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AshIdiot
New Member
| Joined: | 8 March 2008 |
| Location: | Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 101 |
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Posted: 27 April 2008 05:34 pm |
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The world needs to have a nice sit-down and decide how many grams are in a cup, and then to decide how many calories of certain foods there are per cup. I'm tired of getting vastly different results on every single website. No one should ever have to count calories for fifteen hours a day. We should just be able to measure our food and eat it.
There should be a certain amount of calories in one cup of potatoes, grapes, corn, apples, etc. I've gotten differences of 200+ calories from one site to another, and I refuse to underestimate my calories by that much. This pretty much means that I can only eat packaged foods, because the number is right there and legally required to be 90% accurate. It's easy enough to round things up by ten calories per serving when you buy them.
I just don't understand why it's so hard to try to be healthy. I just want to eat a GD potato and a cup of grapes without having a scientific degree in advanced calculus. No wonder people give up on diets and go back to eating nothing but mozzarella sticks and fried clams. I'm about to bash my skull in with a tire iron.
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CouchPotatoe
New Member
| Joined: | 15 April 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 17 |
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Posted: 28 April 2008 12:13 am |
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| I feel your frustation, I have tried to count calories and it is infuriating. One time I got so mad I cried, given I was PMS'ing but still it counts. But if you just ball park it then I guess you'll be ok, thats what I do.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 April 2008 02:27 pm |
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I notice that you are posting from the USA and I want to share a different perspective with you. In the UK it is more common to weigh things in grams, rather than measure them using measuring cups. If I were to fill up a cup it will weigh different amounts at different times anyhow. You could make a small investment in digital kitchen scales that report weight to the nearest gram. At this point all you need to know are calories per 100g.
For example if you have weighed 58 grams of baked potato, which is 77 calories per 100g, the maths is simple: 58 x 77 / 100 = 44.7 calories
For source information about calories I use websites (like nutritiondata.com where you can easily select a "100g serving"; a calorie counting pocket book widely available at all bookstores in the United Kingdom; and the information on packets (in the European Union labels give calories per 100g, for which I am grateful)).
I can only imagine how frustrating it might be to live in the USA, where it is difficult to do things this way.
By the way I have read that USA labels are allowed to be 20% wrong in either direction.
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AshIdiot
New Member
| Joined: | 8 March 2008 |
| Location: | Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 101 |
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Posted: 29 April 2008 08:19 pm |
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Yeah, I'm pretty close to investing in a kitchen scale. Of course, that's just one more thing for my family to break or misuse 
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Seabiscuit
New Member
| Joined: | 19 February 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 35 |
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Posted: 9 May 2008 04:20 am |
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One reason for the variability in reported calories is that foods may be prepared VERY differently. For example, a hamburger at one burger joint may use leaner beef than another. One recipe may add butter and cream to the mashed potatoes, etc.
Another reason is that the foods themselves vary. First of all, what is a "medium" apple?
2nd, do you really think that two apples grown on different trees in different soil with different farming practices are going to produce the same number of calories per gram?
I used to have unbelievable numbers of caloric estimates "memorized" for a wide range of whole foods. Surprisingly, I eventually found simply memorizing vague estimates was much more useful. For example, a 4 ounce serving of meat is about the size of a deck of playing cards. Lean meats have about 70 calories per ounce. Hard cheeses, about 100 calories per ounce. Fruits and starchy vegetables (like potatoes), about 100 calories per cup. Salad type veges (greens, etc.) about 25 calories a cup. Breads and grains, about 70 calories an ounce. Fats, 100 cals per tablespoon. Remember that many sauces (dressings, gravy, etc) probably contain lots of fat.
For prepared and package foods, I just estimate that a quantity about the size of a deck of cards is going to run 300-400 calories.
Naturally, these estimates will sometimes put me "over" and sometimes underestimate what I could get away with, but over time, it seems to work out quite well, and sure beats weighing and measuring everything.
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cportwine
Member
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Posted: 13 May 2008 02:49 pm |
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AshIdiot wrote: The world needs to have a nice sit-down and decide how many grams are in a cup, and then to decide how many calories of certain foods there are per cup. I'm tired of getting vastly different results on every single website. No one should ever have to count calories for fifteen hours a day. We should just be able to measure our food and eat it.
There should be a certain amount of calories in one cup of potatoes, grapes, corn, apples, etc. I've gotten differences of 200+ calories from one site to another, and I refuse to underestimate my calories by that much. This pretty much means that I can only eat packaged foods, because the number is right there and legally required to be 90% accurate. It's easy enough to round things up by ten calories per serving when you buy them.
I just don't understand why it's so hard to try to be healthy. I just want to eat a GD potato and a cup of grapes without having a scientific degree in advanced calculus. No wonder people give up on diets and go back to eating nothing but mozzarella sticks and fried clams. I'm about to bash my skull in with a tire iron.
That is exactly why I can not diet that way. I know when I should have something, I know when I have had enough. So, I don't count calories. I never have. I do guess-to-mate all the time. Ok, this is about this many calories, and this is about that many calories, so I can have 500 more calories for the day.
I know that is not right, but I don't have time or the patiences for counting calories. I could never stick to diets that were complicated or took alot of time to figure out.
I just eat right, watch calories and fat- as far as, Icecream to much fat, so I have lowfat pudding instead. If something is high in fat and calories then I try to find something else. I read alot of food labels and check the fat and calories on them. I try to keep them low and eat lots of fruits and veggies.
I know this doesn't help you at all, but I just wanted to comment on the fact that you said this is why people give up. You are very right, If I had to count calories everyday, I would of gave up the second day into the diet.
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cportwine
Member
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Posted: 13 May 2008 02:53 pm |
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Seabiscuit wrote: One reason for the variability in reported calories is that foods may be prepared VERY differently. For example, a hamburger at one burger joint may use leaner beef than another. One recipe may add butter and cream to the mashed potatoes, etc.
Another reason is that the foods themselves vary. First of all, what is a "medium" apple?
2nd, do you really think that two apples grown on different trees in different soil with different farming practices are going to produce the same number of calories per gram?
I used to have unbelievable numbers of caloric estimates "memorized" for a wide range of whole foods. Surprisingly, I eventually found simply memorizing vague estimates was much more useful. For example, a 4 ounce serving of meat is about the size of a deck of playing cards. Lean meats have about 70 calories per ounce. Hard cheeses, about 100 calories per ounce. Fruits and starchy vegetables (like potatoes), about 100 calories per cup. Salad type veges (greens, etc.) about 25 calories a cup. Breads and grains, about 70 calories an ounce. Fats, 100 cals per tablespoon. Remember that many sauces (dressings, gravy, etc) probably contain lots of fat.
For prepared and package foods, I just estimate that a quantity about the size of a deck of cards is going to run 300-400 calories.
Naturally, these estimates will sometimes put me "over" and sometimes underestimate what I could get away with, but over time, it seems to work out quite well, and sure beats weighing and measuring everything.
This is very true, which is why you should cook your meals instead of prepared ones. You can eat better things, if you make some which outs of how you prepare them. Use lowfat items, such as a chicken sandwich with non fat mayo, bake the chicken instead of frying.
Alot of little things like that add up.
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Javan
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 19 May 2008 06:42 pm |
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| Keep it simple. It is all a matter of averages.....
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