What am I doing wrong?

Calories are calories. The problem you're having is that you're classifying individual foods as healthy and unhealthy. That's not the case. A food cannot be healthy or unhealthy on it's own without looking at the context of the rest of the food you ate for the day.

Sounds like the culprit is the smoothies with the peanut butter in it. It's hard to tell without you putting amounts or giving access to your diary.

crazylipz wrote: »

is there a difference between good calories and bad calories? Or are calories, just calories?

Calories are calories. No food is "healthy" or "unhealthy" - as long as you get your vitamins and minerals for the day, you could eat twinkies for the rest; it wouldn't really matter where you get your energy from.

Disclaimer: Don't eat twinkies. This is hyperbole for sake of demonstration.

crazylipz wrote: »

Today, I had NOTHING except healthy food and yet, I still ate 3 times more calories than I should have. How is this possible?
Bfast=healthy homemade peanut butter, cocoa powder, banana, and 1% milk
Lunch=salad with fat free dressing, summer sausage, carrots, zucchini, and artichoke hearts
Dinner=grilled cheese(with the kids), and a small smoothie like breakfast with strawberries added. My daily intake was almost 3000 calories when I should have had 1200. I'm confused.
1201. Even if I exercise for an hour tonight, I won't be able to burn the amount of calories I need to burn to lose weight. What am I doing wrong?

You need to pre-plan, and weigh your food with a digital scale until you can eyeball caloric content reliably.

Peanut butter, and sausage are bulking foods in my eyes. Smoothies and grilled cheese can be dangerous as well, depending on what's in them.

I couldn't agree more with you all. The rule I always apply for myself is calories in and calories out. At the end of the day accountability is very important, I learn as I go and apply what works for me. Please do pay more attention to food label it can be very deceiving.

Good tips/ thinking here. I was thinking some of the same things. Apply yourself & you can do this!

I was truly dismayed when I got a digital scale and weighed out 15g of peanut butter. It's delicious and good for you, but you get such a measly amount for over 100 calories.

Before I started eating less, I'd slather it on a doorstop of brown toast and add chopped bananas, thinking that was a 'healthy' breakfast and it certainly was nutritious, but had more calories than a bacon and egg sandwich.

Definitely cut back on the portions and weigh things. 2 slices of bread instead of 3, 1 banana instead of 2, 1 cup of milk instead of 1.5, 3 Tablespoons of dressing instead of 6, etc, etc.

I look for lower cal alternatives for as many foods as I can. Always weigh or measure and record BEFORE you eat, not after. That way you can amend what goes in your mouth before it is too late. Good luck.

Looks like the peanut butter, dressing, and summer sausage are the biggest offenders there. There are a lot of brands of sausage that are healthier than the one in your diary. Chicken sausage, turkey sausage, etc. And ditto the posts above about reducing quanitities on peanut butter, dressing, and bread.

Switching to healthier sausage, dropping the dressing, and cutting the bread and peanut butter portions in half will scrape close to 1000 cals off.

On a related note, I would also suggest that three bananas a day is probably too many. Folks can get kidney stones that way.

pants77 wrote: »

Looks like the peanut butter, dressing, and summer sausage are the biggest offenders there. There are a lot of brands of sausage that are healthier than the one in your diary. Chicken sausage, turkey sausage, etc. And ditto the posts above about reducing quanitities on peanut butter, dressing, and bread.

Switching to healthier sausage, dropping the dressing, and cutting the bread and peanut butter portions in half will scrape close to 1000 cals off.

On a related note, I would also suggest that three bananas a day is probably too many. Folks can get kidney stones that way.

I would not call the high cal stuff she is eating unhealthy, but it does not fit her diet, due to the caloric density. High calorie =/= unhealthy.

A food can be considered "healthy" to some people and still be high-calorie...for example a lot of vegan and paleo-approved meals are really high in calories but because those diets are considered healthy diets, people feel as though they can eat as much of them as they want and still lose weight, when they can't.

This is why many people on MFP advise that if you're trying to lose weight, the best way to view your diet is "calories in, calories out". You have to consume less calories than you burn in order to lose weight. For weight loss, it doesn't really matter what those calories consist of. (If you're into eating 'healthy' or non-processed or trying to gain muscle or you have dietary issues then what you eat does matter, but we're talking about weight loss here and none of those other variables. I am not saying that what you eat doesn't matter at all. I am saying that what you eat doesn't make any significant difference in terms of weight loss, as long as you eat less than you burn).

Like other people said, what constitutes a "good food" depends on what your goals are. If you're trying to put on weight then a meal which is heavy in carbs and fats is good for you. Trying to gain muscle? A meal heavy in protein is good for you. If you're trying to lose weight then you would be wise to eat carbs and fats in moderation, because it's easy to eat a whole lot of carb-heavy and fat-heavy foods without feeling full, and needing more food on top of it, which will likely put you in a calorie surplus and be detrimental to your weight loss goals.

Explore the site some more. Invest in a food scale. Stay away from fads and cut down on your portions. Drink lots of water and plan ahead so you don't end up in a situation where you have to go with the only option available. Figure out what exactly it is you want from your body. Don't get frustrated - you're just as strong and capable as the strongest, most successful person on here, and I guarantee you nobody on this site is perfect and everybody has had setbacks along their journey.

Hope all goes well!

I'm new to myfitness. Regarding calories I'll share some tips that work for me. I have found a tasty 0 calorie raspberry salad dressing, Waldens which I find at Sprouts. I also use lemon or lime juice in lieu of salad dressing. I also use a lot of herbs for taste but few calories. When I buy snacks I try to immediately measure 1 serving amounts and put them in snack bags; otherwise I find I just keep reaching for more.

Calories (noun) - Tiny creatures that live in your closet and sew your clothes a little bit tighter every night.