Maintaining Caloric Intake

I keep meticulous mental tabs. Before I eat a meal, I always think about what I've eaten earlier in the day. If I haven't had enough fat, I'll eat some almonds. That type of thing.
 
I don't bother separating out grams of protein, fat, and carbs, or trying to slice-and-dice saturated vs unsaturated fats, etc. I just count total calories and grams-of-protein (estimating if needed, but I do have a kitchen scale now and weigh out chicken, spaghetti, etc). I write them down and keep a running daily total on scrap paper.

I do try to eat "reasonably balanced", so that besides the minimum 200g protein, however many more calories I get are not 100% saturated fat for instance. :) (200g based on bodyweight ~ 235 lbs, fat not less than 15% ... really need to get some calipers or something.)
 
Here is a simplified calorie counter spread sheet. It's works good for creating a base line of what you eat so you can try to stick closer to your goals. I have partially enter some of my data, so you'll need to add & edit as needed. It includes a link to an extensive "calorie, protein, fat" chart to make it easier to look up what you're eating.

Omega
 
I use a BMR and TDEE calculation, and pre-figure my meals in a spreadsheet. It's the only way I can make progress. If I guesstimate, I usually eat too much. When I acutally measure my food, it seems like my meals are always smaller than I would have guessed.
Here's a site that lists the nutritional breakdown of foods. Very helpful for stuff that doesn't have a label.
USDA Food Breakdown
 
Omega_man,

I checked out your spreadsheet. Not bad, although the MROUND function didn't work for my version of Excel. I used the ROUND function, so there would be numbers that didn't end in 5 or 0. I liked the idea of including warm-ups in there. I may have to alter my spreadsheet.

-Colby
 
I keep pretty good track M-F and wing it on the weekends. M-F, I eat the same thing everday except for dinners so that makes it easy.

Keystone
 
Also, here is a valuable tool (template) for setting up an HST routine. You should edit it to fit your particular needs. It's very generic, but works great to get it on paper & works better than the one on the HST web site.

Omega
 
I bought a digital scale on ebay that does ounces and grams up to 2 kilos (4.4 pounds). I weigh just about everything eat. But I do most of it at one time. I work in the morning, so I pack my breakfast, lunch and everything in between the night before. Takes about 20 minutes to get everything together, but it keeps me from eating the wrong things and keeps me on track for my goals.

For me, I work best with solid numbers. There's no guess work and my results are guaranteed as long as I have the self control to stick with the program. Not to mention the fact that the first HST cycle I ever did I ate like a pig and gained about as much fat as I did muscle. Took me a while to get all the excess off. Thus the lesson learned...
 
I bought a digital scale about a year ago and now i have to take an average of 3 seperate measurement cos it cant seem to make up its mind! I'm going back to analogue scales...
 
I voted for the meticulous counting approach but I only do this when I'm seriously chasing a body size/BF % goal.

When I get right into it I will count pretty much every last calorie from every macronutrient and eat balanced meals 6-7 times a day. I tend to do this for about 10 weeks once or maybe twice per year. But it really is difficult to maintain for the average busy person.
 
I do like Lance and JV...I have too many records to keep track of in the normal course of a day, and hate extra math, so hit the protein and fill up the rest. Of course, when I think about it I get the EFA's in, but too sporadically. I should tighten up on that.
 
I used to be extremely meticulous and attentive to matters of nutrition, counting calories every day and writing them down, even when bulking.

Nowadays I still weigh my food with an electronic food scale, but I count my total calorie intake in a very ballpark fashion. I've managed to establish a pretty good feel for what my maintenance is. I eat 30 grams of protein/meal (give or take a little), 5 meals a day. The carbs and fats tend to take care of themselves.

So I'll vote for.. what was it, the second option?
 
I have used a computer program called Calorie King Nutrition & Exercise Manager now over a year. It's working very well - just drag and drop foods you have eaten and your calories are counted. Takes only couple of minutes in a day
cool.gif
 
I almost clicked that "free trial" link, but I can tell that the program is not detailed enough for my likings. Most people aren't as anal as me though, so it's probably a decent program for the general population.

Either way, Sikanauta is right... it only takes a few minutes each day to count your calories.
 
I use a standalone piece of software from fitday that I acquired from a certain donkey (no I'm not mad). I've looked to see if it can be bought but I've never seen it anywhere. If you can get it I highly recommend it.
J
smile.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top