I discovered something

hiphop10
hiphop10 Posts: 135 Member
in Food and Nutrition
It is day 3 for me and I'm logging my foods and to my surprise eating a bag of peanuts..like a cup a day is a LOT of calories! And eating 3 bagels a day is a LOT of calories. Writting or logging my food brings my immediate attention to what I was doing to my body. I lost just a pound in a few days from knocking out or reducing some things and eating more fruits. It is a keep learning thing for me. I want to get back to size 9 again. All the wonderful inspirational comments I read on here is extremely helpful! Any advice is always welcomed! Have a Happy successful day!

Replies

  • check1972
    check1972 Posts: 26 Member
    Keep at it and log EVERYTHING. Even if you choose to go over, at least you will know by how much. It takes a while, but will be worth it if you stick with it!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    hiphop10 wrote: »
    It is day 3 for me and I'm logging my foods and to my surprise eating a bag of peanuts..like a cup a day is a LOT of calories! And eating 3 bagels a day is a LOT of calories. Writting or logging my food brings my immediate attention to what I was doing to my body. I lost just a pound in a few days from knocking out or reducing some things and eating more fruits. It is a keep learning thing for me. I want to get back to size 9 again. All the wonderful inspirational comments I read on here is extremely helpful! Any advice is always welcomed! Have a Happy successful day!

    This is why logging can be such a good learning experience for folks! Glad you're learning stuff. You will soon start to see which foods give you more bang for you calorie buck, meaning they taste great AND leave you satisfied for longer.

    Congrats on your start!
  • mygnsac
    mygnsac Posts: 13,413 Member
    You should have seen my logs when I first started a couple years ago (on another site). Eye-opener was an understatement! Good luck to you on reaching your goals!
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
    The crazy thing is when I stopped logging, I was able to convince myself that I never knew the calorie counts for foods I want to eat.
  • coueswhitetail
    coueswhitetail Posts: 309 Member
    logging definitely teaches us about the calories in foods we eat....I found it very eye opening and freeing in a way because I know there are foods I can eat a lot of and still not get a lot of calories. Of course that would be veggies of almost any kind.
  • LeslieTSUK
    LeslieTSUK Posts: 215 Member
    I always knew what calories were in foods, it was the sugars that amazed me, logging helped me control my diabetes perfectly, by being able to see how much sugar was in everything, and i mean all sugar, was a huge eye opener to me..
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
    I remember feeling the same way a few years ago when I tried (and succeeded) in losing weight this way. The fact that the healthy bagel i was eating was as many calories, or more, than the doughnut I was avoiding came as a shock!
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    hiphop10 wrote: »
    It is day 3 for me and I'm logging my foods and to my surprise eating a bag of peanuts..like a cup a day is a LOT of calories! And eating 3 bagels a day is a LOT of calories. Writting or logging my food brings my immediate attention to what I was doing to my body. I lost just a pound in a few days from knocking out or reducing some things and eating more fruits. It is a keep learning thing for me. I want to get back to size 9 again. All the wonderful inspirational comments I read on here is extremely helpful! Any advice is always welcomed! Have a Happy successful day!

    Dude, bagels... wth.

    When I worked at my first game studio, they'd bring bagels in, and I'd have one... enjoy it, then 20 minutes later be hungry again, so I'd have another. Oh, an hour later, hungry again. So I'd have another. 1200-1500 calories, and still hungry. Stupid things.

    It's pretty eye opening, isn't it?
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    dbmata wrote: »
    hiphop10 wrote: »
    It is day 3 for me and I'm logging my foods and to my surprise eating a bag of peanuts..like a cup a day is a LOT of calories! And eating 3 bagels a day is a LOT of calories. Writting or logging my food brings my immediate attention to what I was doing to my body. I lost just a pound in a few days from knocking out or reducing some things and eating more fruits. It is a keep learning thing for me. I want to get back to size 9 again. All the wonderful inspirational comments I read on here is extremely helpful! Any advice is always welcomed! Have a Happy successful day!

    Dude, bagels... wth.

    When I worked at my first game studio, they'd bring bagels in, and I'd have one... enjoy it, then 20 minutes later be hungry again, so I'd have another. Oh, an hour later, hungry again. So I'd have another. 1200-1500 calories, and still hungry. Stupid things.

    It's pretty eye opening, isn't it?

    I think it was the way the carb numbers racked up that surprised me. At the movies they had these big balls for 25 cents each. I would get four to last for the movie and it was like 1000 calories of pure junk food.

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Mine was the M & Ms, which the receptionist orders for the office and puts at the front desk. She never eats them, but I was one of those people who walked by and grabbed a handful every now and then. If I was last to leave, I would be sure to take a few handfuls then. No kidding. No wonder I gained 30 pounds over a few years. Had I done this every single day instead of in waves, I would've gained a whole lot more back.

    Now, I don't even glance at the candies--not because there is anything at all wrong with those awesome M & Ms, but because I recognize that I was eating them because they were there and because I was stressed. Now, if I wanted those candies, I would take out my food scale, take some into my office, weight them, and log them. :)
  • HealthySideofLife
    HealthySideofLife Posts: 80 Member
    Mine was pasta. And sweets. I blame my grandmother for the sweet tooth and my family for the bread obsession (just kidding, don't blame them). Logging the calories helps me figure out portion control and to do it in moderation. It's such a blessing for me.
  • ljashley1952
    ljashley1952 Posts: 275 Member
    I had a similar revelation in relation to the bagels. I'd been making some epic sandwiches with bagels and I found out real fast that a bagel sandwich was going to net me 600 calories, so I seldom do that anymore. If I do, I'll either eat just half or make sure I cut calories somewhere else that day.

    It really was surprising how many calories are in bread, tortillas, rice, oatmeal, pinto beans and I simply have to log things religiously and I also weigh everything so I don't under-estimate.
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    A cup of peanuts is a lot of calories but unlike the bagel they are very very good for you. They are high in fibre, healthy fat and protein. And no doubt various other micronutrients and not just carbs. Cut back on peanuts but don't cut them out of your diet. Eat them raw and unsalted when you do eat them. They are great added in some rice dishes.
  • EmmaFitzwilliam
    EmmaFitzwilliam Posts: 482 Member
    Bread (and butter, or oil and vinegar) and whole milk (as in two lattes a day, and cheese, and . . . . And 50 calorie tea biscuits (times six).

    I'm almost halfway to my goal, and my mantra is "knowledge is power". Sure, I can have that 190 calorie donut.

    Would I like to bike for 30 minutes, or would I like to jump rope for 15?

    Do I want a super-low calorie dinner?
    (Not an ideal choice, as an instead of exercise, but an option.)

    How many fries do I want to eat? I've cut down to less than a third of the order. I still enjoy them enough for it tone worth the $3 to order them, but that might change.

    I fully expect to be tracking food choices and portions the rest of my life.
  • starryeyed251
    starryeyed251 Posts: 5 Member
    Logging everything and using my food scale was an absolute game changer for me. It trained my eyes into seeing what an actual serving of a food was and made me super mindful of all the mindless eating I was doing before. I don't have to log everything anymore because I have it pretty ingrained in my mind now but I choose to because it's nice seeing all the nutritional content of the foods I'm eating. Good luck on your journey!
  • chadya07
    chadya07 Posts: 627 Member
    everything is shocking. when i was growing up meals were like, 1000 calories each. my mom cooked for 10, and we all had seconds. and every night we had giant bowls of ice cream. so that i thought this was normal. i was very surprised to find out normal was not being stuffed after each meal. i still get shocked when i calculate the calories \of things i used to eat all the time.

    the scale makes it even more shocking. 2 oz of cheese or 4oz of meat is a lot less than one thinks. and when bags of chips say "about 9 chips" for an oz, and you weigh it... it doesnt always match.

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