How do I Estimate Calories

mats613
mats613 Posts: 47 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Help. I have such a full schedule, and as much as id like to always prepare myself salads and homemade goodies to take along to work - meh, not happening.

so i always get stuck around 2.pm - STARVING and i don't know what to eat and how much calories is in everything.

a lot of bakeries etc have no idea how many calories are in their stuff, even when i have the courage to ask.

so i always type in the food into myfitnesspal app, see the results and try to figure out how many calories by looking through a bunch of different examples of that type of food

ex. chocolate chip cookie - so i check a few chocolate chip cookies on the list and average out how many calories the cookie is around. then i add like 50 calories just to be safe.


there has GOT to be a better way to estimate calories in what im eating, no? any ideas.

Replies

  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    The simplest way is to not go to places that don't know how many Calories their food has.

    Try carrying around a snack such as a bag of nuts that you measured out, or a piece of fruit. Hard boil some eggs on the weekend and carry one or two of those with you. Basically, anything you can be sure of.
  • jjones62301
    jjones62301 Posts: 28 Member
    My best advice for you would be, if you don't know how many calories are in it, then don't eat it!! If you really want to make this work you have to be very conscious of what you are putting in your mouth. You should be counting every calorie because guesstimates can be WAY wrong and you end up not getting the results you thought you should be. Make it a priority to pack your own lunches and/or snacks. When I started out I filled zip loc bags with 100 calories of pretzels or nuts or dry cereal and if I felt like I needed a snack during the day, I knew I could just grab one of those bags and it was 100 calories. Quick and easy!
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
    The simplest way is to not go to places that don't know how many Calories their food has.

    Try carrying around a snack such as a bag of nuts that you measured out, or a piece of fruit. Hard boil some eggs on the weekend and carry one or two of those with you. Basically, anything you can be sure of.

    This. I will only go somewhere where I can get a calorie count and a nutritional breakdown of whats in the foods.

    Prepare your own foods so you know what you are eating and how much. Be prepared that is the key. If you find you get hungry at a certain time make sure you have something with you so you don't go out and grab something. Keep protein bars handy for example... preportion bags of nuts, dried fruits... bring a container of fruit or chopped up veggies with you.

    Regardless of how full your schedule is you can make time to prepare foods. When you make dinner, make extra for the next days lunch. When you cut up veggies for a meal, cut up extras for snacks. When you have a day off make a bunch of meals, portion and freeze. When you bring your foods home from the store, wash, cut and portion out and have in the fridge. You can find time to prepare foods. It doesn't take long to chop up some veggies or fruits. It doesn't take long to weigh out some nuts and put into a baggie or container. It takes barely any extra time at dinner to make twice the amount for lunches or quick meals when needed. Find the time somewhere. If you want it bad enough you will find the time. Otherwise, go with the guess of how many calories are in the things you eat but don't get upset if you don't lose. Also, skip the bakery and go to a supermarket to get snacks.

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