How do you properly count calories?

[Nocturnal]

I'm trying to lose weight since I have high blood pressure. I can count simple calories like sodas and what not since it has the nutrition value on the outside of the can. What about when it comes to dinner, when I eat vegetables, hamburger, bread, lettuce, etc? Does anyone know how to I guess, properly guess the amount of calories I'm eating?

 

[shortspanishguy]

small scale, measuring cups


You can normally figure stuff out by serving sizes.

 

[mb]

Easiest way is to get a digital scale to weigh your portions.
Then type in google the food you have with the word calories and you should be able to find it. Using some simple math, you can figure out appx how many calories you're getting.

 

[mundane]

Integers (you could get away with short, too). No need for longs, and floats/doubles just complicate matters.

 

[mugs]

Fitday.com has a database of the nutritional values of a lot of different foods.

It will also let you track your intake.

 

[IGBT]

..what about measuring calories burnt in excersise? nearly all arobic machines have calories used indicator.. but I suspect they're not very accurate.

 

[theknight571]

It all about serving size.

I agree, get a kitchen scale and measuring cups.

Then measure everything for awhile. Eventually you'll be able to estimate sizes pretty well and won't need to measure everything.

If you prepare your own meals, it's fairly easy, since almost everything has nutritional info on it.

In a restrurant ask if they have nutritional info, if not just estimate portion size and look it up later.

Calorie King is my favorite calorie database at the moment. They even have lots of fast food and other restrurant info in there.

It also allows you to recalculate calories based on serving, ounce, gram, etc. (for most items)

Personally I don't even try to keep track of what calories I burn during exercise. I just stick to my calorie limit and keep up with the exercise.

Edit: Try not to cut anything out of your diet. I'm a firm believer that if you restrict yourself you're just setting yourself up for failure.

I still eat pizza, fast food, ice cream, etc. I'm just "smarter" when I do, keeping portions in control, and going sugar free when possible.

Also, don't fret if you go over your limit for a day... just get back on track the next day and keep going.

 

[zebano]

Originally posted by: mugs
Fitday.com has a database of the nutritional values of a lot of different foods.

It will also let you track your intake.

Excellent site.