Any tips for calorie counting?

[IceRebel]

I was to lose about 2 stone and think calorie counting would best suit me, other than eating a lot of veg and salad does anyone have any tips?

Is 1000-1200 calories a day enough for me? (i'm 5ft 5 ish) and over 12 stone.)

What foods are filling and low calorie?

Would I lose weight without any specific exercise routine? I walk a lot and am on my feet all day, but don't have time for the gym or a trainer.

Thanks in advance. :)

Opps I meant I want, not "I was"

Not a great start, a typo on the first line. (Sorry)

1200 will be fine. 1000 is too low.

Install My Fitness Pal. Log EVERYTHING you eat and drink. Don't take the exercise estimations of calories burned too literally as they are over generous.

Drink water.

Restrict/eliminate bad carbs and sugar.

Don't eat loads of fruit.

Don't eat diet products that are full of chemicals. Eat smaller amounts of proper food.

Exercise!

I was 12st 7lb at my heaviest (5'4) and I'm now 9st 2lb and happily maintaining. You CAN do it .

Not sure about MFP, as I don't have a smartphone, and i'm not on the computer a lot, so am thinking about writing everything down instead.

What would you say are bad carbs?

I'm trying to drink 1 - 2 litres of water a day, which really helps me feel full.

Why not lots of fruit (sorry new to the whole dieting world)

When you say exercise, is being on my feet all day and walking enough? As like I said in my OP I don't have the time to dedicate to exercise that I wish I could. (busy job and stressful life)

Well done on your weight loss, how long did it take to achieve? :)

I second the recommendation for Myfitnesspal. I have lost just under 4 stone since last June using it.

Would MFP work if i'm not online a lot and have no smartphone? It sounds helpful, but I think I would struggle if I didn't have a constant internet connection, as you would need to log things as you go right?

I don't think it matters where you record what you have consumed, so long as you record it somewhere. My Fitness Pal works for a lot of people because they always have their smartphone with them and it works out a lot of things that you would otherwise need a calculator for (how many calories per portion, calories gained from excercising etc.). I use a spreadsheet to the same ends, though I am using a variation on the old WeightWatchers points system rather than calorie counting.

The changes that helped me the most were:

? Cutting out snacks (Giving up chocolate as a snack not having chocolate as a snack reduces the snacks available so much that it stops me snacking).
? Using stairs instead of lifts.
? Using the bicycle instead of the car for journeys under a mile.
? Not drinking at home during the week.
? Padding sandwiches out with Salad and main meals out with veg.
? Drinking lots of liquids during the day, if you feel hungry drink first and wait 10 minutes (mainly no added sugar squash).

Hope this helps and good luck with it!

Those are great tips, thank you ClubSmed

I have already cut out all snacks, chocolate was the first to go.

I try and use stairs as much as possible, all those steps so add up, I would love to be able to afford a fitbit to count them all. :)

Padding out meals with veg and salad is a big one i've started to do, low calories and very filling. :D

Any ideas of what foods I could try that are low calorie and yummy?

Typical weekday for me looks like this:

Breakfast
2 x Toast (I only buy small loaves now, not the full sized) with low fat spreadable butter and Marmalade or Marmite / Sachet of porrige (like OatSoSimple) made with semi skimmed milk

Snacks
None, just drink something if I feel peckish.

Lunch
2 x Ham Salad Sandwich thins (use Dijon mustard and no butter)/ Flavoured Tuna and Salad Bowl (by varying the flavour of the John West Spreadables tuna and type of salad bowl it keeps it interesting)
Proppercorn / Velvet Crunch / Quavers

Dinner
Whatever the rest of the family is having, just exercise a little portion control and pile on the veg if possible and always have a soft drink with it.

Drinks
Tea/ Coffee
No added sugar squash (I drink litres of this through the day)

The secret is variety, if you don't have it you will soon grow bored and fall off the wagon. Also don't be too afraid of having a controlled binge (night /lunch out etc.) as it keeps your metabolic rate up (in my opinion), so long as it is controlled and not too often. My weekends tend to be controlled binges where I eat out at least once and have a few alcoholic drinks each night.

That's very helpful, thank you for taking the time to reply. Sounds like variety is the key, so I will definitely take that advice on board and mix up what I eat. I might even try some new things. :D

Something I'm finding quite effective is to decide the night before what I'll eat the next day. I log it into MFP in advance (or you could just write it down in your food diary if you're not using MFP) and it makes it much easier to stick to. Previously I was logging food as I went along, which resulted in me being tempted more frequently by less healthy, high calorie things.

Oww forward planning makes sense, sometimes the simple things just pass me by :D Thank you.

I'm having 2 boiled eggs with a quarter of an avocado for breakfast.
Homemade minestrone for lunch. Or a salad.
Dinner is meat and veg like chilli or chicken but without the potatoes or pasta/rice.
Greek yoghurt and berries for dessert.
If I eat like this I don't get hungry.
Plus a litre of water at least a day.
Cut out sugar in tea.