Calorie Counting 101

mattoon82 wrote: »

vismal wrote:
Time is of very little importance when compared to your total intake for the day. There is no scientific reason to stop eating any types of food after any arbitrary time. Unless you plan on during lots of endurance competitions or training, you really don't need to worry about timing at all.

So here is my question: I usually do not eat calories during the night because that is when I sleep. But I have a job that occasionally I get called into work in the middle of the night. Lets say I happen to be called into work for a few hours at a time when I am normally sleeping and I have a "weak moment" and I eat something at midnight. How would being awake at this time alter my TDEE and as a result where do I count these extra calories?[/quote]There will not be a huge effect to TDEE unless you are spending the extra hours doing something physical. You can count the food for the day before or the next day, just count it and it won't make any difference that you are having it in the middle of the nights.

SkinnyWannabe30 wrote: »

I am looking for some advice....I finally have gotten on track with this weight loss journey, my head has finally caught up and I am determined to do this. I started wearing a bodymedia armband and getting a clearer picture of what I burn through the day, I have a desk job so I knew it would not be high but on average I burn about 2500. I started solid February 12th and have been tracking absolutely everything I put in my mouth and trying to be as honest as I can, I realize it won't be perfect especially when trying to track certain meals but I weighed in February 12th and as of February 27th I had lost 4 pounds and thought awesome I am finally on track, I proved to myself I was my own worst enemy before and not really be true to the process. I started adding in the exercise and about 90% of the time I am in a deficit of between 5600 and 7600 per 7 days. Since Feb 12th I went from 222.8 to currently 217.8....why am I not losing more?? the last 7 days from the 16th of March 16th of 22nd I was in a total deficit of 7347 and my weight remained the same when I weighed in on the 23rd.

It is normal that I would stay so early? I am eating between 1500-1600 per day and this week I dropped it down to 1450 to see if that made a difference but that would my deficit would be quit large.

Anyways, your advice and suggestions are welcome at what I should be looking at. I do realize I need to "clean" up my food still but I am very much trying to keep what I eat, good back and the ugly into my calories and not going outside of my budget.

You are putting a little too much trust that your numbers are accurate. They aren't. No one's are, not even mine and I wrote the guide, so don't feel bad. Just assume your calorie counting is going to be wrong by at least 10%. Certain meals or foods increase that number. Eating out or having food you didn't prepare/weigh can increase the number a lot. Between the FDA letting companies round, human error, and companies simply lying about their nutritional information (this happens, don't kid yourself), your calories consumed number will never be completely accurate. Your bodymedia is also not 100% accurate, though from what I understand, it's one of the better fitness tracking devices as far as accuracy is concerned. Even so, I'd give it at least a 10% margin of error, maybe more.

Even if your calories in and calories out numbers were 100% perfect (they aren't) you would still not lose weight per the numbers. We often say 3500 calories deficit is 1 lb of fat loss. That statement makes no mention of weight loss though. Water retention or water losses can make it look like we are losing more or less fat than we actually are. Also, you cannot assume that 100% of what you lose will be fat. You will always have lean mass losses as well. There are ways to limit lean mass loss (lifting weights, eating adequate protein) but you can never completely prevent it.

To sum it up, assume your numbers are a little bit off because they almost always are, and even if they weren't, they will never perfectly correlate with your weight loss. The best way to look at it is in the long run. What has your weight done over the course of a month? If you are not losing weight at an acceptable rate over the course of 4-6 weeks, eat less, move more, or both.

emmab517 wrote: »

Brilliant thread! I include everything even my Aloe Drinking Gel. I'm looking for help on protein amounts? I'm just about to start a rigorous training regime to burn fat and build lean muscle. Can anyone help or direct me to a thread? Xx

Attempting lean muscle gain while losing lots of fat are two competing goals. Often times is much more efficient to do one at a time. The body will not optimally build muscle in a deficit, if any is built at all. On the same hand, the body will not burn fat in a surplus. Pick whichever goal is most important to you at the moment and go for that. Once achieved switch to the other.

tajteri wrote: »

I am counting calories and logging burned calories using my Fitbit. Am I suppose to eat until I get to my daily calorie intake or am I suppose to eat close to the final calorie number? Am I eating enough if I don't reach either number?

You are over complicating it. Just eat a consistent amount of calories everyday for a few weeks. If you lose weight at an acceptable pace, keep that number. If you don't, reduce total calories a bit and give it a few more weeks. Repeat this process until you reach your goal.