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Calorie-counting

Discuss calorie counting, including tips, challenges and real-life experiences. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

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Original poster

Amazed to discover calorie contents

30 replies

FantasticMrsFoxx · 01/10/2016 23:33

I'm trying to lose weight and have started using MFP and despite thinking I'm reasonable intelligent and understanding that chocolate has more calories than an apple, I have to say I've been genuinely surprised by the calorie content of some foods:
One (thumb size) milky way choc is 96 calories - which is approx what I expended on my 20 minute walk to the gym; and the (pre packed) Mediterranean salad bowl I had (with pizza!) tonight was just 32 calories!
It explains a lot....!!
My "problem" has been all the "extra" calories (wine, choc, crisps... wine mainly!) I've been consuming without really thinking but sadistically enjoying the "burn" of working out and thinking "be gone jaffa cake"!

OP posts:

Original poster

FantasticMrsFoxx · 01/10/2016 23:35

Not intelligent enough to proof read my post: reasonably intelligent

OP posts:

grandmainmypocket · 02/10/2016 00:00

I hear you. I'm not following any particular diet but for 7 weeks I've been calorie counting. I'm shocked a sainsbury s cookie has 364 calories, of which I could eat 4 in one day.

It's been a real eye opener.

user1471594659 · 04/10/2016 01:06

I don't deny myself food per se, but these days I do ask myself if it's worth the calories. It's about arming yourself with full facts and making smart choices!

thehugemanatee · 04/10/2016 01:41

I KNOW!!

Im on MFP too and was really shocked by how easily I was eating 500 calories just in snacks and drinks. Replaced usual snacks with cucumber, celery, and carrot sticks now, and only drink coffee and water.

My meals were also way more calorific than I thought they were. I'm doing 1500 calories a day now and it's so much less food. No wonder I put on so much weigh. I don't feel hungry either so I was eating way more than I need.

oldlaundbooth · 04/10/2016 01:46

Tell me about it.

The most shocking for me was cereal : I was eating three portions at a time! Each was was 500 cals, I should've had a brownie instead.

Pasta is an eye opener too.

thehugemanatee · 04/10/2016 02:26

Yes to both of those. Especially cereal. I was eating a full bowl of cereal when a portion is just a handful.

PollysPoppy · 05/10/2016 22:24

Me too! I started MFP back in the summer and the first couple of weeks really opened my eyes. I mean, how could anyone last on a 30g bowl of cereal? So I was eating nearly 100g Frosties and my breakfast calories were huge. Add to that coffees, biscuits, home baking etc. Home cooked meals too - pasta, rice. And a teeny square of popping candy chcoloate is 46 cals! I'm on 1300 cals a day and struggled at first but would now struggle to eat more than that without reverting to unhealthy snacks!

Original poster

FantasticMrsFoxx · 06/10/2016 20:15

The snacks very quickly add up - even the healthier ones. A banana (75), small apple (50) and a plain yoghurt (125) make 250.
I was busy at work today and forgot to take my morning banana in with me anyway so perhaps I don't NEED something at 11am afterall. Meant I could have extra oven chips with dinner instead!

OP posts:

AuntieStella · 06/10/2016 20:25

Weighing pasta was a bit of a nasty revelation!

The amount of toast I used to eat proved a big alarming calorie-wise too. As does label checking when buying lunch - I've abandoned Pret (sandwiches for too calorific, salad quoted without the (included) dressing). But have discovered Boots Shapers range.

And Hula Hoops Puft - about go half the calories of the regular ones.

Dontlaugh · 06/10/2016 20:36

Pasta, toast, croissants, are all eye opening. But MFP is so brilliant, I love it.
Even apples add up . And cups of tea were my eye opener. I don't snack at all now, or if I do it better be bloody worth it!
Also counts my steps, phone usually always on me, so good way to track activity.

stationtostation · 06/10/2016 20:42

3 weeks in on mfp and doing well, I thought I had quite a good grasp on calories just reading the packets once in a blue moon.
But salted peanuts!!! I can't believe how many hundreds of calories I used to scoff in the evening!

Eolian · 06/10/2016 20:45

But surely you've noticed calorie counts on packaging before?

SquirrelPaws · 06/10/2016 20:51

Waitrose falafel wrap, about 430. Waitrose double chocolate cookie, about 400. I still bought it and ate it, but am not surprised I put on weight when eating the M&S equivalent several times a week. The M&S one comes from the bakery bit so isn't in a packet with a label on. Clearly I knew chocolate biscuits were fattening, but I hadn't thought about the extent of it.

startingtolooklikemother · 06/10/2016 20:52

Reading with great interest Numpty question but what's MFP?

AuntieStella · 06/10/2016 21:01

MFP = My Fitness Pal, which is a consumption/expenditure tracker app.

I had to be dragged kicking and screaming towards using it - as I thought it would be too fiddly and mean I was always thinking about food. But it's dead easy (not least because it has a HUGE database of foods already there) and it links to other apps (in my case Runkeeper) so it tracks my runs and walks without me having to input anything.

Dontlaugh · 06/10/2016 21:02

MFP = My Fitness Pal, an app that measures calories and tracks activities with the aim of tracking calories and weight.
There's a scone in my workplace that comes in at 450 cals. That's ridiculous.
Where I live, calories are now displayed on menus. It certainly gives pause for thought.
But it's all relative and sensible - I ate in an amazing 3* Michelin restaurant recently, I didn't even think about cals or weight. I was there to eat! And that was that. It was delicious.
But I was aware of my intake overall and adjusted for the following days. Otherwise I'd be a balloon.

AuntieStella · 06/10/2016 21:03

And I agree that felafels are a snare!

Waitrose sweet potato ones are the lowest I've found.

Snazarooney · 06/10/2016 21:04

I agree with all of this!

PollysPoppy · 06/10/2016 21:50

I put all my recipes into MFP. Tonight's dinner (pasta with salmon, cream, peas and Parmesan) was 652 calories a portion .... a few months ago that would have left me flabberghasted but it didn't really surprise me. Made DS a birthday cake yesterday - chocolate galore at 589 a slice ..... needless to say I've had two days of over indulgence!!

Must check out falafels - find it hard to find tast, low cal lunches ...
sick of my usual eggs in various forms, smoked salmon etc. Having Marks soup this week which is a refreshing change.

StealthPolarBear · 06/10/2016 21:55

Sushi is good for lunch

SadSock · 06/10/2016 21:58

Oh this is great just what I need, going to try mfp

Dontlaugh · 06/10/2016 22:09

I found an Aldi "Skinny Soup" which tastes lovely and isn't eggs . Lots of green veg with Parmesan. Fab. I think 117kcals for 300gms. I am sick of eggs. I'd kill a chicken if it walked in front of me at this moment, because it lays fn eggs.

PickAChew · 06/10/2016 22:26

I think Pret sandwiches are great. Loads of high protein, high fibre options between 4-500 calories which fill me up for a good 6 hours often involving a lot of walking around.

And the salads, with half the dressing, still come in around 500 calories.

Boots shapers just don't even look appealing and the times I've tried the M&S count on us, I've ended up shakey and ravenous by 3pm. Today's lunch, as I was out until 2pm, was the M&S prawn Mayo. Full fat. Under 400 cal. I had a left over half a tub of chicken and veg soup when I got home and shared a pack of chicken enchiladas with DH for dinner. We both had a pile of salad with it. This is how today has looked - the being out of the house and busy has resulted in a lot of food courtesy of good old St Michael but look at al those calories I have leftover for wine :o I don't do low fat. The light Alpro is the one I choose because it's unsweetened and I hate the taste of actual milk on my muesli. I'm lactose intolerant and lactofree is a little sweeter tasting than regular milk.

DH has been doing mfp with me (I started in May - down from 11st7 to 10st4, so no longer barrel shaped) and, as I suspected, was alarmed by how many calories he was putting away in bread. He'd developed a habit for a pile of white bread - I nudged him towards a smaller amount of seedy bread, which while calorific, with plenty of meat, or even cheese and maybe some salad (he only eats salad in sandwiches when I make them!) was a lot more filling. He discovered for himself that pease pudding was a nice, low calorie way of moistening the whole sandwich. It doesn't agree with me at all, but I do enjoy a spoonful of full fat mayo in lieu of butter.

PickAChew · 06/10/2016 22:28

Don't laugh - mpf forums are awash with bloody eggs. Not even the tasty, iron rich bit - just bloody egg whites (alternated with chicken breast, of course, so maybe that's your alternative to eggs, when you've murdered the poor unsuspecting chicken).

MadisonAvenue · 06/10/2016 22:29

I've been buying Aldi pre-packed salads, chicken and bacon usually and the packaging stated it as being 367 calories (MFP have it listed as that too). Lots of carrot and lettuce, lean chicken breast chunks, a small amount of bacon crumbs and soup pasta and a dollop of mayo but not a huge amount. It all seemed to add up about right.

I picked some up this week and they've been repackaged - and the calorie content is apparently now over 650 cals. Not sure whether it's wrong and should be more around the 350 mark or if the calorie content on the old packaging was wrong and I've in fact been eating around 300 calories more than I thought when I've had one of these salads.

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