CALORIES

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO WORK OUT HOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN FOOD?
«1

Replies

  • jcmk87
    jcmk87 Posts: 57
    Check the nutritional labels

    for every gram of Protein = 4 Cals
    for every gram of Carbs = 4 Cals (Technically it's slightly less but most sites go with 4)
    for every gram of Fat = 9 Cals
  • ssonia29
    ssonia29 Posts: 30
    Hi Michelle,

    The best way is to mostly google or buy food items with nutritional value on it which will help you to come closer to the information , I am not really sure how Accurate they are but i go with it and try to keep my calories intake to the suggested Clories by MFP . some of the website i use are

    www.calorieking.com
    www.thecaloriecounter.com

    you can also use the food serch window of MFP ,


    i usually donot eat my exercise calories and try an burn mostly what i eat

    Hope the info will help you

    Sonia
  • jcmk87
    jcmk87 Posts: 57
    i usually donot eat my exercise calories and try an burn mostly what i eat

    Ignore this advice completely and eat back your exercise cals, you should never have too much of a deficit...
  • ssonia29
    ssonia29 Posts: 30
    i usually donot eat my exercise calories and try an burn mostly what i eat



    Ignore this advice completely and eat back your exercise cals, you should never have too much of a deficit...

    is this wrong ..............shd i eat those calories ?????
    my trainer advised me to eat lower cals to loose weight , i am so confuse with all the advise going on . can someone help
  • ssonia29
    ssonia29 Posts: 30
    can you please advise Wake_Field???
  • Everyone is different.... I am eating to loose about 1% or about 2 lbs a week... I won't go under 1200 cals ( which the doctor said was fine cals/day) and a 1000 cal deficit would set me below 1200 so I don't eat all my excersise cals back to make a 1000 cal deficit. There is no one size fits all in weight loss. If you really are afraid you are doing something wrong I woul just talk to your doctor about it. When I asked my dic if 1200 cals were okay because everyone gets on their soapbox about how bad 1200 cals is for you blah blah blah, she asked if I feel good I said yes and she said then your doing fine just get protein and fruits and veggies....
  • wabrody
    wabrody Posts: 202
    Well this is a site i used to setup my workout routine. So far i have lost and toned up using it. I even have about 4 coworkers using it.

    http://www.freetrainers.com/
  • littlemiss5foot1
    littlemiss5foot1 Posts: 75 Member
    Thanls everyone for your help :) ive tried looking up food on here but im in Australia and America doesnt have things that we do :$

    ive been wrting down the nutritional stuff but some of the foods dont say Caleries, just fats KJ ect :)
  • littlemiss5foot1
    littlemiss5foot1 Posts: 75 Member
    Well this is a site i used to setup my workout routine. So far i have lost and toned up using it. I even have about 4 coworkers using it.

    http://www.freetrainers.com/

    thankyou :) i shall have a look tonigth after work :)
  • CoffeeNBooze
    CoffeeNBooze Posts: 966 Member
    i can only speak for myself but i've lost more weight eating back my exercise calories than not working out at all. and the times i havent eaten back exercise cals, i ended up gaining weight since my body thought it was starving and holding on to what it could.

    but yeah to echo what others have said.... before this site existed and even in college when i didn't have access to nutrition labels, i just googled nutritional information and looked it up on calorie count websites...lost 30lbs. After doing it for a few months, you'll catch on.
  • ssonia29
    ssonia29 Posts: 30
    Hi Rockyluv88,

    Thanks A Lot , this is great

    I do feel really good, i eat btw 1200-1300 cal/day and burn 1000 approx and most of my meals are with lots of fruit and veggi . i avoid taking Protein powder as my trainer advise me not to take it and loose weight naturally .

    i am toning up faster then loosing weight , I am loosing about 2kg per month in a healthy way .If you have any advises please share with us and i would like to add you to my frd list so you can see my food intake list too .

    Thanks,
    Sonia
  • ssonia29
    ssonia29 Posts: 30
    you can convert KJ to cal using Google dear
  • Ttopeka
    Ttopeka Posts: 151 Member
    Calories = kilojoules / 4.184
  • littlemiss5foot1
    littlemiss5foot1 Posts: 75 Member
    Calories = kilojoules / 4.184


    so i divide the 4.184 into the kilojoules?? so 824kg would be 196 point somthing caleries??

    :)
  • Ttopeka
    Ttopeka Posts: 151 Member
    Calories = kilojoules / 4.184


    so i divide the 4.184 into the kilojoules?? so 824kg would be 196 point somthing caleries??

    :)

    Yes. Here's a link to a calculator that will do the math for you, for future reference: http://www.positivehealthsteps.com/calorieskilojules-converter.shtml

    But you can really Google "Kilojoules to Calories Calculator" and come up with the same, in case you ever forget or lose this link.
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
    i usually donot eat my exercise calories and try an burn mostly what i eat

    Ignore this advice completely and eat back your exercise cals, you should never have too much of a deficit...
    Ignore any advice that tells you, you have to do something.
  • jcmk87
    jcmk87 Posts: 57
    You should always eat back your exercise cals, if you gain weight then obviously your BMR was calculated incorrectly. Therefore eat back your exercise cals and keep an eye on your weight, if you are not losing after the third week then slightly decrease cals and repeat. You should do this until you start losing at a healthy rate of 1 or 2 lbs a week.
  • jcmk87
    jcmk87 Posts: 57
    i usually donot eat my exercise calories and try an burn mostly what i eat

    Ignore this advice completely and eat back your exercise cals, you should never have too much of a deficit...
    Ignore any advice that tells you, you have to do something.

    Good for you, but for those that actually want help and guidance is more than welcome to use the forum for what it is intended for.
  • I'm from Australia too :) Just divide kj by 4.2 on your phone or something - it's a pretty easy conversion. A lot of Australian foods are listed in the MFP database already anyway though, you just need to search them.
  • littlemiss5foot1
    littlemiss5foot1 Posts: 75 Member
    so the caleries today so i need to eat the caleries again??.. that is impossible i will actually vomit.
    i eat all day not even kidding i eat meals and proteinshakes and munch out on carrot sticks and stuff view my diary if u wanna to get an idea but if i eat anymore than i am i will make myself vomit not intentianally of course but coz im so full :(
  • ssonia29
    ssonia29 Posts: 30
    i usually donot eat my exercise calories and try an burn mostly what i eat

    Ignore this advice completely and eat back your exercise cals, you should never have too much of a deficit...
    Ignore any advice that tells you, you have to do something.

    Good for you, but for those that actually want help and guidance is more than welcome to use the forum for what it is intended for.


    Actually i am toning then loosing weight , i lost about 4 KG in 4 months however i have lost more in inches. does this works too ?
  • jcmk87
    jcmk87 Posts: 57
    so the caleries today so i need to eat the caleries again??.. that is impossible i will actually vomit.
    i eat all day not even kidding i eat meals and proteinshakes and munch out on carrot sticks and stuff view my diary if u wanna to get an idea but if i eat anymore than i am i will make myself vomit not intentianally of course but coz im so full :(

    Eat more calorie dense food such as nuts and peanut butter.
  • jcmk87
    jcmk87 Posts: 57
    i usually donot eat my exercise calories and try an burn mostly what i eat

    Ignore this advice completely and eat back your exercise cals, you should never have too much of a deficit...
    Ignore any advice that tells you, you have to do something.

    Good for you, but for those that actually want help and guidance is more than welcome to use the forum for what it is intended for.


    Actually i am toning then loosing weight , i lost about 4 KG in 4 months however i have lost more in inches. does this works too ?

    Technically the word toning is just another word for losing bodyfat. I commend you on a great loss however I can't say if it is working as you stated previously that you don't eat back your exercise cals. If you typically have an average deficit of 700 cals a day then yes you are on the right track, but if you are going above 1000 cals then you are losing muscle mass which is going to nib you in the butt in the long run.

    You want to save as much muscle as possible as it aids in burning cals and makes it easier to keep the weight off. If your deficit is big then yes you will start of losing a lot of weight but will stall at some point as you have burned up your muscle for energy.
  • Ttopeka
    Ttopeka Posts: 151 Member
    You don't need to double up your calories necessarily -- what you generally want to try to do is "NET" 1200 calories (1200 calories is generally the lowest recommended intake, and many people need/eat more).

    So let's pretend you ate 1200 calories today, but burned off 200 calories with exercise. 1200-200 = 1000 "NET" calories. You would then try to eat an additional 200 calories to reach your NET goal of 1200. You can view your NET calories on your "My Home" page.

    If you visit your Goals section on MFP ( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals ), choose "guided" and they will recommend a calorie goal for you. Try to eat that many calories. Since you're not familiar with calories, it may take some extra time/preparation for you to figure out how/what to eat, but it will get quicker and easier once you get the hang of it.

    When you burn calories from exercise, you get those as "bonus" calories, and you are generally recommended to eat those as well, at least so that you NET ~1200 calories.

    If you are having trouble reaching that many calories, try eating more caloric dense foods throughout the day. Oils, nuts, nut butters, and (I believe) avocados -- spring to mind.
  • jcmk87
    jcmk87 Posts: 57
    Since the recommended protein intake on MFP is so low, you should take extra care when going in such large deficits.
  • ssonia29
    ssonia29 Posts: 30
    You don't need to double up your calories necessarily -- what you generally want to try to do is "NET" 1200 calories (1200 calories is generally the lowest recommended intake, and many people need/eat more).

    So let's pretend you ate 1200 calories today, but burned off 200 calories with exercise. 1200-200 = 1000 "NET" calories. You would then try to eat an additional 200 calories to reach your NET goal of 1200. You can view your NET calories on your "My Home" page.

    If you visit your Goals section on MFP ( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals ), choose "guided" and they will recommend a calorie goal for you. Try to eat that many calories. Since you're not familiar with calories, it may take some extra time/preparation for you to figure out how/what to eat, but it will get quicker and easier once you get the hang of it.

    When you burn calories from exercise, you get those as "bonus" calories, and you are generally recommended to eat those as well, at least so that you NET ~1200 calories.

    If you are having trouble reaching that many calories, try eating more caloric dense foods throughout the day. Oils, nuts, nut butters, and (I believe) avocados -- spring to mind.

    wow that way now i get it . let me calculate and update

    but i usually do exercise after work and i dont want to intake cal in dinner cos i have to sleep within hour after dinner ? that is one more issue
  • jcmk87
    jcmk87 Posts: 57
    You don't need to double up your calories necessarily -- what you generally want to try to do is "NET" 1200 calories (1200 calories is generally the lowest recommended intake, and many people need/eat more).

    So let's pretend you ate 1200 calories today, but burned off 200 calories with exercise. 1200-200 = 1000 "NET" calories. You would then try to eat an additional 200 calories to reach your NET goal of 1200. You can view your NET calories on your "My Home" page.

    If you visit your Goals section on MFP ( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals ), choose "guided" and they will recommend a calorie goal for you. Try to eat that many calories. Since you're not familiar with calories, it may take some extra time/preparation for you to figure out how/what to eat, but it will get quicker and easier once you get the hang of it.

    When you burn calories from exercise, you get those as "bonus" calories, and you are generally recommended to eat those as well, at least so that you NET ~1200 calories.

    If you are having trouble reaching that many calories, try eating more caloric dense foods throughout the day. Oils, nuts, nut butters, and (I believe) avocados -- spring to mind.

    Well explained and to add, those "Bonus" cals Ttopeka is referring to is keep a constant deficit of 500 cals throughout the week.

    The deficit is already taken into account so you should not be creating a bigger deficit by eating less or not eating your exercise cals.
  • xabcx
    xabcx Posts: 7
    you can find calories for virtually any food here: www.watchmycalories.com

    (it has a simple interface)

    if your question is, "how are food calories calculated?" the simple answer is:

    the food in question is basically burned and the heat that it gives off is measured. that in turn gives the amount of energy in that food which translates directly to calories. it is not a simple procedure and must be done very carefully using proper procedures.
  • Recently bought a food scale that displays nutritional value just like food packaging, which is great for ease of use in measuring raw fish, mets, salads...ect. Found mine at BBB
  • cramernh
    cramernh Posts: 3,335 Member
    i usually donot eat my exercise calories and try an burn mostly what i eat

    Ignore this advice completely and eat back your exercise cals, you should never have too much of a deficit...

    No.... what works for one person might not work for the next person - the OP should determine on her own if eating any of the exercise calories would be beneficial...

    I dont eat them back and Im still maintaining my minimum caloric intake and still losing weight