How do I work out calories?

[Mercy]

I need to put some weight on and I think it's quite likely that I don't eat enough, so I think I need to increase my calorie intake.

I know I can look at the labels on things like bread - but what about meals you make yourself? How can I work out how many calories I had yesterday, for example?

Sorry if this seems a dumb question but it's not something I've had to think about before!

Alot of food has nutritional information on it, so you can work out calories by working out how much of a packet you ate.

For eg if a packet is 500g, and there are five servings in a packet(so each serving is 100g), and each serving is 100 cals, there are a total of 500 calories in the packet (5 servings by 100 calories). If you ate say 1/4 of a packet, then you had 1/4 of 500 cals so 125 cals.

Other useful things are scales, and a calorie counter book, available in all good bookshops....

Hope that helps,

I imagine any dieting book/site will tell you the calories for stnadard meals. Eat lots of Avocados - they're high in calories but VERY good for you.

When my friend was losing weight it was because she was anaemic - I'm not wanting to pry into your reasons for needing to gain weight, I just thought I'd mention that.

Forgot to say thank you! I will look out for a calorie counter in the book shop.

Ninja, I'm a naturally thin person anyway but have being trying to follow a low fat diet because my cholesterol is a bit high. Unfortunately I've lost a bit of weight as a result and I can't afford to tbh. So I think extra calories is the way to go.

So far, I have managed an extra 2 slices of bread today!

Lie around as much as you can!!! And don't eat anything that says 'low fat'! It's quite difficult putting on weight, and it's not that easy changing your appetite to eat more. I've put on a bit of weight after 2 babies, but I expect it'll come off eventually. I'm better in my new size.