That can't be right?

Lago

I'm trying to lose fat and have never really been strict over my diet at all. So I decided to use an online calorie counter thing to help me. I know they're not exactly accurate but at least they'll give me an idea.

Just a bit of a problem I got today. I was putting in my foods after my second meal and this happen:



So if that's in or around right, I've hit my target for today by 3 o'clock. I don't really feel like that meal was 1,600+ calories. Plus that I've had nearly 100g of protein. I'm pretty bad at measuring the proportions, plus this site doesn't help (roasted potatoes have to be measured in cups), so I'm hoping that's what happened. I have no idea if what I ate was an 8oz steak, that's just what members of my family said. Can someone help?

EileenG

American sites are useless at Irish meat, you have to enter them as a custom food. Irish meat is a lot leaner than the same cut in America, so it will have less fat and less calories.

Instead, take a look at the packet. Most meat now has a little label that says something like "Typical portion of 150g cooked will contain X calories, Yg of protein and Zg of fat". Work from that, and scale up or down as required.

I would also search to see if you can enter food in grams rather than cups or spoons. Even if you just take a rough guess "I bought a half kilo of steak and this is a third of the packet", you'll be more accurate than cups.

Dotcomdolly

Also if you search through all the entries you can usually find another measurement other than the cups. For example the roasties there's prob an entry for e.g marks & Spencer's ready made ones, that you could use.
Asfair 1 aldi Rib eye steak is c.500 cals

Ps did you really eat a full head of cabbage?

Lago

Ok, thanks lads. I did it over again and the calories seem more likely, even though I am 500cal over my target. I used Tesco Irish Steak this time, and while the calories seem more likely, the protein in the steak alone is equal to my target for the whole day. Seem likely?

Ps did you really eat a full head of cabbage?

LMAO! No, should have changed that

Kadongy

Eating over your protein target is unlikely to impede your attempt to lose weight without a corresponding overall calorie intake. Most people would say the opposite is true, if anything.

However there is research indicating that a high protein:carbohydrate ratio results in a lower testosterone level. A lower testosterone level would encourage a lower muscle:fat ratio in your body composition in general. Note that strength athletes typically follow a very high protein diet, so it seems unlikely that this effect would be that powerful.

Eating over half a pound of steak is going to provide loads of protein of course.

I'd just ignore the protein thing in that calculator tbh. Just pay attention to the calories entry, and the saturated fat one to a lesser extent.

Dotcomdolly

or you can change your macro goals to say 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat

my home>goals>change goals>custom & continue.