Controlling Calories
Updated on October 04, 2007
I don't know anybody who wakes up and says, "I just can't wait to count all my calories today." It's tedious! Sometimes, it is necessary though.
Just like a diabetic person needs to pay attention to sugar levels (don't do it, and your blood sugar will go out of control), a person who is controlling obesity needs to pay attention calories (don't do it, and you're weight will go out of control).
At first, you do need to count calories because you probably don't know off the top of your head how many calories you're consuming, but eventually you'll be able to estimate your calorie intake by paying attention to serving size and number.
To Food Log or Not
Some people like having a food log because it keeps them on task. Some people hate it.
Either way, you should at least keep a food log for at least the first few days of your new healthy lifestyle, so you can see where your calories come from and how many calories you're eating every day.
If you're usually on the go, just get yourself a tiny spiral notebook and a small pencil, which you can just stick in your pocket, and make a brief note of what you eat and how many calories are in it. (Most restaurants have nutrition information available if you ask for it.)
If you're usually at home, stick your food log to the refrigerator and update it while you are in the kitchen getting your food and cleaning up.
Label Reading
If it comes in a package, look at the label and make note of the serving size and the number of calories in the serving.
Many recipes, if followed exactly, have serving size and calorie information listed at the bottom of the recipe.
If your recipe doesn't have calorie information, or if you have a habit of just throwing ingredients into the pan, write down each ingredient and the quantity. Then put it in a recipe calculator like NATS Version 2 (just enter in each ingredient one at a time an analyze the entire recipe or meal).
Round Up
You don't have to be exact, and it actually may be better if you aren't. If one slice of bread is 72 calories, just round up to 75, so it will be easier for you to do the math in your head. (Plus, you'll save yourself 3 calories.)
Measure Your Meal
To make sure that you are getting an accurate calculation of your calorie intake, you need to measure your food. Become familiar with what 1 serving looks like. One cup of cereal often doesn't fill up the whole bowl. One cup of juice often doesn't fill up the whole glass.
If you don't want to measure it every single time, know how much you can fit into your dishes. How many cups of water does it take to fill up one of your drinking glasses or your coffee mug? How many cups does it take to fill up your bowl? You may discover that 1 serving is really only 1/2 of a glass or 1/2 of a bowl. If you look at your dish and feel deprived, either buy smaller dishes or fill it up with something low in calories (like fresh fruit and vegetables to your dish or add water to fill up your glass and water down your juice).
A good way to get yourself familiar with serving sizes without relying on the size of your dishes (which can change when you go out to eat or to a friend's house) is to look at how the amount fills your hand. (Chefs do this all the time, so they don't have to get out the measuring cups and spoons for every ingredient.) How much of your hand does it cover? How many fingers thick is it? How heavy is it?
Make It Second Nature
Eventually, you will get to the point where you know how big a serving size is, and you'll know the approximate number of calories in foods you eat frequently.
You'll know exactly how much bread, mayo, and cheese to use in your sandwich, and you'll know that when you make your sandwich in this usual way, it has about 400 calories. You won't need to write down every single ingredient in your sandwich into your food log. You'll just write "cheese sandwich 400 calories."
Then you'll get to the point where you're adding them up in your head without the food log and figuring out how much you can eat later in the day. (e.g. Raisin Bran Cereal: 200 calories. Cheese Sandwich: 400 calories. Apple and Peanut Butter: 300 calories. "Hey I still have 500 calories left for dinner and 200 for an evening snack!")
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