New to calorie counting

[DaffodilPower]

My question is... How do I do it?!

My lunch is left over dinner.. Dinner is always homemade. Do I weigh everything and figure out the calories from there? Is there an easy (easier) way?

It's only day one and it's giving me a headache already!!

I'm having the same issue. How do you count a baked potato or breast of chicken? I get different amounts on mfp.

It's so bloomin' complicated!

No way around it except to weigh and log stuff. But when you've done it, it's there so you don't need to do it every time. Bit if a slog at first but very worth it.

I know you say dinner is home made but for anything shop bought, use the barcode scanner (if you're using My Fitness Pal to log, and if you're not I recommend you do)

Good luck

Pretty much weigh everything. I cook everything homemade. It literally takes an extra second to just through it on my scales. My scales live on my worktop.

My fitness pal has the option to save meals so if you always make your pasta dish the same away (as long as you weigh it) you wouldn’t have to recalculate it every time which I find useful.

*throw

I weigh everything, it's the only way to truly work it out

Thanks all!

I've started using pen and paper, I'm rubbish at apps, but I might just try this one.

Will invest in some good scales, too!

You can create recipes on MFP.

It takes time the first time you enter all the ingredients, but if you’re anything like me, there are some dishes you have frequently. Every time you have that meal, you just select it from your list of recipes.

Things liked baked potato or chicken breast, just search for it and add the weight. It’s not hard!

Maybe weight watchers would suit better. You are still counting but much easier to work out (and therefore stick to)

I'll look into it.

I'm aiming for 1400 calories/day, I do a very sedentary job and am awful at going to the gym! So trying to maintain where I am now and increase my physical activity...!!

I'm also awful for grazing all day, there's always chocolate in my office!

Daffodil I am on 1300 a day, also quite sedentary. Only 5'4 so not much wiggle room...but a lot of wiggle going on right now!!

I do like My Fitness Pal, I think it's free - definitely try it. Really helps to make it easy. You can just use the dairy/food feature, you don't have to log your weight but if you do you get a really satisfying chart with a nice slow downwards trend when you lose a few kgs!

*diary, not dairy.

1 - re chicken breast etc, there will usually be a generic entry on mfp in grams. Choose that & weigh the breast, then enter the grammage in your diary.

2 - recipes - I used to create my own recipes in MFP. It's a faff weighing the ingredients as you put them in, but you can then enter the number of portions and it gives you an accurate count.

MFP is a really good ap for calorie counting. It’s good for storing recipes too, as others have already said. It also has a good feature where you can copy over a meal to other days. It also tells you what macronutrients you have had, and does nice pie charts. Good luck on 1400 a day. I’ve been trying that without much success and am going to have to lower it.

Also, make sure to buy big flat scales with a ‘tare’ function. This is much easier if you are weighing things directly onto your dinner plate. Good luck!

Weigh stuff uncooked as well - look for uncooked entries on mfp.