7 ms·

Sure, these probably aren't necessary for people whose parents taught them proper portion size and diet control. But some of us grew up with parents who still f

Sure, these probably aren't necessary for people whose parents taught them proper portion size and diet control. But some of us grew up with parents who still fight eating disorders. Two tools were instrumental in teaching myself how much to eat: 1. Calorie counting app. I use MyFitness daily and record everything in it. The app gives me one number -- how many calories are remaining for today -- on which I can focus and remember. Other apps are probably as good, I've never tried. This really helped me learn how to control my portions and stay honest with myself. 2. Calorie counts on menus. When looking at fast food, I'll remember how many calories are remaining for today, and I'll often change my choices. I've chosen the 300-calorie cheeseburger over the 600-calorie double cheeseburger many times, mostly because the difference was listed on the menu. One of my goals was to change how I thought about food -- instead of being a magic elixir, it became a game: I have 2000 calories to spend today, but if I spend 600 calories on this burger, I won't be able to afford the 400 calories of beer I want to drink tonight. This is because I've already budgeted 1600 calories across my other meals. I've lost 80 lbs this way and maintained this lower weight for months.

CodeCube 14y ago
Congrats on meeting your goals!
bjourne 14y ago
That sounds like a great idea and I've been looking for something similar to try and lose weight. But if you eat out a lot and the calorie count is not written on the menue, how are you going to record it? For example, if you order chicken with rice, that may be a fairly healthy choice except if there's to much cream and butter in the sauce. Eating healthy definitely is hard. Also can you link to the app? My google-fu is failing me.
- streptomycin 14y ago
  Calorie estimates are never perfect, but a rough estimate is much better than nothing.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- drm237 14y ago
  Looks like http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps
rwmj 14y ago
I think the fact you're looking at fast food menus could be the problem. Cook food from scratch -- it's fun and healthy.
- danielgrieve 14y ago
  Don't assume as much, as recent as today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20713985 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20713985
  - ovi256 14y ago
    A chef meal will be different from a home-cooked one. Chefs are known to go for things like lots of fat (which acts as a base for spice flavor), sugar, caramalizing (to improve taste) and other things that add taste but also calories.
- stephengillie 14y ago
  My mom cooked from scratch. She fried chicken, put lots of butter in the mashed potatoes, put butter in vegetables, always had gravy, etc. But "it was ok because they're low-sodium low-cholesterol heart-healthy home-cooked recipes". Just cooking from scratch by itself doesn't solve the problem. You have to ensure you're using healthy ingredients.
bad_user 14y ago
IMHO, calorie counting is not as important as carbs and fats counting on menus. One of our greatest problems with dieting is that calories are not really equal and the effect food has on you really depends a lot on your particular metabolism. Maybe if you eat more than 2000 daily calories worth of stake and diary you get fat, but I can eat more than that without any effects whatsoever, while a single cookie ads 2 pounds on me (my body retains a lot of water after eating sugar). And it's a problem because the common advice given to people doesn't work so well. Which is why dieting hasn't really caught on. Personally I separate foods in dangerous (for me) and non-dangerous. I measure my weight every morning and I know precisely what types of food lead me to gain weight. For the non-dangerous kind I have no restrictions and eat as much as I please, as long as I don't combine it with the dangerous kind ... whenever I do that, I starve myself a little (for a day or so, eating some fruit and a yogurt), then it's back to normal. Btw, I lost 44 pounds this year after cutting my sugar intake drastically + a dissociated diet that lasted for 4 months. Right now I'm happy that the diet is over and my weight has stabilized to the point that I eat whatever I like, except snacks (which I never liked anyway) and sugars. Of course I don't overeat, because I don't feel the need to do that anymore - somehow giving up on sugar has cut into my appetite.
- lrm242 14y ago
  Calories are the only determinant as to whether you gain or lose weight. It's thermodynamics. 3500 calories deficit or surplus is approximately equal to 1 lb of body weight lost or gained. Your body burns X calories per day to feed itself. If you eat less than this number, you will lose weight. Period. If you eat more than this number, you will gain weight. Period. Your TDEE or Total Daily Energy Expenditure can be easily estimated if your are so inclined, but it isn't necessary. Want to lose weight? Start at 2,000 calories per day. Monitor your weight across 4 weeks. If you aren't losing at a rate you're happy with, drop it to 1,800 calories per day. Repeat. If you want to lose 5 lbs, you need a net deficit over time of 3500 * 5 = 17,500 calories. Good/bad foods play a different role in your overall health, for example by impacting your level of water retention or satiety.
  - jdminhbg 14y ago
drivebyacct2 14y ago
How did you determine your target caloric intake value? I recently graduated and had a moment of self-realization as to how poor my diet was the last semester off campus and without a meal plan. I'm determined to do something about it, but health and fitness have never been my strong suit.
- jaredsohn 14y ago
  Use a calorie calculator such as http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm or http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ and then adjust based on if you want to gain or lose weight. Also, check out the reddit/r/fitness FAQ: http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness for answers to other questions you're likely to have next.

CodeCube 14y ago

Congrats on meeting your goals!

bjourne 14y ago

That sounds like a great idea and I've been looking for something similar to try and lose weight. But if you eat out a lot and the calorie count is not written on the menue, how are you going to record it? For example, if you order chicken with rice, that may be a fairly healthy choice except if there's to much cream and butter in the sauce. Eating healthy definitely is hard. Also can you link to the app? My google-fu is failing me.

streptomycin 14y ago
Calorie estimates are never perfect, but a rough estimate is much better than nothing.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
drm237 14y ago
Looks like http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps

rwmj 14y ago

I think the fact you're looking at fast food menus could be the problem. Cook food from scratch -- it's fun and healthy.

danielgrieve 14y ago
Don't assume as much, as recent as today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20713985 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20713985
- ovi256 14y ago
  A chef meal will be different from a home-cooked one. Chefs are known to go for things like lots of fat (which acts as a base for spice flavor), sugar, caramalizing (to improve taste) and other things that add taste but also calories.
stephengillie 14y ago
My mom cooked from scratch. She fried chicken, put lots of butter in the mashed potatoes, put butter in vegetables, always had gravy, etc. But "it was ok because they're low-sodium low-cholesterol heart-healthy home-cooked recipes". Just cooking from scratch by itself doesn't solve the problem. You have to ensure you're using healthy ingredients.

bad_user 14y ago

IMHO, calorie counting is not as important as carbs and fats counting on menus. One of our greatest problems with dieting is that calories are not really equal and the effect food has on you really depends a lot on your particular metabolism. Maybe if you eat more than 2000 daily calories worth of stake and diary you get fat, but I can eat more than that without any effects whatsoever, while a single cookie ads 2 pounds on me (my body retains a lot of water after eating sugar). And it's a problem because the common advice given to people doesn't work so well. Which is why dieting hasn't really caught on. Personally I separate foods in dangerous (for me) and non-dangerous. I measure my weight every morning and I know precisely what types of food lead me to gain weight. For the non-dangerous kind I have no restrictions and eat as much as I please, as long as I don't combine it with the dangerous kind ... whenever I do that, I starve myself a little (for a day or so, eating some fruit and a yogurt), then it's back to normal. Btw, I lost 44 pounds this year after cutting my sugar intake drastically + a dissociated diet that lasted for 4 months. Right now I'm happy that the diet is over and my weight has stabilized to the point that I eat whatever I like, except snacks (which I never liked anyway) and sugars. Of course I don't overeat, because I don't feel the need to do that anymore - somehow giving up on sugar has cut into my appetite.

lrm242 14y ago
Calories are the only determinant as to whether you gain or lose weight. It's thermodynamics. 3500 calories deficit or surplus is approximately equal to 1 lb of body weight lost or gained. Your body burns X calories per day to feed itself. If you eat less than this number, you will lose weight. Period. If you eat more than this number, you will gain weight. Period. Your TDEE or Total Daily Energy Expenditure can be easily estimated if your are so inclined, but it isn't necessary. Want to lose weight? Start at 2,000 calories per day. Monitor your weight across 4 weeks. If you aren't losing at a rate you're happy with, drop it to 1,800 calories per day. Repeat. If you want to lose 5 lbs, you need a net deficit over time of 3500 * 5 = 17,500 calories. Good/bad foods play a different role in your overall health, for example by impacting your level of water retention or satiety.
- jdminhbg 14y ago

drivebyacct2 14y ago

How did you determine your target caloric intake value? I recently graduated and had a moment of self-realization as to how poor my diet was the last semester off campus and without a meal plan. I'm determined to do something about it, but health and fitness have never been my strong suit.

jaredsohn 14y ago
Use a calorie calculator such as http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm or http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ and then adjust based on if you want to gain or lose weight. Also, check out the reddit/r/fitness FAQ: http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness for answers to other questions you're likely to have next.