Calorie counting

xbryan
xbryan Posts: 2 Member
edited February 17 in Introduce Yourself
Hi all,

I just joined this site to keep track of my food intake. I was always thin when I was younger, but I have become more sedentary with age, and my metabolism has slowed down also I'm guessing. Now I'm about 20 lbs over what I think is a good weight for me so here I am!

Living my whole life eating whatever I wanted to now counting calories is quite a shock. My recommended calorie intake to lose 1 lb per week is 1850 calories. A sandwich I had for lunch yesterday had 930 calories, which is more than half of my target calorie intake for the entire day. It isn't anything decadent, just a chicken sandwich on a roll with some cheese and no mayo. A chicken bowl at Chipotle with salsa, corn, cheese and 3 small tortilas on the side is 950 calories.

So just two of those servings a day and nothing else is more than my recommended calorie intake for the entire day. Running for 30 minutes burns only 300-400 calories which barely allows me to eat a medium sized bowl of cereal with nonfat milk. On my first day yesterday, I almost made my target, but then had 3 small Chips Ahoy cookies after misreading the label and that put me over.

This is going to be a LOT harder than I thought. Any advice is much appreciated.

Bryan

Edit: spelling

Replies

  • sweetpea03b
    sweetpea03b Posts: 1,123 Member
    I know you probably don't want to hear this but.... stop eating out. Seriously. It will totally kill your day. You can make the SAME MEAL yourself for half the calories.

    I haven't eaten out in...... a very long time. I can't even remember the last time it's been so long. When we do go out, I choose something from a "light" menu or "weight watchers" or whatever the restaurant has.... and even then I only eat about half. You can do it! You just have to start making better choices.
  • xbryan
    xbryan Posts: 2 Member
    Yes I think that is very good advice to cut back on eating out. Four years ago, I started eating out every lunch and that does seem to coincide with my weight gain to some extent, now that you mention it. Unfortunately, going out to lunch is kind of a work social thing, but I think I could be more conservative with my orders and perhaps skip a couple times a week.
  • mulecanter
    mulecanter Posts: 1,822 Member
    When I looked at your profile and saw that you are 41 I went a ha! Unfortunately, 40 is that magic age when the party ends and you have to watch what you eat and wear glasses from Walgreen's in order to read. Welcome aboard!

    Yes, eating out is hazardous as portion sizes and ingredients designed to get you in the door are calorie bombs. Like Sweetpea, I try not to go to too many restaurants while trying to lose weight. In order to lose you will have to manage your net calories--it seems you have already broken the code on that. You can certainly up your workouts--I routinely do workouts that are 1000 calorie + so that I can eat more. A key tip is to not eat back all your exercise calories as there are lots of errors in food intake estimates and exercise burn estimates.

    The nibbles add up, after you log every morsel for a few weeks you will soon learn how easy it is to over eat. Trial and error will help you calibrate to a loss rate you desire. Your weight loss depends on the settings you put in he software and the honesty you use in your log (get a food scale and measure everything for a while). I strongly recommend exercising (cardio and weights) since it just helps the calorie equation and improves your health.

    Lucky for you you have started here before things got too far out of control, you should be able to achieve your goals (set some) without too much effort. Good luck!
  • lucille_heather
    lucille_heather Posts: 650 Member
    Honestly, I found it so hard when I first started as well.
    But logging your food intake has really helped me, as well as showing me exactly what I was putting in my body before I started keeping track. The amount i was eating was scary! haha.

    Ive found, simple snacks such as cucumber/celery/carrot sticks, help with hunger, as well as fruit. It also fills you up!

    I found my weakness was crisps (chips) and sweeties. Try and find replacement for these. I now eat parsnip crisps (chips) instead, much healthier! And to crave my sweet tooth I stick with raspberries and strawberries! Great to snack on and so sweet!

    Feel free to add me for any support and motivation!
    x
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