Counting Calories

[3boys1girl]

Hi guys
I have started ANOTHER diet! This time I am going to try and do it myself just by counting calories and exercising. I just want to know from other people who have tried a counting calories diet,what is the easiest way to do it? i have never had to do it before I have always joined Jenny craig or Weight Watchers. Do u plan everything u are going to have in the day before breakfast? I have joined a calorie counting website that can help me and its really good. Im doing a 1200 calorie diet. There is a lot of maths involved with this diet. I hate maths!

[nickalex]

:o What I would do is put in what you expect to eat and work from there. So if it comes in too high you'll have to change quantities or substitute different products. BUT what I actually do is wing it:laughing: . Usually mid morning I will put in what I had for brekkie and what exercise I did and then see how many calories I have left. If it's not many then I have to cut back for the rest of the day or do more exercise. This works for me but that's probably because I've been doing it a while and have a rough idea of the calories in things before I start. I get on the computer and put in what I have had as I have it after the initial reporting.
I am on the same amount of calories as you and I try to save 300 for breakie, 300 for lunch and 600 for dinner. The "bonus" calories that I get from exercising are then spent on snacks and coffees or to further round out my dinner.
You could split it anyway you want but I like to have a largish meal in the evening and the option of sweet treats if I have done a lot of exercise.
I actually find this to be a great way of dieting. You naturally round out your meals with vege and fruit cause they are low in cals. I mostly eat cereal for brekkie, soup pasta or salad for lunch and a pretty much normal meal (small portion of meat) for dinner but I do use cooking methods which bring the fat down. Snacks are generally fruit, yoghurt or crackers. I love the fact that I can also work in chocolate and lollies if I work for them.
By the way I don't find the maths a drag cause the diary adds it up for you, if something pushes you over the limit, take something off and try again. You have noticed the bar that fills up down the bottom haven't you? This tells you at all times what you have left.
With the exercise part I am a little more cautious and remember that they can not give you an exact count of how many calories you have burnt. I do classes and I take what they say with a grain of salt:laughing: cause it depends on how hard you work!!! Most machines at the gym will ask for your weight and give you a better estimate of calories burned. I have put this into custom exercise as gym workout. It asks you how many cals are burnt in a minute...I just put in 10. Then when I go to put in my gym workouts I just work it out, so if I know I have burnt 450 cals at the gym I just put in that I exercised for 45mins. I may really have exercised for an hour but I just use it to get the correct number of calories.