I need to get a food scale to count calories- without one, it's just impossible. With myfitnesspal, you can add all the individual ingrediants and save it as a single food. That's helpful if you get in the habit of making the same thing all the time with maybe a "base" recipe and one or two things added
@Caroheart: I just tried to fill one out online but it's all brand-name food and I usually buy organic...so I don't know how to fill it out. I hate it. I'll just not eat.
@peachacid: I lost 40 pounds and kept it off counting calories. From all my research, its really the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off.
I was very low-tech with it. The apps were always more trouble than it was worth. I just kept a little mini-spiral notebook and a pocket size book with foods and calories listed (I think it was called Calorie King). I wrote down all my day's meals with calorie totals on the bottom and did a new page each day. I also put my weight at the top so I could see that it was going down, no matter how slowly.
With some things, you'll have to estimate. Others do some simple calculations. For example, I usually have the same things on my salad, so I tallied that all up and used the total. In the beginning, I used a food scale and was very exact. After a while you get to know how many calories certain foods have and can quickly estimate.
It worked great for me. Good luck!
Do you have an iPhone? I have a free app called "Lose It" that has so so many foods on it. It takes a tiny bit of work to put together all your foods that aren't pre-made (like a salad that has X amount of grilled chicken, X amount bell pepper, X amount baby spinach). But, those individual foods are all listed in the app, and then you can save each meal for future reference. Anyway, long story short, it makes it easy to track calories eaten, calories expended (all types of exercise listed), and your current weight.
I definitely recommend calorie counting - it can be very illuminating.
I used MyFitnessPal and a scale to weigh food and a measuring cup for other portions. It was relatively easy.
I use my fitness pal, in combination with a food scale. If you make a "salad" once and actually weigh/measure the ingredients, you can then save it as a dish if you make it roughly the same each time.
So say you eat the same salad every day for lunch, you'd actually input 4 cups lettuce, 4 oz cucumber, 2 tablespoons carrot, 1/4 cup celery, 1/4 peppers, 1/4 brocolli, 3 oz chicken breast, 1 oz shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever combo you eat), and save it as "brown bag salad" or whatever you want to call it.
I have this same issue. The foods I eat aren't on MFP. This basically means a whole lot of guessing which I'm sure can't be all that good. I find counting dinner calories the worst - I mean how exactly do I count calories for my mom's home made chicken curry and brown basmati rice? Or FI's ostrich mince pasta bake?
I've since just calorie counted for the rest of my meals and snacks. I prep the night before which makes it so much easier. I also add everything into the app the night before which makes me less likely to stray and go buy that chocolate croissant from the awesome bakery opposite the office. Another plus factor is that I'm actually saving a ton of cash too :). The scary thing is - I really struggle to eat even 1200 healthy calories!
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Has anyone had good success in counting calories? I suck at it... I also find that the programs for it don't include the food I eat. Like, how do you find a salad in there? And you have to know how many ounces of whatever you eat...how do you measure that?
Has anyone found an easy way to do this? I really need to lose like 15-20 pounds. I exercise all the time but need to change my diet and think about calories, which is something I usually avoid.