Calorie counting for 2026 🎉

[Bookaholic73]

I have totally fallen off the calorie counting bandwagon for the last half of 2025, and will be starting again on Jan 1st 2026.

My goal is to reach 64kg, I am currently 77kg.

Is anyone else starting in Jan and would like to join me?

I’ll join. Like some on this thread I keep thinking about WLI. My BMI and high BP would mean I qualify (privately, not NHS). All the friends I know who have done it have lost loads of weight but also loads of hair. My hair is the only part of me I actually like…

I was looking back at Nutra check and I lost a stone between Jan and end of Feb. I then stopped and gained it all back plus a bit more. The ‘bit more’ comes from lack of exercise. I hurt my back at the end of November and haven’t been to any of my classes since. It’s the only thing that keeps me ‘overweight’ rather than ‘obese’. I can feel I’ve lost fitness and muscle in just a month.

I’ve just got back from a few days away with friends. Ate and drank too much. Sick of that now. Having chicken salad for dinner. Still have too many snacky things in the house though and have an Indian takeaway with friends planned for NYE.

Going to knuckle down after that. Have booked one of my usual exercise classes for tomorrow. I think my back is better now. Physio says I can go back… Pray for me…it’s going to really hurt…!

Hi ladies best of luck to all those who have started / are starting. The hardest bit is getting going. I’ve plans tomorrow and again at the weekend so making my plans to start on Sunday. Going to start the Caroline Girvan iron programme & doing one Pilates in person class a week. Feeling motivated although know it’s going to be tough.

I intended to start yesterday but I just haven’t, there’s too many lingering goodies around and Christmas cake, combined with not much proper food in and, well. So tomorrow will end up a bit boozy as we are at a family party but I’m actually really looking forward to Thursday and some normal food

Ive reined it in today but am still a few hundred over. The number on the scales was a jump back to November weight ( despite all my counting it’s taken six months to lose 10lbs) I’m hoping the diet break has given my metabolism a good restart

Morning all.

I did calorie count yesterday but ended up 100 over my 1800.
So hopefully today will be more in target.
I’m actually thinking about easing myself in gently and starting at 1900 for a few days to a week, I will see how I feel today before I decide.

Hi everyone, good luck if you’re starting today properly, I am.

This morning I had a pre workout of a bagel with butter, then went to the gym.
Had a coffee when I got home, then had some coconut water for electrolytes.

Lunch was a roll with tuna and kimchi salad, it was delicious!

I’m not sure what’s for dinner tonight yet, steak I think, with broccoli. I still have 819cals remaining, so can have a nice substantial dinner with a snack.

I'll join. I'm so disappointed in myself. I was calorie counting, in a great routine with exercise and feeling generally great until the summer holidays when I lapsed while the kids were off school and then everything went to #@&£?

I know I can do it, and I was genuinely so much happier. So I guess I'm starting again from very nearly where I started last January. 😮‍💨

@AnonymousMum38 the good thing is that you know what to do, and you know it works. Good luck!

Have stayed on track calorie wise since the 26th with the exception of last night drinks..however did a class every day including today so thats a plus. I won't be weighting until Sunday , I do fell less bloated so that's a positive sign.So far counting is going ok,it always does in the beginning its the long term I struggle with, hopefully this time it will stick. Hope everyone else starting this today has good success.

@pickupzurie Sundays are my weigh in days too. I feel like that will help me to keep track over the weekend, knowing that I have to weigh on a Sunday.
Well done for staying on track since 26th, that’s impressive.

I was 0.3kg down this morning, very happy with that.
Woke up feeling less bloated already, which was really nice.

Today or breakfast i had a sausage and cheese muffin made at home, and lunch was a chia yogurt pot i made to take to work with me.
For dinner I'm craving salt & pepper chicken and chips, so I'll make that for dinner tonight. It's about 550cals and will keep me full up :)

I am craving chocolate today, which is no surprise as i normally eat a lot of chocolate every day. So i am going to see how many cals i have left after tracking my dinner and hopefully i can fit some chocolate in as a snack tonight.

Well done @Bookaholic73,you are off to a great start. I'm holding tough until Sunday to weigh. Today I had smoked salmon roll, two boiled eggs and an apple for lunch, for dinner I had stir fry beef and veg.later I will have a bag of popcorn and some greek yougart with berries ,which will take me up to 1200 calories for the day. I also did a 40min walk, not intentionally my car ended up in the garage and I had to walk home, o well I'll count it as a win😀

Bought myself a bar of chocolate this evening as I still had more than enough cals leftover after dinner. Win win.
Had a great session at the gym this evening too, so am getting the benefits of all those endorphins.

@pickupzurie your day of food sounds delicious! I adore smoked salmon on anything and everything.
Haha, at least you got some walking in today, even if it was unintentional 😂

Haven't read the whole thread yet, but would like to join! I'm not starting tracking til Tuesday (next grocery delivery is Monday ready for back to work/school Tuesday) but trying to be mindful until then too. I did CC with nutracheck years ago and did really well but have never got back on track after DC.

Not even sure I want to weigh myself before I start! I just know my jeans are very uncomfortable 😩

I try for 1200 but am ok.on 1500 to maintain ... which explains why 3000 a day over Xmas has has an impact lol!

Right, advice needed for an idiot! How do I learn about calorie counting? Is there an app that makes it easier? I recognise this is one reason why I am ineffective at losing weight!

@ellieinfrance, I use the free version of Myfitnesspal app for tracking calories.

Thank you, will have a look. How do I calculate how many I should be eating to lose weight? In the past I've just done eating less, but probably very inaccurately.

@ellieinfrance Google BMR calculator and input your details and it will calculate your daily maintenance and weight loss calorie allowance.

Hi I’ve been lurking, with menopause and going up to full time work so more sedentary my weight has creeped up.

I cook the majority of food from scratch, how do you calculate calories? So for example last night I made a big vegetable ratatouille and had it with quinoa. I can measure things like quinoa but how do you do home made stuff?

I need to stop putting cheese on everything 🫣

I'm in 🙋‍♀️

I use paid for NutraCheck and find it invaluable as we also mostly cook from scratch. You need to weigh each ingredient in order to calculate the calories in a dish and then add them all up and divide by how many portions in order to know exactly how many calories are on your plate.

This may seem like a faff to start with, but you can add recipes to NutraCheck so that you only have to do the weighing and calculating once. Each time you make the same meal, all the numbers are already in there iyswim.

There are other calorie apps but I find NutraCheck the most user friendly and got a month’s free trial link from a kind Mumsnetter on another thread.

ETA you can of course do all this manually using calorie info on packaging or on the ‘net, I did this for most of last year and kept a notebook, but find the app is so much less time consuming and probably much more accurate.

I have found Nutracheck is a really good app for this - I add the ingredients and create a 'meal' which I can then just add with one click next time we eat it. I also like the way you can see and track the fibre / protein etc each day as well as calories.

I have lost 8kg of peri menopausal weight since May, just by tracking and being a bit more mindful - I haven't found it difficult or felt hungry at all and it's just been nice steady consistent progress. I've found making sure I drink plenty of water and eat plenty of fibre has helped the most. And I often seem to stay the same weight for two or three weeks but then lose some the next.

I find it really reassuring seeing my data and I know that if I stick with eating 250 calories a day less than my maintenance calories then I will consistently lose a kilo each month. Nutracheck works all the numbers out - you put in your height and age, how active you are at work and any exercise you do etc.

@MCF86 i was the same re the scales when i started. But the positives to weighing at the beginning is being able to see the progress after the first week :)

@travailtotravel haha i must have been on a minimum of 3k cals a day during the whole of december. Yikes!

Welcome @ellieinfrance i find NutraCheck the best app for tracking calories. If you search for a TDEE calculator online, it'll tell you how many calories a day you need to eat for maintaining your weight, and how many you need to be in a deficit. I've input my data here, and you can input yours. https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=metric&g=female&age=45&kg=76.5&cm=164&act=1.55&f=1

@BlueOceanFish i also need to stop putting cheese on everything...i love cheese! @ProfessorIDareSay has very kindly answered your question on how to calculate home cooked food. I have to say that it is a faff, but once you've done it and saved it as a meal/recipe, you dont have to input the recipe again.

@blubberball it's great to have you on board, do you know what your deficit calories are?

Good evening everyone. It's been another good day here. All on track with my calories and have actually come in 100 cals under today. But i am not really hungry today, so that's ok.

Do you all track your fruit & veg? Unless its higher carb/sugar fruit and veg (like mango, butternut squash etc) i dont count it. I think I'll continue like this for a few weeks and see how it goes. If i dont lose, i'll start counting it.