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Thank you @NovusDies this helps immensely.3
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All signs are pointing toward a deficit break in the near future for me. I've been feeling kind of blah and low energy for a couple of weeks, getting a little too obsessive with the slow-moving scales, and I think a bit of refeeding could do me some good in both body and brain.
I get really anxious when I think about getting out of my now-normal food routine since, the last couple of weeks aside, what I eat makes me feel pretty good. To be honest, that anxiety is a sign for my rational brain that it's probably a good idea to do it.
I've definitely upped my movement this month which is 100% a part of why I'm feeling more tired or like I need to be eating more but it's also been like seven or eight months in a deficit at this point without ever going over and only rarely eating back some exercise calories. I've been reading up breaks on the MFP forums and I'm like, reluctantly convincing myself that I should take a week or two at maintenance. If I do, I'm still planning on logging my food and keeping up with my exercise. I figure over Christmas and New Year's is probably as good a time as any to kick it off.
Anyways—I'd really love some insights/advice from people that have successfully taken breaks before!3 -
I think most of us need to step it up again with our goals and commitment!...any and all encouragement is greatly appreciated!..l know I need all the help I can get.....every time I think I am in control I find out I am not!....2021 here I come!3
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yup; I definitely need to get back on track and back in control. As I feared, I've done some regaining. 10-12 lbs of it. but that's not horrible if I can get back under control. The winter weather has kept me from being able to do the one exercise I was able to get myself to do and that was outdoor walking, and I can't get myself motivated enough to get back on the elliptical or do my cardio. I get up in the AM telling myself I"m going to, but I never get around to it. One big distraction mostly.
But the dessert is gone and other holiday goodies that were lingering are gone, so I'm trying to get back in control and back on track! I don't wnat this plateau to last as long as the last one did!3 -
My exercise level has also fallen off a cliff since the weather turned cold. I'd get out and walk in 90 degree weather but when the temperature goes below 50 I just want to curl up on the couch under the afghan. Due to my car having broken down for the 7th time in 5 months, I'll be taking a stroll around a few car lots today and tomorrow and counting that as my exercise 😂3
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@emmyjaykay I don’t have any advice because I’m not in your shoes...but did want to send you positive energy! If your mind is on taking a little break then maybe your instincts are trying to speak to you. Good luck!1
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emmyjaykay wrote: »All signs are pointing toward a deficit break in the near future for me. I've been feeling kind of blah and low energy for a couple of weeks, getting a little too obsessive with the slow-moving scales, and I think a bit of refeeding could do me some good in both body and brain.
I get really anxious when I think about getting out of my now-normal food routine since, the last couple of weeks aside, what I eat makes me feel pretty good. To be honest, that anxiety is a sign for my rational brain that it's probably a good idea to do it.
I've definitely upped my movement this month which is 100% a part of why I'm feeling more tired or like I need to be eating more but it's also been like seven or eight months in a deficit at this point without ever going over and only rarely eating back some exercise calories. I've been reading up breaks on the MFP forums and I'm like, reluctantly convincing myself that I should take a week or two at maintenance. If I do, I'm still planning on logging my food and keeping up with my exercise. I figure over Christmas and New Year's is probably as good a time as any to kick it off.
Anyways—I'd really love some insights/advice from people that have successfully taken breaks before!
Sounds like you know what you need.
Most of the time my instincts have guided me well. It is when I get stubborn and do not do what I know I should be doing that I get into trouble.
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Just a quick, random question. As a heads up, I do have health anxiety, and am seeing someone about it on February 3rd.
The past couple of days, I've noticed my right ankle feels puffy. It doesn't look puffy at all, but it has that sensitive feel to it (the skin) that it gets when it's puffy, but looking at it I can't tell at all. It's mainly just around the ankle and where it connects to the leg. But I did notice last night that my sock was kinda digging into it, so, it obviously was a little swollen.
Is this something that has happened to anyone else? I know it can happen when you are overweight, which I definitely am.
My anxiety has been high since last Thursday. I went into a walk in clinic because of left shoulder pain, and I had an ecg done. It showed something called borderline prolonged qt, but no heart attack, which was good
most of my other numbers came back okay, though some of the terminology when I looked it up made it sound like I have some mild blockages or something? I'm not sure. But now I'm panicking that I have heart disease I am seeing a cardiologist on the 15th, which is good.
Also, they tested my electrolytes, because that could cause the heart issue if they were low. But everything came back normal except for my Potassium, which was high, and my Anion Gap, which was also high. Both points to kidney disease, which *also* had my anxiety going big time, to the point where I didn't really eat anything since friday because I was scared if getting too much potassium. (My calorie goal is 1800-2000, I was barely getting 1300 calories)
Long story short, my primary told me my Anion Gap was actually fine when she calculated some numbers from other things, and she had me retest my potassium yesterday because dehydration could cause it to elevate, as well as an error when collecting the blood.
I got the results back last night, and my potassium was way back down to normal range.
Could not eating enough potassium kinda cause this, too? I have also been sitting a lot, watching YouTube to get my mind off stuff, anxiety is a jerk like that. I've been sitting in a recliner which a lot of times puts my ankle in a weird position, or it hangs off it.
But I've been getting my water in since friday, so, that's good.
Oof, sorry, started rambling again, sorry! I tend to be a rambler when anxious!4 -
rieraclaelin wrote: »But I've been getting my water in since friday, so, that's good.
When I read about your swollen ankle and high potassium - I instantly thought
"dehydration."
I'm glad you are seeing experts! And I'm glad that your potassium levels came down.
Be faithful to a water drinking routine - it can help our body in so very many ways!
And - I find it quite calming to make time to drink water many times a day - almost meditative.
Hugs to you.
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@rieraclaelin Over the years I’ve had some minor health issues and some major ones. I’ve also analyzed my blood results like you-to the point where I made myself anxious for no reason. My older self would tell my younger self that whenever there was a major issue-it presented itself. By the time you get your results back, it’s passed through the hands of the lab, the dr, etc. It’s hard, but over the years I really learned to accept that. Two years ago I had an issue and the dr (unknown to me and just leaning on the side of caution) ran a d dimer test on me. When the lab saw the results were high, they called him at the desk and he came into the room and wouldn’t even let me move because an elevated d dimer can be the sign of a blood clot. The ambulance came and transported me to the hospital and a full work up was done and I was fine. But everyone was fast, cautious, and efficient with me that day. I’m sharing in hopes to relieve some of your anxiety because I know what it’s like to google blood results!
My left ankle is always some version of swollen. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s gigantic. It’s definitely worse when I don’t drink enough water, sit at my desk all day, and eat crappy. I’ve been dealing with it for years. I have bad veins in my legs and this adds to the problem. I also have a few bulging discs which make my left side worse than my right. The things that help keep the swelling down are drinking a lot of water, walking, and putting my feet up throughout the day. If you’ve been anxious and watching YouTube a lot you might be sitting for long periods of time and making the swelling worse. It can be hard but maybe try and give yourself permission to be kind to your body and mind-going for a long walk will help with the swelling, naturally boost your feel good hormones and lower your anxiety a little, and give you some time away from research and info overload.
All of this is said with no judgment, completely with love from someone who totally gets it 🤗5 -
@NovusDies I'm new to the forums, but reading through what your posts here. Thanks for sharing and helping the rest of us starting out on this journey. You've done an incredible job so far and I'm just beginning my journey again for the Nth time. Your insight is great to read and something I can apply to my journey as well. Thank you!1
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Joeblackwell75 wrote: »@NovusDies I'm new to the forums, but reading through what your posts here. Thanks for sharing and helping the rest of us starting out on this journey. You've done an incredible job so far and I'm just beginning my journey again for the Nth time. Your insight is great to read and something I can apply to my journey as well. Thank you!
Welcome to Larger Losers!...I am sorry to post that Novus has not posted in this group for a few months...we miss him a lot but some of us are trying to keep the group going...please join us and post and share your comments and thoughts....together we will be stronger...glad you took the time to go thru some older posts...there is so much good advice in them...1 -
Not sure whether this is at all helpful, but I wanted to make a post one year in to share some of the things I found out along the way. Some might be helpful to other people trying to lose a lot of weight, but I understand that each person is different and there is no universal recipe for something like this. Your mileage may vary. So...here are some observations about myself:
1. Motivation is not as important as I thought. Habit forming is, though. It really doesn't matter how much you want something, what the reasons are for wanting it and even if you enjoy the process or not. What gives results is re-training your brain and attitude towards solving the problem in the easiest way possible. And then simply putting your plan into action daily. You have to view this as a long term problem requiring a nuanced, permanent and enduring solution.
2. Because this is a marathon, not a sprint. There is no such thing as a "weight loss journey", if you think about this rationally. If you want to live, you are going to eat until the day you die. Day in, day out, until you stop breathing. Fact. Thus, you will have to manage and regulate your food consumption (among a lot of other stuff of course) forever. When starting out, I was impatient to see results and "feel the difference". I thought of this as a - work in progress -, an experiment with an expiration date where my true life would start at its end. Sorry, it does not work this way. I mean, it might in my daydreams..but the fact of the matter is that I was thinking I would become a different person via shedding weight. It's still me, just lighter.
3. And that is fine, vanity is a lousy motivator. For me, that is. You see, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter how others perceive you. The only thing that matters is how your perceive yourself and therefore, the world itself. I admit I'm still really struggling to put this concept into practice. I find myself feeling nice when getting a compliment and feeling bad when someone messes with me. This is the norm for human social interaction after all, we live in a society and it is natural. What I found out though along the way is that actually learning to love myself for who I am and trying to create a better version of myself each and every day that passes makes all social pressure, misgivings, complexes and frustrations seem trite, trivial and incredibly childish.
4. Because the only one that has a saying in this is yourself. Not your relatives, friends, co-workers, your loved ones, children or pets. As I shed weight I find myself growing a thicker skin at the same time, something that didn't happen in the past (I was/am a yo-yo dieter). This is hard though, and this is taking a long time. You have to re-train yourself to become an objective observer of yourself and others. That is more difficult than following a diet, or having to exercise, or saying no to cake if it doesn't fit your appetite/schedule. It's like getting a life coach...who lives in your head only and shows all the different ways you and others *kitten* up daily without judging you or making you feel bad about it. That's hard, but doable. Hell, everything I say here is very hard for me to do, this is no picnic.
5. Because there are no magic solutions in weight loss. No super diets, no nutrient excluding secrets, no get-rich-fast schemes. It all boils down to this for me. 1. Eat less. 2. Move more. 3. If you cannot move more then eat less. 4. Find the easiest, kindest personal way to do it. That's it. That is all there is to it. The most difficult part is to find the solution to the equation that is the easiest for you to follow long term. To find the one that makes you the happiest or the least irritated when following it. The one that fits YOU. Because at the end of the day, this is about you. there are no rules, no specifications, no norms and customs to observe. You have to find what works for you, and stick to it.
6. Until you need to change it again. Oh yes, you are not done with this that easily. You have to constantly re-evaluate the solution you are following, tweaking and enhancing it along the way. You have to science the *kitten* out of this. Not in watching calories, nutrients, calculating loss rates or counting steps and repetitions. No. The sciencing part is to correctly recognize how your mind and body responds to the stimuli you are putting it though, and re-adjust said stimuli to get a better response. This feedback loop takes time, a lot of thought, an open mind and constant vigilance. But, you can do it! Everyone can. That fat has no chance I tell you, none!
Ok...I'm rambling. Sorry for the long post, hope this may be interesting to some. In any case, I have a long way ahead of me still. The rest of my life. Let's do this!!9 -
Everything you say matches to a greater or lesser degree my own experience, so 🤷🏻♂️, sounds just about right to me❣️3
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6. Until you need to change it again. Oh yes, you are not done with this that easily. You have to constantly re-evaluate the solution you are following, tweaking and enhancing it along the way. You have to science the *kitten* out of this. Not in watching calories, nutrients, calculating loss rates or counting steps and repetitions. No. The sciencing part is to correctly recognize how your mind and body responds to the stimuli you are putting it though, and re-adjust said stimuli to get a better response. This feedback loop takes time, a lot of thought, an open mind and constant vigilance. But, you can do it! Everyone can. That fat has no chance I tell you, none!
This is the trickiest one I've found....really love reading about the experience in someone else's words! Thank you for all the work you put into this post - sharing your experience.
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