How practicable is measuring the calorie intake of every day ?

Hi Darmesh,

I feel Healthifyme app is little simple compared to MFP for south-indian recipes. If possible, try it.
Also you will have a fitness trainer and dietician for consultation in case of any queries.

 

Okay.. m assuming u need help in "how to use this tool"

Steps:- as u enter u will see on the left in big bold green color ur total calorie need for the day. it may be 1200 - 2000. depending on what info u entered in ur profile.
On the right u will see "Add to diary" - click on that
it will take u to a page that shows "breakfast", "lunch", "dinner" etc
click on "breakfast' ---> a page shows up with a "search for food" bar ---> type "roti" and press enter ---> it will give u a list of foods already in their database --> select appropriate one, i chose "roti, whole wheat chapati" select that--> then it asks for number of servings --> enter "4" i.e., replace 1 by 4 --> after that on the top u will see a "tick mark sign" select that --> and that is it... u have entered into ur dairy the food u ate. The calorie count appropriately decreases from ur daily expenditure.

Same way u can track ur exercises when u select "cardiovascular" or "strength" from the list that has breakfast, lunch etc. I hope u get it??

If u still need help, let me know.. i will try to explain better.

For now i think forget about the weighing scale & measuring ur own foods, Select the foods already in the database as a base for calories. It will be more or less a few calories up & down & that's okay.. no one needs to be so very strict. I don't sit & measure each n every ounce of oil that i put in my food... that's crazy.. just select from the database .. iv lost weight just as well doing just that..

 

Oh i dint see.. gauri has already explained!! Nonetheless..

 

Darmesh, I have successfully used the controlled calorie intake method and have lost what i am supposed to and now I am in my ideal BMI. I started this after my DD turned 1 year. I dont want to tell my weight (lol) but I have lost 40 pounds in 12 months; which is approximately 3.5 pounds a month...which is approximately 1.5 kgs a month.

How did I do it?

1. Prepare my mind that I will be taking healthy food and that i will be shocking my body by not offering it deep fried things/ sweets made with ghee, biryanis etc.

2. My DH was also starting his weightless journey and so, together we have planned a weeks menu in advance and stocked my fridge with that.

3. Download fitness pal app in phone. I wanted to lose less weight in a long time. So, accordingly I was given a task of consuming 1200 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week. Initially i lost 2 pounds week but once i hit the plateau, was more like 3 pounds a month.

4. Buy a small measuring scale to measure the weight of fresh produce and meat.

5. measure everything before eating. If they say 1/2 cup of cucumber will give you 10 calories, I measure it in 1/2 cup using a measring spoon and track that in fitness pal.

6. If can of beer says it contains 150 calories, I add that.

7. At the end of day, if i have a feeling i am going over, I just dont get frustrated. Just make sure the next day I stay at 1200 calories.

8. You will NEVER get EXACT calorie intake but it will give you a close approximate.

9. Once you get a good app, it will let you save the ingredients and tell you how much 1/2 a cup or 1 cup will be in terms of calories.

10. Most of the packets (including rice/ milk/ eggs/ bread etc) come with how much calories they contain. Scan the barcode and track it.

It has worked wonders for me. Of course, it wasnt easy. It was time consuming in the beginning but it has become my second nature and soon, it didnt take me that long to track down what i want. Also, you will get familiar with daily servings too.

i have done it and it worked for me. I still do it. Not to lose weight though. Once I hit my ideal weight, I increased my calorie intake so that I maintain the weight and not lose/gain much.
There is always going to be a few pounds here and there but thats about it.

I can vouch on calorie counting method for weight loss.

P:S: When I am using myfitnesspal for Indian food, I dont search by the recipe itself. Like if I want to include dal tarka, i dont search for it. I measure dal, oil separately and use that.

 

Thank you darmesh for starting this thread and for all those who shared your tips.

I joined myfitnesspal and logged my food intake. I have been watching what I eat for a couple of weeks but logging in makes you realize how easy it is to go over your caloric intake.

For example, I ate good for most part of yesterday but then ate half a brownie (it was a small brownie to begin with:crazy and it felt like nothing but when I logged it, amounted to 185 cal........all for nothing. I walk/ jogged for 30 minutes and that was only 165 cal. Bummer

I am going to practice mindful eating and count calories more closely.

 

Darmesh- you can get a food scale in Amazon for less than $20.

 

so the net intake for that brownie was only 20 cals eh! thats the good thing about exercising; apart from burning calories, it gives you stamina!

 

I agree, its very easy to go over the daily limit during weekends/festivals etc. But as long as we are doing it at least 5 days a week, it stills out. It did for me at least. And skinny cocktails are in babe! No more shots and bull crap like my younger days!