The downside of cooking and "dieting"

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clewliss
clewliss Posts: 640 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I cook every night for my family and I eat whatever I fix for the family; however, I don't eat as much! The downside to this (and I love to cook) is that I find it difficult to get the exact calories from homemade food. Nothing I set on the table has a food label to tell me 1 cup of this = this many calories, you know and even though I limit my portions, I'm still guesstimating the calories! I just find this frustrating sometimes! I am thinking about trying a new approach to this and I could be wrong, but my sister lost 80ish lbs just listening to her body! When she was hungry she ate small portions, when she wanted choc, she ate 1/2 instead of whole. She REFUSED to count calories. I'm not saying that I don't want to count my calories, I do....but I'm thinking I eat too many sometimes because I'm hung up on the number and not listening to my body...does this make sense?

Replies

  • clewliss
    clewliss Posts: 640 Member
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    I cook every night for my family and I eat whatever I fix for the family; however, I don't eat as much! The downside to this (and I love to cook) is that I find it difficult to get the exact calories from homemade food. Nothing I set on the table has a food label to tell me 1 cup of this = this many calories, you know and even though I limit my portions, I'm still guesstimating the calories! I just find this frustrating sometimes! I am thinking about trying a new approach to this and I could be wrong, but my sister lost 80ish lbs just listening to her body! When she was hungry she ate small portions, when she wanted choc, she ate 1/2 instead of whole. She REFUSED to count calories. I'm not saying that I don't want to count my calories, I do....but I'm thinking I eat too many sometimes because I'm hung up on the number and not listening to my body...does this make sense?
  • brookefoley
    brookefoley Posts: 104 Member
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    try this website
    www.nutritiondata.com
    It is fabulous for analyzing your recipes. It takes a little time to put in the recipes, but it is worth it to get an accurate picture of your calories and nutrients.
  • iftcheiaf
    iftcheiaf Posts: 960 Member
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    I'm not saying that I don't want to count my calories, I do....but I'm thinking I eat too many sometimes because I'm hung up on the number and not listening to my body...does this make sense?
    It makes perfect sense to me. I had to take a couple days off of logging my calories because I found I was eating even when I wasn't hungry because I was concerned about getting my calories in. By the way, I haven't lost any weight either. So I took a couple of days off, listened to my body and not the numbers, and now I'm back on logging as I eat, not before I eat. For me, this seems to be working a little better. And I'm not stressing so much about the numbers and just making sure I'm eating healthy. Hopefully this will help me a little bit. Just my little 2 cents worth.
  • speckle
    speckle Posts: 40 Member
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    I have the same problem. I just try to estimate, and not worry about it too much. I'm probably way off on my calories every now and then, but....hopefully it evens out.

    I did look at an Appetite Awareness Training method, that focuses on eating when you are hungry and stopping when you're full (sounds obvious, right?) but I'm just way too reliant on calorie counting to try to ignore calories.

    Anyway, I estimate the calories when I can, and when I can't, I try to listen to my stomache instead.
  • gnicolecan
    gnicolecan Posts: 293 Member
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    This stresses me out as well, but if you think about it, you can eat simply and cook at home.

    Some common dishes:
    Grilled chicken, veggies, rice (easy to log)
    Spaghett w/ jarred sauce & lean meat (estimate how much of each you eat)


    Now, I find salads difficult because there can be so many toppings!

    Try to stick with less complicated meals, and that will make this easier for you.
    ;):)
  • Dustdevil
    Dustdevil Posts: 62
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    Yesterday I made a big ( and I do mean BIG) pot of what I call "Everything Soup". I enter the totals of all the ingredients. Can of this, bag of that, one whole chopped this, and I weigh the ingredients I can such as 17 ounces of ground 95% lean beef.... Once I have it all in, I then determine the number of servings. (This can cause some extra washing of dishes as the soup I measured I poured into my usual serving bowls then into another pot.) I determine how many servings then divide the total amount of calories.

    It takes just a little more time than typing this post, but well worth it.
  • sarabear
    sarabear Posts: 864
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    Yesterday I made a big ( and I do mean BIG) pot of what I call "Everything Soup". I enter the totals of all the ingredients. Can of this, bag of that, one whole chopped this, and I weigh the ingredients I can such as 17 ounces of ground 95% lean beef.... Once I have it all in, I then determine the number of servings. (This can cause some extra washing of dishes as the soup I measured I poured into my usual serving bowls then into another pot.) I determine how many servings then divide the total amount of calories.

    It takes just a little more time than typing this post, but well worth it.

    This is how I do it also, you get a good number :)
  • charliesgold
    charliesgold Posts: 235 Member
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    I use a combination of calorie counting, guesstimating and listening to my body. I really believe that after limiting caloric intake for a while your body learns when you've taken in your average calorie intake for a day, unless it's TOM and then it never knows :laugh:
  • kendallalissa
    kendallalissa Posts: 249
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    I, too, log as I eat rather than all in the beginning of the day. For some reason it keeps me from snacking on crap! ie.) chocolate!!
    As for cooking from home, I hear ya. I do what others have said on here already but I also am not hard on myself. I figure as long as the ingrediants are healthy alternatives I'm doing ok. :drinker: cheers to that!

    98575.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Food Diary
  • DjBliss05
    DjBliss05 Posts: 682
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    I have the same debate with myself.

    I have read a little bit by Geneen Roth. She really advocates for listening to your body. I also read one a while ago called, "Why Women Love Chocolate" or something like that. I thank that approach for the first 50 pounds, but it did take me seven years! I strongly believe that we need to listen to our bodies, but you can do that with counting calories. It isn't a one or the other type thing.

    I feel like I need more structure to lose more quickly. Even just a pound a week.

    Try using recipes that give you nutrition facts with them (Cooking Light, Hungry Girl, etc). That can help take out some of the guess work... altho it does throw you off if you change anything.
  • abillings9
    abillings9 Posts: 165
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    I'm wondering if that's my problem as well. I feel like lately I'm putting so much emphasis in counting calories and some nights it's like I don't even want to eat because I don't feel hungry, but I do. And I'm at 1200 cals plus the exercise cals. I'm thinking i might not count cals for a few days and just see what happens.

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