New to counting calories...

buzz3d269

Hi all, I'm new around here If anyone wants to add me as a friend, please do. I'm 29, Australian, female, and want to move about 30-35kg (~ 70lbs).

This is the first time I've ever counted calories. I've had a fitbit since Christmas and have gone from little exercise to logging 10,000 steps daily since then (have just upped it to 11,000). Exercise alone hasn't moved any weight, so I've decided to try counting calories.

To ease myself into it, I'm mainly eating frozen "Lean Cuisine" type meals, which I do enjoy (I'm really not a big cook). This is easy as, just recording the numbers on the box. I've been alternating between poached eggs or yoghurt with fruit for brekky, and have been weighing everything to log the calories (have digital scales), no issues there. If I was into cooking, I think I would be fine with logging calories by weighing ingredients etc.

It's takeaway/eating out that I'm concerned with - how do you log calories for these kind of meals? First off, takeaway (we have 'family dinner' about once a week or so, and if we get takeaway, it tends to be Indian or Thai takeaway). In this situation, I can still weigh my portions, but how do I figure out the calorie count on these kinds of foods? Just search around the net for "averages" in the dishes I tend to order?

What about eating out at a restaurant? I'm rotten at estimating the weight/portion size of foods - is this just something I should try and work on? To give an example, I attended a "thermomix party" (are they big in the states too?) today which involved a lot of sample food. I had fruit sorbet (standard serve), 3 crackers & dip, pumpkin risotto (small serve), vanilla bean pudding (small serve) and half a slice of bread. No idea how to log that, or even if what I class as a "small" or "standard" serve is reasonable, and what they would weigh!

Sorry, long post, I guess I'm just wondering if there is a beginners guide to counting calories outside of the home? This seems to be a great community, looking forward to being part of it.

Branstin

Unfortunately, there isn’t a beginner’s guide to eating outside of the home. Plan ahead as much as possible. Many restaurants have online menus with calories listed. In situations where you don’t know the calories, follow your suggestion and search online but I would use the worst case just to cover myself. It is natural to find yourself in situations where you just won’t know the calories of food. Don’t beat yourself up just do your best.

paperpudding

I am in Australia too - unfortunately the online listing of restaurant foods isn't so big here IME.

Places like Subway, KFC etc are easily searchable but when eating at a hotel or a friends place or getting takeaway from a non chain place - yes you just have to estimate.

Search for the closet thing and estimate the portion size and log it as such - not ideal I know, but if you are going to do this thing long term, you are going to eat out sometimes and get takeaway sometimes, so you have to be able to incorporate it into your logging as best you can.

zeal26

Practice makes perfect. I knew nothing about portion sizes etc before I started and it took me a few months to really get into it. I'm fairly good now at knowing what a portion of meat, cheese, rice, potatoes, veg etc looks like. When you're constantly weighing these things at home, you get an eye for what they look like.

Takeaways are tricky. Just make the best choices & estimate and don't worry too much. Some people err on the side of overestimation to be safe.

OkamiLavande

When eating out try dividing your meal in half so you have two "portions" and you can start from there about estimating portion sizes and finding similar meals and understanding the calories. Remember it is best to overestimate calories than to underestimate them because that accounts for the error of not knowing.

buzz3d269

Thanks for all the replies I had my first meal out of the house yesterday since starting MFP in earnest, and it went fine I do think I need to start practicing "eyeballing" foods and guestimating weights (and then measuring them properly lol), hopefully that will help too.

RachelRuns9

Just remember that restaurants and other people will tend to use super calorie-rich things to make the food taste good! Like oils!

Key words for me when eating out:
can I get that steamed, no oil, with dressing/sauce on the side?

StaciMarie1974

Don't be shy - at restaurants feel free to ask questions and state how you want things prepared. Such as instructing them to leave off a glaze, steam the veggies without butter, etc. And if the size of the meat portion is not given - ask. The server may not know, but someone will. How many ounces/grams are in the salmon? That will help.

elothen

I find eating out to be a PITA myself. I think others covered it pretty much so just know that if you're being as meticulous as you are with every other meal then being 33%+ off your guesstimate for a dinner here and there won't be a problem.