A Little Help Please

Dacelonid

Am committing to losing weight and have researched here on boards and elsewhere and have made all my calculations, so I know how many calories I need to maintain my weight, how many to lose weight etc, the only thing I am having problem with is actually tracking how many calories I am actualy eating. I am using an android app called Calorie Counter which I was hoping would help, but some of the figure seem to be a bit on the low side, which can't be right.

As an example. My intake today was

Breakfast
Cup of coffee (8fl oz = 2 Cal)
Small amount of milk (1 Cal)
Fruit Scone (147 Cal)
Strawberry Jam (100 Cal)
Butter (35 Cal)

Lunch
2 Multigrain Petit Pains (240 Cal)
2 slices of ham. (66 Cal)
Butter (35 Cal)
200ml Milk (146 Cal)

Dinner
1/4 of
1lb Mince (800 Cal)
1 Red Onion (46 Cal)
1 Jar Dolmio (250 Cal)

ie I made Bolognese and had 1/4 of what was in the pan (so 1096/4 = 274Cal
+
80g Pasta (136 Cal)
1 Pint Water

Snacks
2 Cups coffee with milk throughout the day (6 Cal)


(I know it isn't the best diet at the moment, but I am still trying to get the calorie thing right)

For the Sauce and Pasta, I just read off the label and entered the details into the app and then specified the serving size. EG for the pasta, 1 serving equals ~80g, for the Bolognese I added everything up and divided by 4 as I had roughly a quarter of what was in the pan. For everything else I searched the web and found approximate values and used them, but it still seems very low to me.
According to the app, that is 1305 Cals. Surely that is too low and I am counting something wrong somewhere here.

Any help on the counting these calories would be greatly appreciated.

Adelie

You need to weigh everything, things like a fruit scone or a slice of ham can have a huge difference in calories depending on how big they are. Compare the small fruit scone you get in a multipack to the huge ones you find in cafes. Or the little square slice of ham in those little plastic containers compared to a big thick slice from the deli counter. If you are just guessing portion sizes then your total calorie count could be way off.

catspajamas

I know this is a boring reply - but have you looked at Weight Watchers
they have a points system based on Calories & Saturated fats
I also battle my weight - I did loose some a couple of years ago but an illness set me back
WW works & I find it easier than calorie counting - I am back tomorrow night for first class in a long while
I track points on paper - there is something real about writing it down physically V electronically
Also Adelie is correct portion size is key
even if you don't fancy going along to a class you can do on line - me I like the class - support & a good laugh

Dudess

A piece of advice (not having a go ): you would be better off having a different type of breakfast. While the one you're having may not be high in calories, it is low in nutrition and volume (not a substantial amount at all for the most important meal of the day) and high in sugar/refined carbs, and may cause your blood sugar to drop and have you feeling really hungry not long after, as well as craving sweet things. This may last the day (it does in my case on the odd occasion when I decide to have a scone or croissant for breakfast).
I'd suggest opting for porridge/muesli or eggs and high-fibre wholegrain (not wheat) bread. Personally, I have one of these breakfasts most mornings and it sounds like a cliché but it really does set me up for the day. I don't think it can be emphasised enough how important breakfast is, and especially for those losing weight.

Best of luck with it anyway.

Sorry OP but scone+jam is bad, petit pains are bad.
A jar of dolmio - full of rubbish. Can you try making your own sauce?

Are you sure you are right on the serving size as it's very easy to underestimate pasta.

Dacelonid

Thanks for the replies, even if my question still hasn't been answered

Dudess feel free to have a go, it won't bother me. You are right about breakfast though and scones wouldn't be my normal routine. Eggs (boiled or scrambled) on some wholegrain toast would be the more regular breakfast tbh. Would loive to have porridge, but am allergic to oats. Well maybe allergy is too strong a word, but if I have oats my sinuses flair up and I am in agony for the day, or longer depending on the amount of oats.

Bluewolf I normally do make sauces myself, as an example Monday I had a thai grren veg curry made from scratch and I normally make tomato sauce from scratch (garlic, 1 red onion, tomatos, handful of basil, some red win vinegar to taste) but in this case didn't have enough tomatos to make the sauce so used a jar. Re the pasta, I weighed it and calculated from the packet based on that.

Adelie, I weighed everything and made guesstimates based on that. I agree that you need to weigh things, but even still I wouldn't expect to be out by that much. eg based on yesterdays meal I had ~1300Cals, roughly have my daily need (based on calculations based on height and age etc) but yet I didn't feel that hungry and it didn't seem like that much less food than I would have eaten when I wasn't watching what I was eating.

So that is my concern, that I am calculating something wrong, or making some fundamental mistake that is going to hinder my attempts. I mean if I can't work out simple Calories based on simple packet information, how can I do it right when I make more complicated meals. Now maybe I am doing it right and am worrying over nothing.