Couting calories of prepared dishes?

huv123

Hi

I think I do a pretty good job of counting calories of packaged products or things that I can weigh on my food. But eating at someone's house, or from a cafe, even when it's steam vegetables for examples, tends to send me into a meltdown. If I overestimate then I don't get enough calories in and end up overeating because I am hungry. If I underestimate I overeat because I haven't taken into account all the calories I am taking in. The outcome either way is that I find myself losing the plot. I try to prepare my own food as much as possible to avoid this, but it isn't always possible. How do you deal when counting calories when you can't always control or know what's in a dish? When you are on a 1200 calorie diet there isn't a lot of leeway for mistakes.

loriq41

There is no way you can be totally perfect..unless you ask for the recipe ahead of time and put it into MFP...or bring your scale..just not possible. I suggest just estimating the very best you can. I am not sure how tall you are ect..but I am 5 ft and there is no way I want to just eat 1200 calories...been there, done that...miserable.

cwolfman13

you just have to do the best you can. you'll have to learn what a serving of x,y, and z looks like and do the best you can and estimate the best you can.

also, realize that with a 1200 calorie diet there is actually quite a bit of wiggle room...considering it's about an 800 - 1000 calorie deficit from the average females maintenance calories. If you go over a little you're still in a deficit. It's stuff like this that ultimately leads to a lot of disordered thinking down the road and food phobias, etc...so it's best to check it at the door....

257_Lag

When in doubt I always use the SWAG method. That's a Scientific Wild A$$ed Guess

I estimate it as best as I can from the known ingredients, add 200 calories from the unknown, enjoy what I am eating and try and not make this kind of thing a regular occurrence.