Gutted that calories are in EVERYTHING!

[JustGotTheJaundice]

Lighthearted rant, been on MJ for a while now and getting to the stage where I'm really putting in the effort to overhaul my eating habits for when I reach goal.
I've been logging (absolutely accurately) on MyFitnessPal every single thing that has passed my lips in the last 4 weeks. I've been reading labels, weighing everything and not cheating at all. I realise I need about 1500 calories a day to lose about 1 or 1.5lbs a week (thanks, dysfunctioning thyroid).
But I'm amazed by how many calories are in EVERYTHING. I've clearly been underestimating them by about 20%. For 20 years. No wonder I got so fat!
Saying "oh yes that's about 150 calories" when in reality it's closer to 200.
Do "normal" people just know the correct amounts? And where did I get my ideas from anyway?

Me too, it’s a huge part of why I gained, I was eating a little kilner jar of overnight oats every morning. Healthy right?

yet, the two flat level table spoons of chia seeds I put in, were 500 cals. Another 100 in the oats. Another 100 in the oat milk. Another 60 in a small spoon of honey. Another 80 in a handful of raisins. Then my fruit, or little chocolate chips, I was probably looking at close to 900 cals just for my breakfast, and sitting there thinking I was eating healthy and being on a diet. Unsure why I was still gaining.

just as your food is healthy doesnt mean it’s not making you fat.

Yep it sucks.

Im strangely massively helped this time round by the fact I now have diabetes. I just can’t eat many carbs, if I do my sugars go crazy high and I feel like shit, it’s that simple, so I barely eat any and it’s loads easier to stick to calorie limits because carbs are high calorie.

If you want something carb based then potatoes are your best bet, they are nutritionally dense and have a much higher satiety index so a smaller amount of them will fill you up more than other carbs. Alas my body says no and potatoes cause a massive sugar rise that lasts hours so they are on the ‘once in a blue moon’ list for me which makes me sad.

If I'm eating something high fat like nuts then I would know just to have a small handful not quarter of a whole bag. If someone regularly eats that much with not enough exercise then ...

Yes, chia seeds are surprisingly calorific. I was shocked when I looked them up one day!

I still eat porridge sometimes. With chia and pumpkins seeds. But really I should measure it out. Add sugar and milk and It can easily be a 500 + calorie breakfast.

I think that’s great you know, but many people don’t, that’s the point being made.they don’t sit and count them out and understand the cals and fat in them,

Exactly, 2 level table spoons of chia seeds or one heaped table spoon js 500 cals. And people eat them like it’s nothing, add in oats, milk, raisins some honey, a few nuts, and that’s not a 500 cal breakfast, that’s closer to 1000 cal breakfast,

its just one example of things people think are healthy, and they are, but tiny quantities add a huge amount of cals, one level table spoon of chia seeds has as many cals as a mars bar,

I dont count them out either. I'm not sure where the education needs to be, is it at home when people are being raised or in school? I learnt a lot from my mother and obviously nowadays we have google etc to ask these questions. Once you know nuts are high fat, albeit good fat, then you can take that into account in your daily eating.

I just checked my pack of chia seeds, it says 486 kcal per 100 gr. A spoon is not 100gr.
But otherwise I agree, people significantly underestimate calories consumed, and overestimate calories burned by exercise.