How to calculate calories.

[Sunshine]

When it comes to calorie counting or anything to do with calculating calories I am clueless...not only that but I get a bit freaked on the whole thing and think oh god it's just way to hard and shy away,however I really feel like it's something I should learn.

So what the best way and EASIEST way for me to learn about calories ie) how much is in food how much is needed etc.

I have had a few people try and explain but it just never seem to make sense :shock:

Thanks.

[rose]

Use online calorie counter sites to look up foodz, OR

Go to the library and get out a calorie counter book.

Use measuring devices, measuring cup whatever, OR

Buy a set of cheap scales.

http://www.nutritiondata.com

There are other websites which let you create menus and all sorts of flash stuff but I don't use them so can't recommend one. Someone else should be able to. Cue someone else...

[teamfatboy]

There's much useful advice under the Resources tab at the top of the page - or here

In terms of how a person works out how many cals they need, based on age/weight/height and so on... I'm not personally aware of any websites but there will be folk how are....

[Sunshine]

Thanks will check the links out.No doubt I will learn more and more along the way.

[Travel Express]

the amount of KJ, on the back of a pack divided by 4.2 as for working out foods such as fruit etc, just use a website or ya can get technical with ya calculator . but i have forgotten how to do that :roll:

As for average cal's a day i think a Girl/woman to maintain weight is around 1800cals, and a male is around 2500cals. Keep in mind this can change with the amount of exercise and the amount of energy you burn in a day. also there are websites for helping you work that out

[manwithav8]

fitday.com

Input all your foods for a week and it will give you an average of your daily caloric intake. Adjust to suit your needs and goals. ie eating too much, cut back, not enough, eat more.

fitday.com also gives protein/carbs/fat for each food you input.

It is free to join and really easy to use. also use it to plan you rmeals to reach the calories for that day that you need and prepare your meals the night or day before..

It does all the work for you except for the shopping and cooking lol

[ThePman]

The rule of thumb I use is 15 cals per pound of bodyweight, or 33 cals per kg, for maintenance calories in a reasonably active person.

12 cals/lb, or 26 cals/kg, is the high-end starting point for dieting, again for a reasonably active person. Depending on how you respond and how lean you already are, that may ultimately have to dip down as low as even 7-8 cals/lb (15-17 cals/kg), but it's easier to start high and work down as you lose.

There's all kinds of other convoluted formulas out there that try to estimate activity level and TEF based on how much protein you get and blah blah blah, but the actual outcome never seems to deviate much from those numbers.

Everything's an estimate from the outset and you'll have to fine-tune it regardless, so I just use the easier numbers to create a starting point.

[Pseudonym]

I've been using the Cunningham Equation, but the calories seem ridiculously high. Anyone else experienced this?

[frogie2001]

Honestly I worked up a spread sheet with a reasonable database of foods. data collected from lables and net etc. from the spreadsheet I am able to work the portion sizes, carb, cal, pro etc ratios. fairly handy tool. and it worked well when I was in the uk and cranking out 4000cal a day.

[Draft]

I've been using the Cunningham Equation, but the calories seem ridiculously high. Anyone else experienced this?

Hmmm, I just tried it too. I have normally been relying on the Harris-Benedict formula or the Katch-McArdle (here). Both gave me maintenance cals or around 2,450 (at 12% bf).

Using that equation gave me about 500 more and thats before I took into account whether the day was a training day or a non-training day (still based on 12% bf).

[Chillicat]

Honestly I worked up a spread sheet with a reasonable database of foods. data collected from lables and net etc. from the spreadsheet I am able to work the portion sizes, carb, cal, pro etc ratios. fairly handy tool. and it worked well when I was in the uk and cranking out 4000cal a day.

I'm doing the same at the moment for my 10 week cut. First page has a list of all the foods I normally eat with nutrition details, then a new tab for each week. All I have to do is copy and paste meal plans for each day and rearrange where necessary if the calories are too off.

There is just one meal where I'm largely guesstimating, and that's my dinner. I tend to cook in bulk and make lots of 2 person sized portions for my freezer, as I want to eat asap when I get home, so don't cook on workdays, just reheat my delicious home cooked meals from the freezer. But to be honest I just can't be bothered being overly anal about working out the exact calorie/carb/protein/fat count for every single dish I have in the freezer. So I work on a guesstimate basis for most of these meals (based on the fact that I buy my meat in 150g max per person portions and insist that if I have a dish with 600g meat, it makes 4 portions - no matter that my husband wants more!).

There is the occasional recipe I use that has nutritional content - so I use that as a guideline too, but otherwise I just work on average based on the meals I eat that I do know the calories for, and call my dinners an even 400 cals and be done with it.

I figure that if I'm dieting and not losing, then perhaps I'm underestimating the calories in the dinners - but that's not happening, so I reckon it's good enough.

[frogie2001]

shouldn't you be keeping cal intake regular everyday? after allyou need cals to recover

[steak]

I've been using the Cunningham Equation, but the calories seem ridiculously high. Anyone else experienced this?

found it alot higher than the others

[rose]

.

[ThePman]

Why on earth would you want to feed your fat cells?

'cause you don't have a choice? Your body's gonna feed 'em how it wants 'em fed :wink:

[rose]

.

[ThePman]

nah you're right in the scheme of things, I'm just giving you a hard time.

Lean mass is the only thing you're "trying" to feed (partitioning issues aside), so you really only worry about that in the calculations. What actually happens RE: tissue loss is pretty well outside our control anyway (aside from the little help we get from lifting + protein intake), so there's no point sweating it.

BTW 120 * 12 = 1440 cals, which is well inside the margin of error from 1312 :grin:

[teamfatboy]

That's what I like to read - a "discussion" of options. Now play nice or the grownups will come and sort y'all out :naughty: :grin:

I'm considerably better informed about this area than I was before... I'd never heard of Cunningham or Katch-McArdle - so I've got some happy googling ahead of me (once life stops getting in the way :evil: )

[rose]

Now play nice or the grownups will come and sort y'all out

Maybe you could get that "Old Guy" Nate to mediate :pfft:

[Sunshine]

That's what I like to read - a "discussion" of options. Now play nice or the grownups will come and sort y'all out :naughty: :grin:

I'm considerably better informed about this area than I was before... I'd never heard of Cunningham or Katch-McArdle - so I've got some happy googling ahead of me (once life stops getting in the way :evil: )

Looks like I need to read lots and lots :shock: cause I am just baffled by this all.

[rose]

Looks like I need to read lots and lots :shock: cause I am just baffled by this all.

A good starting point is Pman's advice Miss Sunshine, and find a food calorie counter online that suits your requirements, nutritiondata or fitday etc

The other piece of advice worth noting is the conversion of kilojoules to calories (i.e. divide the kilojoules by 4.2), as often packaging only states kilojoules.

The rule of thumb I use is 15 cals per pound of bodyweight, or 33 cals per kg, for maintenance calories in a reasonably active person.

12 cals/lb, or 26 cals/kg, is the high-end starting point for dieting, again for a reasonably active person. Depending on how you respond and how lean you already are, that may ultimately have to dip down as low as even 7-8 cals/lb (15-17 cals/kg), but it's easier to start high and work down as you lose.

There's all kinds of other convoluted formulas out there that try to estimate activity level and TEF based on how much protein you get and blah blah blah, but the actual outcome never seems to deviate much from those numbers.

Everything's an estimate from the outset and you'll have to fine-tune it regardless, so I just use the easier numbers to create a starting point.

[Ronin]

Whilst out sifting around Kmart the other day, I came across a set of "Nutritional Scales". They claim to have the cals/protein/fat/carbs/sugar etc etc of over 900 foods pre-set into it, and you just tell it what the food is, weigh it, and it gives you a breakdown of the macros. Has anyone used these before or know if they work as well as the claim? Or is it just a waste of $? Seems almost too good to be true

[runveerun]

[teamfatboy]

Whilst out sifting around Kmart the other day, I came across a set of "Nutritional Scales". They claim to have the cals/protein/fat/carbs/sugar etc etc of over 900 foods pre-set into it, and you just tell it what the food is, weigh it, and it gives you a breakdown of the macros. Has anyone used these before or know if they work as well as the claim? Or is it just a waste of $? Seems almost too good to be true

If the foods were basic foodstuffs, maybe it'd have some use - but I have seen these in the States, and the issue I saw with them was that many of the "foods" were like Brand-X Cornflakes, Brand-Y cornflakes..

Get one out of the box, power it up and have a good look at it.

[Sunshine]

Wow that would be good if it works on all brands of food.I'm gonna have a wee look? Cross fingers.