How can I make calorie counting less painful?

honeylissabee
honeylissabee Posts: 217 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm not a fan of calorie counting. I've never been a numbers person, and in addition, my black-and-white thinking causes me to go to some extremes when it comes to counting calories.

At the same time, while I did lose a few pounds eating mostly real foods, I'm aware that I may not get very far with this since my diet isn't 100% perfect. I may have to count calories in the future.

I'm just struggling with how to do it without losing my mind. Because I'm doing a lot more cooking, everything I eat requires accurate measurements. Even if I have roasted sweet potatoes with olive oil and rosemary, the amount of potato will have to be measured each time, so I can't just add that dish from my favorites and be done.

Take an apple. I usually slice and serve, but sometimes, I do eat it whole. I've always only weighed the portion I've eaten (I weigh the slices). If I eat it whole, I'm weighing the core too. Do I eat it and put the core on the scale to figure out how much I actually ate? What about pears? Fruit with pits/seeds? Should I weigh my cherries before eating, and the stems/pits afterwards? Do I weigh an orange before or after peeling?

Same with chicken. I prefer drumsticks and such over boneless breast meat. Should I weigh my chicken before, and bones after? Should I weigh my pistachios in shell, and then weigh the shells afterwards? When I eat at home, it isn't too big of a deal, but it's different packing a lunch. Those scrap/waste pieces can dry up between lunchtime and getting home to put it on a scale.

I don't plan on doing much with my tracking to start. If I decide to start really tracking, I'm just going to start measuring what I already was going to eat to build awareness- not to try to stay in a certain calorie range. I'll see where I need to go from there.

But even the idea of counting calories with no pressure or restrictions (aside from my usual avoiding junk/processed food 80-90% of the time or more) worries me.

Any tips? It seems like this was a lot easier my first time on Weight Watchers. Not because of the WW program itself, but because I ate Lean Cuisines, Smart Ones, and dinners at Subway, Cosi, Panera, and the Applebee's WW menu frequently. I lived primarily off of prepackaged/processed foods. Now, even my prepackaged foods are whole grain microwave pouches, organic whole grain macaroni and cheese (Annie's), frozen seafood/veggies/fruit, and all-natural/uncured meats- including hot dogs for the mac and cheese).

Replies

  • Dewymorning
    Dewymorning Posts: 762 Member
    You are WAY over thinking this.

    As for fruit, the difference in the weight of the core of an apple is only going to be like 10 calories.


    If you don't want to weigh all your food then don't.

    It is still good to estimate how many calories you are eating and make sure it isn't too high. Doing it this way is less accurate, but if weighing everything is making you stressed that is not good.

    The point is to be happy and healthy right? So do what helps you to be happy.

    Things that do matter more are the more energy dense components, like oil. If you underestimate how much oil you use you might be WAY off with your calories.

    Initially I did not weigh food, I just estimated how much I was eating. I still made much better food choices and lost weight.

    Now I am trying to be more accurate and weighing things. But I am happy doing it.

    Just figure out what is right for you.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Estimating your food intake is fine. Weigh a few things that are calorie-laden to get a feel for how much is what, then just eyeball it. The databases are just estimates anyway, so you never really know exactly how much you're taking in.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Keep it simple.
  • fragilegift
    fragilegift Posts: 347 Member
    I found myself thinking they way you are at the beginning, but over time I found I was making meals/dishes mostly the same way every time. Take a salad sandwich, every time I weighed each component, the weight was within 1-10 grams of the previous sandwich - not worth worrying about. So I made a 'salad sandwich' meal and left it at that. Its the same for a meat and veges meal, or stew, or soup. At the end of the day, I may have over or underestimated the actual calorie intake by 20 or 30 calories, but avoiding the mind game of counting EVERY. SINGLE. CALORIE is alleviated.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    Instead of trying to hit a bullseye total, give yourself a range: Whatever your TDEE total is, use 80% of that total as the lower limit of your range, and 90% of that total as the upper limit of your range. That gives you a bit of a cushion, for those days when you're at your lower limit but still a bit peckish.
  • honeylissabee
    honeylissabee Posts: 217 Member
    Cian- My plan is actually to stat off by setting my goal to maintain weight. I'm going to track everything, and see if I'm creating a deficit overall. Then, I'll work on seeing what changes I need to make. It could be something as simple as making changes to how often I have peanut butter in a week or something.
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
    Cian- My plan is actually to stat off by setting my goal to maintain weight. I'm going to track everything, and see if I'm creating a deficit overall. Then, I'll work on seeing what changes I need to make. It could be something as simple as making changes to how often I have peanut butter in a week or something.
    this is what I am currently doing, because with all the food related holidays around the corner I'd much rather aim for not gaining weight and enjoy myself then trying really hard to lose weight and then collapse in a heap halfway through, because it is all too hard.
  • honeylissabee
    honeylissabee Posts: 217 Member
    Cian- My plan is actually to stat off by setting my goal to maintain weight. I'm going to track everything, and see if I'm creating a deficit overall. Then, I'll work on seeing what changes I need to make. It could be something as simple as making changes to how often I have peanut butter in a week or something.
    this is what I am currently doing, because with all the food related holidays around the corner I'd much rather aim for not gaining weight and enjoy myself then trying really hard to lose weight and then collapse in a heap halfway through, because it is all too hard.

    That's kinda what I'm doing. I wanted to find something I can do even with the holidays. For now, my main goal is avoiding chemical additives (fake coloring/flavoring) as well as limiting refined flour and sugar at home (eating out is a freebie at the moment). After Thanksgiving, I'm going to roughly try to stay under my TDEE, but I'm really just focusing on tracking to see where I'm at. It's more about building awareness at this point.

    My best friend is considering Ideal Protein, and while the results I've seen make it tempting to continue at least trying a very low carb diet, I also know that I want to try something that I'll be able to stick to long term. I just love carbs too much.
  • hwoeltjen
    hwoeltjen Posts: 199 Member
    Here is what you do.

    Measure everything to the best of your ability.

    Here is what you do.

    1. Prepare your food.
    2. Measure your portions.
    3. Check the scale.

    Weight lost - Expected lost = Accuracy

    Weight lost (1lb) - Expected weight lost (2lbs) = 1lb accuracy difference

    You need to cut calories.

    Weight lost (2lbs) - Expected weight lost (2lbs) = You are good.

    Pay attention to results....not the exact measurements of the apples you eat.
  • Hollie_downunder
    Hollie_downunder Posts: 192
    Just stick at it! I WILL become second nature - eventually you will know how many cals you have eaten for that day even without logging!

    Plus the more you log the easier it gets, we're creatures of habit and tend to eat a lot of the same foods on repeat, once they're in your diary they will be easier to add :) Good luck!
  • la8ydi
    la8ydi Posts: 294 Member
    I never thought of how much the peel/core/bones weigh!!! I guess I'd rather OVER estimate than under estimate. I hate all the numbers too...luckily I eat a lot of the same foods/meals, so it's already in my "favorites" and easy to find. Good luck!!!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    There is an entry for 'chicken dark meat', if it helps. That doesn't include bones.

    I'm a bit confused about fruit too so I usually just weigh the whole thing. I agree that recipes are a total pain though, so I approximate a lot for those. Oh well.
  • Rocbola
    Rocbola Posts: 1,998 Member
    Watch a presentation from Dr. Doug Lisle on youtube called "How To Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind" to get a better understanding of calories and satiety.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAdqLB6bTuQ
  • abiiwardd
    abiiwardd Posts: 3 Member
    edited October 1
    This sounds like a habit I might get into with having OCD. I am going to focus on a daily calorie deficit rather than weekly to avoid having to add calories back on if need be. I am not a very experienced cook and haven’t used the scales very much on the past. So I am going to try and simplify things as much as possible and enjoy the process of making good changes.

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