For the calorie counters

[Vennom96]

For those who count their calories, how do you do it?
Do you keep a guesstimate in your head or do you write it all down?

Do you plan out a diet based on calories and macronutrients and then eat according to that (track and then eat).
Or do you eat and then track down what you ate and adjust during the day to eat more or less of a macronutrient?

And when you're counting, do you do it all the time or just when cutting/bulking?

 

[goiterjoe]

I tend to cook meals in bulk, total up the calories for the entire bulk of it, and then preportion it into containers of 600 calories each. I'll usually cook about 16 portions of 4 or 5 different things for variety and different macronutrients. I keep up with calories by knowing that each one has 600 calories and how many times I plan on eating that day. If I want to increase calorie intake by a couple hundred calories or so, I usually do it with protein intake.

 

[Vennom96]

Wow 16 different portions, thats a lot. What are some examples of the bulk meals you cook?

 

[SteelSouth]

Basically I put together a diet plan and add up all the calories and adjust accordingly. Then stick to the plan and eat the same meals on a daily basis. It sucks eating the same thing every day, but I get used to it after the first week.

 

[Vegas]

Moved to the appropriate forum.

 

[luquillo78]

Basically I put together a diet plan and add up all the calories and adjust accordingly. Then stick to the plan and eat the same meals on a daily basis. It sucks eating the same thing every day, but I get used to it after the first week.

I do pretty much the same when bulking. I'm a "hard eater" and have to force feed myself when bulking. So I need to plan my meals and make sure I eat the amounts.
When cutting, I just make sure to eat my 250 gr protein and the rest as my appettite tells me.

 

[goiterjoe]

as far as examples of what I eat, I'll take a seven quart crock pot and make chicken stew in it. I'll put in enough chicken to be equivalent to 1050 grams of protein, then fill it up the rest of the way with green beans, crushed tomatoes, a small can of tomato paste, celery, green peas, and a can of corn. This gets put into 1 pint containers to make 14 servings with 75 grams of protein from either chicken or deer, about 60 grams of carbs, and minimal fat. This is usually what I eat at night.

Another favorite of mine is chicken and rice. I'll cook whole grain rice with just a little bit of olive oil, usually about 5lbs at a time. this works out to about 16 servings at 400 calories. To this I'll add about 1100 grams worth of protein of chicken, and a can of diced chilis and tomatoes for flavor. This gets portioned out into 16 disposable tupperware containers.

Sometimes I'll make whole grain pasta with tuna and diced tomatoesi instead of sauce, but I can't stand but so much tuna and I think I've hit my taste limit already for this year.

Anything involving steak, i cook that day.

I also make my own oatmeal protein bars for breakfast. I take about 6 cups of oatmeal, 400grams of whey protein powder, and a handful of raisins and mix them up. I then take a sauce pan and heat up a 1/3 cup of low fat peanut butter, a 1/3 cup of honey, and a 1/3 cup of either karo syrup or molasses. After this is melted down and loses a lot of viscosity, i pour it into the bowl of oatmeal mix and thoroughly stir it. once it is all mixed up, I dump it into a pyrex baking dish lined with saran wrap and put it in the freezer. it will set overnight and hold it's consistency. I usually take these and cut them into 8 pieces and wrap them in saran wrap to take to work for breakfast.

I usually store the stew and chicken-n-rice in the freezer until a couple days before I plan on eating them, and then sticking them in the fridge to thaw. the protein bars keep just fine in either my lunchbox or in the fridge.

 

[getfitdoc]

For those who count their calories, how do you do it?
Do you keep a guesstimate in your head or do you write it all down?

Do you plan out a diet based on calories and macronutrients and then eat according to that (track and then eat).
Or do you eat and then track down what you ate and adjust during the day to eat more or less of a macronutrient?

And when you're counting, do you do it all the time or just when cutting/bulking?

If you've never done it before you should write it all down. Get used to what the numbers feel like and you'll also be able to find out what really works best for you. After you get used to it, and know how much you are eating based upon a strict diet plan, you will be able to do it without writing it down.

 

[Vennom96]

Damn, yea thats definately bulk!

 

[goiterjoe]

It takes me just as long to cook 16 meals as it does 1, so cooking this way frees up about 6 hours a week of my time. It also allows me to buy bulk food, which is usually a cheaper way to go.

 

[insaned]

For those who count their calories, how do you do it?
Do you keep a guesstimate in your head or do you write it all down?

Do you plan out a diet based on calories and macronutrients and then eat according to that (track and then eat).
Or do you eat and then track down what you ate and adjust during the day to eat more or less of a macronutrient?

And when you're counting, do you do it all the time or just when cutting/bulking?

I use the katch mcardle formula with LBM calculation, make a plan and stick to it! When I do a cheatmeal or something I try to go along with good ratios of macros in that meal, with time You'll be able to do that with +- accuracy!
Of course I later on adjust cals and diet as my improvement goes.

I do it all the time, counting cals. But when bulking sometimes I use bigger slices or bigger meals than planned

When cutting I have to be a lot strict, because I would easly eat a lote more that I should.