Eating too much? Eating too less? How to count calories?

prisky780

Okay, so I started going to gym with a trainer for about 3 weeks now. I know it's too early for result but I feel my pants are getting tighter around my hip area. My stomach/love handles are growing (maybe?).

Question is I eat mixture of indian and western food. When I cook at home, how do I count the calories? I tried logging in the calories from this website food search, but it's showing me way less than 1200 calories.

Now, another good question is how do I actually know this is the correct calorie count? I know when it comes to portion size, I eat less than an average person. I eat white rice (cooked, not steamed) with mixed veggie, and maybe some sort of meat. Or a bowl of veggie and 2 big tortilla bread. All that may fit into a medium sized soup bowl.

How do I count the calories for that? I am not sure if I am over eating or under eating. This is my usual meal plan:

In the morning till lunch
coffee with sugar, and 2 french vanilla creamer (30 + 50) (2 times a day sometimes more)
3-4 mini chicken empanada (don't know my calorie count)

Lunch and dinner: (my bowl size is medium soup sized bowl)
a bowl of rice, mixed veggie, and 2 chicken piece OR
bowl of veggie with 2 big tortilla breads OR
bowl of pasta (mostly angel hair) with mixed veggie Or
bowl of chicken breast and mixed veggie.


I have a desk job and I don't get to move around a lot. I do go for walking for 10 minutes and I go to gym 3 times a week. I do weight lifting.

am I eating too less? Am I not making it up all the calories in my lunch and dinner? Should I be snacking more? Breakfast is out of questions. However, I'm thinking of adding boiled eggs on the go. Would this help snacking?

Please HELP!!! I'm so confused as of what to do, what not to do.

nikjackson18

Weighing the ingredients, is what I do. I log all the ingredients for meals I make separately and then I know exactly. I use the calorie counts on the packets of the food that I use. The MFP calorie counts are generally pretty accurate, I find. Anything that they don't have food wise you can add by pressing the 'add food' button.

prisky780

Thank you so much. This helps tremendously. I think I am eating way less than I'm supposed to. I am going to bump my food intake. Yay! makes me super happy. However, meal planning between the calories would be so much harder now that I have to keep track of everything.