| Re: counting calories
HI Ann,
I use a calorie counter book, a food scale and measuring cups and read a lot of labels. Vegetables are generally counted by the cup, usually 3/4 cup is a serving of cooked vegetables. I will buy bags of fresh mixed vegetable and the calories are on the bag. Rice servings are half a cup uncooked. Potatoes are based on weight but average about 32 calories an ounce, sweet potatoes are about 51 calories per ounce. Fruit like apples is measured by weight, a medium 5.5 ounce apple is 80 calories. Berries are usually counted by cup servings so a cup of blueberries is apx 95 calories.
Most people tend to eat a lot of the same food so after awhile you get to know the calories of each. Meats are measured as 3 ounce servings. If you look at a plate a meat serving is the size of a deck of cards, starches the size of a tennis ball and veggies are mostly as much as you want. Beans are 1/2 cup servings.
There are various ways to calculate how many calories you need based on weight and activity but most women usually end up eating somewhere between 1200-1800 calories a day. Since you have a 100+ to lose, I would start at the high end around 1800 and see how you do or you can figure out the calories you currently consume and subtract 250 then add 250 in exercise calories which would equal a pound of weight loss a week. You don't want to start too low because you don't want your body adapting to low calorie regimens since as you lose weight you may need to cut a 100 or so calories to keep losing so start higher in the beginning. Good Luck
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