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I've been working out for 3 months now and have only lost 4 pounds. I had a doc appointment yesterday and my doctor said my problem is not the exercise but what I'm eating and that I need to count calories in order to lose weight.
I need to lose about 30 lbs. Every time I think about counting calories, I get overwhelmed. Basically, I don't know how to start/how to do it. I cook. I made chili today with ground turkey, canned tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, canned kidney beans and a ton of spices....how do I count the calories in that?
I've been working out for 3 months now and have only lost 4 pounds. I had a doc appointment yesterday and my doctor said my problem is not the exercise but what I'm eating and that I need to count calories in order to lose weight.
I need to lose about 30 lbs. Every time I think about counting calories, I get overwhelmed. Basically, I don't know how to start/how to do it. I cook. I made chili today with ground turkey, canned tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, canned kidney beans and a ton of spices....how do I count the calories in that?
You can look up the calories, fat, etc. in any food or ingredient on-line. There are several sites that list this info.
Your doctor can refer you to a nutritionist. You need an exact calorie goal / limit each day. Same for protein, carbs, fat.
Keep a food diary listing everything you eat & the calories, fat, carbs, protein. You can do this in an Excel spreadsheet, or keep it in a notebook.
Years ago I lost 40 pounds this way & I still eat the same way & have kept the weight off & lost a few more over the years.
Best to lose about one pound per week & that way the weight is easier to keep off in the long run.
There are lots of ways to lose weight without having to count calories. Weight Watchers offers a good program that gives you tools to help you track what you eat.
There are lots of ways to lose weight without having to count calories. Weight Watchers offers a good program that gives you tools to help you track what you eat.
I agree. Weight Watchers is a great starting point. They will help you with portion size and the value of foods. My favorite feature of WW is the meetings and the weigh in. The weigh-ins kept me accountable and goal oriented.
I like My Fitness Pal too. I lost 30 pounds using the website and app and have kept it off for 4 years. You can input your own recipes and it calculates the calories for you. I did this for a while just until I retrained my brain to know what an adequate portion sized looked like.
I use SparkPeople to track my food, and to find info for the recipes I cook.
It's a lot of work at first when you're looking up all the foods and entering your recipes, but it gets easier.
Agree that at the start it's a lot of work learning & entering calories, etc. But, after awhile you'll just instinctively know the caloric values & it'll become quite easy to judge how much to eat.
One thing that I learned was how many calories are in certain foods, i.e. a small cookie. <g>
Substitute an apple for that cookie & you've saved a bunch of calories.
If you drink soda than stop that & start drinking seltzer water or a glass of water with a slice of lemon or lime.
I need to lose about 30 lbs. Every time I think about counting calories, I get overwhelmed. Basically, I don't know how to start/how to do it. I cook. I made chili today with ground turkey, canned tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, canned kidney beans and a ton of spices....how do I count the calories in that?
You dont. You just make better informed decisions on the food you eat. Just from how you wrote your description, I take it that you are someone who "lives to eat" more than you are someone who "eats to live". You know, where most of your events probably center around food and/or food prep.
Like I always tell people here on CD, pick up a good book on NUTRITION, preferably one that has recipes and meal plans included. Learn it, live it, love it. When you start to make better healthy choices of the foods you eat, the less consumed you can be with the counting calorie details. I guarantee if you can do this you will look at that $22.00 you spent on that book as one of the best investments you ever made in your life.
The truth is many of us who have tried to lose weight, have tried many times and have been on various eating plans like WeightWatchers where, if you attend the meetings and eat on the plan for some amount of time, you are taught the proper proportions and what foods need to be eaten in moderation, etc. If you are a serial dieter, you probably know what foods to eat and how much and you don't really need to count calories....you just need to be honest about what you eat and how much you are eating.
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