Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Counting Calories?

I have decided to try to count calories this week. Also count the amount of protein and water I take in. The goal is 1500 calories a day, 138grams of protein a day, 87.5 ounces of water a day. I have never done this before and it will be a challenge but I am going to give it a try. Here is day 1, Monday's results. If you know how many calories some of the items are, I would love input, thanks.

Food Log:
7 cups of 8 ounces of water= 56 ounces

Breakfast: 3 100 calorie packs: 300 calories, 3 grams of protein
1 cup of herbal tea: -80 calories

Dinner: 1 Chicken Breast with Italian Dressing-150 calories, 25 grams of protein
Baked Beans- 7grams of protein, no idea of calories(anyone know)?
Italian Tomato Salad- 70 calories, not sure about protein?
Chicken Soup Mix from herbalife- 70 calories, 15 grams of protein

Snack: 1/2 cup of Lima Beans- 120 calories, 7 grams of protein

Snack: 2 pieces of Bacon(not sure?) 2-3 eggs scrambles- 200 calories, 12 grams of protein

Late night snack: Protein Drink Mix with milk- label - 250 calories, 20grams of protein

2 Bud Light beers: 220 calories

Total Calories: 1380 calories- 80 calories(the tea burns 80 calories a cup)= 1300 calories that I know of, some I didn't know

Protein: 89 grams, wow I thought I had more

Water: 56 ounces, I thought I had more water too

6 comments:

Lori said...

Baked beans are around 150 calories for 1/2 a cup, depends a little on how much bacon was used to make them!

You can look up foods to get estimates at www.livestrong.com (you can track there as well).

It does take some work to make sure you get enough protein. Your breakfast had very little with the 100 calorie packs. A good choice would be oatmeal with some flavored protein powder added (if you want something sweet), or an omelete with fruit or whole grain toast for the same number of calories (plus more filling).

Karen said...

I love counting calories most of the time, but in the beginning it can be a struggle until you figure out and commit to memory how many calories things are!

I agree with Lori about your breakfast; oatmeal would be a good choice; or my favorite is a whole wheat english muffin with 2tbsp peanut butter.

Good luck!

big_mummy said...

1500 doesnt sound enough for you... men need more. i cant remember how much you weigh or how active you are, but i have a handbook thing here that i use for my weightloss (weightlossresources.co.uk) they do a free 24 hours trial, but would be enough to log in and put your details down and get a calorie intake thats right for you. if you have too little calories your body will start working against you.

Doug said...

I'm 5'10" and 200 pounds and I try to stick around 1900 calories. When I was 230 I was probably around 2200.

Use this to find your bmr - http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
and this to find your total calories burned -
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

Gives a good starting point and play around from there.

Easiest way to count calories is to use an online tool. I'm using dailyburn.com right now and I've used my-calorie-counter.com I'm sure there are many others. If you have a smartphone its a lot easier to keep track of, otherwise figure out what works for you.

Good luck, it'll take probably a month of tracking solid to get a good idea of how much you should have for a healthy lose. Another 5-6 months and you will have a rough idea of calories in most foods. I don't track all the time now but I do once in awhile to ground myself and make sure I'm still around target.

Emmett losing weight said...

Thanks for all the ideas!!

Emmett losing weight said...

Any place where you don't have to sigup to get estimates on calories?