How do you monitor food intake? Carbs, fat, calories ?

[rubberhead]

So I'm trying to loose weight but after many years of trying keto/ SlimmingWorld/ weight watchers etc I'm getting myself into a bit of a muddle. I find I'm trying to eat full fat versions of things (smaller portions) because low fat versions are usually filled with sugar. Another example would be say a cereal bar is low on calories but heaps of sugar added. I just don't know what the best thing to do is to achieve best results.

Im trying to stop the snacking and skip breakfast, that way im eating fewer cals! It's a whole minefield though

My Fitness Pal.

there are loads of foods/brands in the database so it’s quick to add popular items to your daily food diary.

For home cooking it lets you enter ingredients & amount of portions and works out the calories so you can just click to add it next time you have it.

it can take a bit of time to get used to it but once you have all your favourite foods entered you mostly just click to add the next time, altering the weighted amount if you have more/less of something.

it totals up your carbs, fats, protein & salt as a running total and a little pie chart of fats, carbs, protein so you can see what you’ve got left to play with before your next meal.

it does start you off ridiculously low though so I altered the daily calorie target to suit me rather than the 1,200 it suggested.

don’t log exercise though, it gives you extra calories to eat back, wildly overestimates calories burned and it’s the only time I ended up not losing! Just log food & drink is my advice.

This guy is worth following
What 300 calories looks like
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30g of protein
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It’s calories. No diet escapes basic thermodynamics. Eat less than you expend and your weight will reduce.

Diets provide nuance into how you can do that sustainably. Some people find Slimming World is satisfying and fits into their lifestyle, so it works for them. Some people find low carb or high protein keeps them satisfied longer so it’s easier to consume fewer calories overall. For lots of people that sugary cereal bar would be fine. For others it would set off a cascade of hormonal appetite cravings resulting in hunger and eating irregularly.

The way to get results is to pick one sustainable way to reduce your energy intake below what you’re expending. Stop focusing on external advice and pay attention to your body. What foods do you love? What foods do you eat and then wind up hungry an hour later? Are you eating things out of routine because it’s mealtime and you always eat at this time, or because you’re genuinely physically hungry? Figure those things out first.

The easiest thing for me to do was simply determine what my calorie threshold could be for a given day, and then adjust portion sizes so I was under that number without changing what I ate. It involved weighing and measuring foods accurately, learning to leave food on the plate, learning to not eat just because it’s a mealtime, and learning my own body’s preferences.

That was the key to success. Not a diet. Just fewer calories, in a way that didn’t enormously impact my life so it was easier to maintain.