Confused on the amount of calories I'm having

It's not particularly difficult; you're just not wanting to do it.

Sadly, that is the harsh truth. I've been working a lot of overtime at work lately, so I've found myself being more lazy when I can find the time for it. =/

Guess I just gotta push myself a little more. I just started back on my diet so it's making me a little grumpy and so is work. So more work in something, anything, no matter how little, I find myself not wanting to do it lol. Sad I know.

It's not particularly difficult; you're just not wanting to do it.

Sadly, that is the harsh truth. I've been working a lot of overtime at work lately, so I've found myself being more lazy when I can find the time for it. =/

Guess I just gotta push myself a little more. I just started back on my diet so it's making me a little grumpy and so is work. So more work in something, anything, no matter how little, I find myself not wanting to do it lol. Sad I know.

Why is your "diet" making you grumpy?
You're doing it wrong.

Are you going to be grumpy all your life?

What I mean is that I just started it and not having the foods I was used to having is making me a little grumpy, because I'm still trying to learn self control with my diet. I have 2 shakes a day and don't really have anything else till I'm home from work. Sitting in a lunch room with amazing smelling food at work makes it hard right now. Trying to push off my cravings for horrible food is hardest right now too. I had to stop bringing change with me as well so I couldn't get anything from the many vending machines at work too.

It's not particularly difficult; you're just not wanting to do it.

Sadly, that is the harsh truth. I've been working a lot of overtime at work lately, so I've found myself being more lazy when I can find the time for it. =/

Guess I just gotta push myself a little more. I just started back on my diet so it's making me a little grumpy and so is work. So more work in something, anything, no matter how little, I find myself not wanting to do it lol. Sad I know.

Why is your "diet" making you grumpy?
You're doing it wrong.

Are you going to be grumpy all your life?

What I mean is that I just started it and not having the foods I was used to having is making me a little grumpy, because I'm still trying to learn self control with my diet. I have 2 shakes a day and don't really have anything else till I'm home from work. Sitting in a lunch room with amazing smelling food at work makes it hard right now. Trying to push off my cravings for horrible food is hardest right now too.

Are you doing Slim Fast or something?

Herbalife and slim fast. Kinda weird I guess but I have the shake mix for herbalife that I make in the morning but for work, instead of making a 2nd shake, which I never have time for in the morning, I just take a bottle of slim fast with me to work. I don't make them the night before and put them in the fridge either because we have a living vacuum in this house that sucks up almost anything in the kitchen even if he knows it's not for him. I don't even trust him not to take my shake. -_-

Well there wasn't much left in the package so I wouldn't of been able to count how many total was in there. Still, I kind of had a feeling I'd need a scale. I just didn't know if there was a better way. Also money is tight so even a scale at $20 would be hard for me to get, but I'll have to figure something out.

There is also no measuring cups to be found in this house (I currently live with someone else temporarily) it's one of the strangest things to be in a home without those. I'll have to get the money up to invest in those as well.

With some things, like if it says calories per cup, I can usually just guess pretty well what a cup is without measuring, but looks like I can't get out of needing a scale.

Thanks for letting me know what I need to do.

The thing is, even if you think you're good at eyeballing, you probably aren't. Really and truly the ONLY thing you should measure with measuring cups or spoons is liquid. Everything else will have a weight in grams (g on package) and that's what you should use. It isn't such a big deal on things like berries or a slice of bread, but on things like cheese or peanut butter or even trail mix, it can be VERY off. If you have a lot to lose, those little things aren't a big deal. Or if you're generous and typically round up on food and down on exercise. But when you get to the lower end of your loss, it matters. Measuring cups and spoons can be cheap and you may even find a package deal on Amazon. But it is WELL worth it.

In this house there is a lot of rice and beans that are made. I try to stay away from rice in general but if I'm not mistaken beans can be good for you (iron) well the package says 1cup. Wouldn't that be something I could just use a measuring cup for? Like those ones you use for measuring sugar or something like that?

I know measuring cups can be cheap but I'm thinking of the scale too. I think I may have some extra money this weekend to get all that taken care of.

Yes, the can will say 1c., but the issue is most people when they measure a cup go to the top of the cup or slightly over when in realty you should be right under. And even then, depending on the size of the bean, the shape of the cup, etc., you can be really off. The can will also have a gram amount usually in parenthesis right after where it says 1 cup. And that is always what you should use. Rice is the exception simply because different methods cause absorption to be different so I do use a measuring cup for that.

Yeah that seems like it can be a pain, esp when it's not even caned beans, they are packaged ones that are cooked in a big pot with lord knows what. Food is not easy in this house, like I said I live with other people temporarily and one of them cooks like mad and gets insulted if you don't eat her food, so, I try to not insult her while at the same time trying to watch how much of it I actually eat.

Well, just do the best you can on those things. I'm not a fan of the shakes -- been there, done that and long term, it isn't sustainable for me. But I wish you luck on them. But for the food, yeah, just do the best you can for now, get a scale and measuring cups/spoons when you can, and keep going. It only gets easier once you get into the groove of it. And once you are in a better living situation (hopefully soon) you can be more accurate.

Yeah that is why money is tight for me, just got a job and I'm trying to save up as much as I can to get out of here while still paying bills, student loans and all that stuff. I used to be on the shakes like more then a year ago and lost 15lbs in 2 months on them, of course I gained it all back the moment I moved to this place and lost control.

First off, sorry if there is a post similar to this already, but searching for answers is proving to be difficult and time consuming, so I thought I'd post myself.

I'm not sure if I'm missing something that makes counting calories easier, but it seems some foods make it impossible to know how much you are actually taking in. **I'd like to also point out a very important fact about me before I continue, I suck at math, really, even the most basic stuff I can't figure out, so having the ability to know how to figure out calories may come easy to most but not to me.**

So, an example was today, I had a bagel with some turkey and cheese on it. Well, the bagel was straight forward, 230 calories per 1 bagel, simple enough. The turkey however, said 100 calories per 4 ounces. Ok...well, how am I suppose to know how many ounces a slice is? It doesn't even tell me anywhere on the package. Says the entire package is 16 ounces and that the serving size is 8 per package, but still, call me stupid but I don't know how to figure that out. I don't even know how many slices are in a package either. I had 4 slices but I don't know how many calories 4 slices is.

I don't like having to guess on calories but it seems I have to a lot unless it's pretty straight forward. Even the trail mix I have says how many calories per 3 tpsp. So should I start eating it with a damn tpsp to figure it out?

How do you guys figure out exactly how many calories you are having? Is there a ridiculously simple way to do it that I'm not thinking about? Or is it really this much of a pain?

I'm posting this at the risk that I'm just sounding really dumb just so I can understand how this works because I really want to be good at keeping track so I can be more successful at losing weight.

So to sum it up:

searching the forum for answers by entering a phrase into the search box and pressing enter is too difficult and time consuming

weighing your food is too time consuming

and it's all the woman you live with fault that you have to do this in the first place ... sigh


I suggest you grow up. Some things in life get given to you, others you have to work for. So unless you want to have only shakes or lean cuisine, so need to buy a scale and actually figure out how this works. It's not that hard: you weigh the bagel and log it, you weigh the spread and log it (weigh the bagel and spread and subtract the bagel weight), you weigh the turkey and log it, you weigh any condiments you use and log them.

You can always chose not to lose weight, but that will be YOUR choice, not the fault of MFP or the people here for not making it easier for you and not the woman you live with for providing you food. You are an adult (at least you should be as per the T&Cs) so you have to assume responsibility for yourself and not automatically take the path of least resistance. Good luck :happy:

Ok so I don't appreciate you telling me to grow up when you don't know everything. I was asking if there was an easier way and when people started telling me that I really need to get a scale, I said ok, I'll try to do that. As far as searching, who said I didn't search? I did. There was about 60 pages of results on what I put in on this site alone and I couldn't find my answer in the first couple of pages. I also googled it as well. So please don't assume that I didn't try to do my research.

You also don't know half of what it's like living where I live. Sure I could tell you, but you still wouldn't understand it unless you were actually seeing it for yourself. This woman has threatened to kick me out because she thinks I'm not grateful and most of it is because I'm trying to eat right and she doesn't want to begin to understand it. I've also been sick + having to work over time so yea, time to do other things is hard. Did I say I wouldn't try? No. But yes, yes I did want to see if there was an easier way.

I never told anyone here to count my calories for me or anything. I just wanted to be pointed in the right direction. I knew that I might hear something I didn't want to but I am willing to accept those things. I'm not crying or complaining that most of these people are telling me to weigh my food, if that's the way it is then so be it but it doesn't make me a child to ask.

I'm not asking for things to be given to me at all. I'm working hard to lose weight considering the conditions I live under. I just finally found a job after months of searching and am trying to save up as much as I can to get out of here. This job probably wont be permanent so I'm going to have to find another one after the season is over. I'm trying to do what I can with what I've got. I know that once I have my own place again that I'll be able to have more control. I would much rather live alone and be able to make my own damn food then have this woman make me feel like **** every single day.

I am a grown woman but that does't mean I can't ask questions. It's being able to accept the answers that counts and I never once in this whole thread said I refused to take the advice people have been given me. In fact I'm grateful to the people that took the time out of their day to tell me what I need to do. So please, don't treat me like I'm a child who didn't do a thing before posting this. I honestly didn't want to but I had been searching for a good hour before I decided to post. So yea, it was time consuming, so I figured since I couldn't find my answer Id ask myself and there is no harm in that.

Ok so I don't appreciate you telling me to grow up when you don't know everything. I was asking if there was an easier way and when people started telling me that I really need to get a scale, I said ok, I'll try to do that. As far as searching, who said I didn't search? I did. There was about 60 pages of results on what I put in on this site alone and I couldn't find my answer in the first couple of pages. I also googled it as well. So please don't assume that I didn't try to do my research.

You also don't know half of what it's like living where I live. Sure I could tell you, but you still wouldn't understand it unless you were actually seeing it for yourself. This woman has threatened to kick me out because she thinks I'm not grateful and most of it is because I'm trying to eat right and she doesn't want to begin to understand it. I've also been sick + having to work over time so yea, time to do other things is hard. Did I say I wouldn't try? No. But yes, yes I did want to see if there was an easier way.

I never told anyone here to count my calories for me or anything. I just wanted to be pointed in the right direction. I knew that I might hear something I didn't want to but I am willing to accept those things. I'm not crying or complaining that most of these people are telling me to weigh my food, if that's the way it is then so be it but it doesn't make me a child to ask.

I'm not asking for things to be given to me at all. I'm working hard to lose weight considering the conditions I live under. I just finally found a job after months of searching and am trying to save up as much as I can to get out of here. This job probably wont be permanent so I'm going to have to find another one after the season is over. I'm trying to do what I can with what I've got. I know that once I have my own place again that I'll be able to have more control. I would much rather live alone and be able to make my own damn food then have this woman make me feel like **** every single day.

I am a grown woman but that does't mean I can't ask questions. It's being able to accept the answers that counts and I never once in this whole thread said I refused to take the advice people have been given me. In fact I'm grateful to the people that took the time out of their day to tell me what I need to do. So please, don't treat me like I'm a child who didn't do a thing before posting this. I honestly didn't want to but I had been searching for a good hour before I decided to post. So yea, it was time consuming, so I figured since I couldn't find my answer Id ask myself and there is no harm in that.

your very first line was about how searching was too difficult and too time consuming, yet you are asking people to use their time and answer your question.

You registered here in June, you have friends so if you then post 5 months down the line 'how do I do this whole calorie counting thing?' it seems a little odd. You are clearly having access to a computer and there tends to be a calculator on the computer so any 'math problems' can easily be solved.

Since it is for financial reasons, you've got to stop being the child in that relationship. It's not easy to enforce boundaries once they are down, but at 29 you are grown up enough to not have to listen to people telling you to finish your plate. Really, you don't. If all fails tell her you have to do it for medical reasons and you can blame the doctor whilst shrugging your shoulder and saying 'what can you do'. Clearly you shouldn't have to resort to this, but if she is that unreasonable.

If calorie counting is too difficult for you, just eat half our normal portions. If you lose too much too quick, eat a little more. Move more, go for walks.

It was time consuming, i said before I searched for a good hour. I didn't think I'd be attacked for asking a question. I thought that was something you could do here. Was I wrong? You make it seem like it. Like I'm horrible for people taking the time out to answer me when I couldn't find it myself.

Yes, I registered in june but have you even noticed that I haven't been on in months? If you're going to look up on me, might want to notice that. It doesn't mean that when I was attempting in june that I didn't know much about how to do it either, but of the time I took shots in the dark. (also those friends were just people wanting friends on here from reddit, I don't know any of them personally) So I just started trying to do my diet again this week and I started doing searches on how I could do it better then just taking shots in the dark like last time. I was having a hard time finding anything so I asked. Why is that such a problem?? I see people asking different things on here before, cause I'm mostly a lurker here. I don't think I've ever seen anyone being given a hard time for asking questions. Honestly weighing my food never really crossed my mind till today and I wasn't sure if there was another way. There isn't, I'm fine with that, why do I need to be told to grow up? Seriously what did I even do wrong here?

I thought this was a place to seek advice, to find out ways to get through this weight loss properly and also a place of encouragement. I feel like I'm being shot down all of the sudden for asking a question. Sure I explained the troubles I have with my current living situation, but I wasn't asking for someone to fix my problems with that, I was stating facts, that it can be hard, that doesn't mean I'm not trying to push through it every single day on my own. I explain things to her all the time and I've figured out that the only thing I can do is try my best to ignore her. It's hard as hell but I'm doing it, if I wasn't, I wouldn't be trying this dieting thing again. I do get worried that she will kick me out. She has mentioned it before, regardless of me having a job and doing the best I can possibly do. That's why sometimes I just give in to what she wants. If I had another place to stay I'd gladly get the hell out of here. She is a very very unreasonable woman. Hell the very day I told myself, alright, buck up, i've gotta try this again, she bought pizza and yelled at me for not having any. I'm stressed out of my mind and that is one reason I ended up going to ****ty foods. I'm an emotional eater. I'm 29, in so much financial **** that I can't afford to get an apartment at the moment and feel like I have no control over anything. So I took a step, told myself to try this diet again, came here seeking advice and this happens.

I really can't wrap my head around why people are having issues with me because I' seeking advice from people who know more then I do about these things. I guess I'll become a lurker again and never ask anything ever again. Sorry that I "bothered" all of you with my stupidity. Silly me to think I could ask something like this and not get at least 1 person to jump on me.

In the amount of time you've wasted typing paragraph after paragraph explaining yourself, you could of planned your meals for a week.

Wow, just wow. I give up, you guys win. I'm stupid for posting here.