Heya,

Recently I am trying to start a diet (I'm trying to keep it around 1200-1400 - Female, 5'4 and a half, 134 pounds, not so active).

So I'm trying to count my calories... but I'm running into some troubles... recently I added lots of fruits/veggies to my diet but I have no idea how many calories they each have. For example, carrots, oranges, apples etc - I read in another post that they are "negative-foods" (in other words consume more calories than they provide your body). So is it fair to say that they give me 0 calories?

Anyone have any reliable website I can use for calories (many websites are quite different... sure they are within 50 calories of each other - but I want to be as specific as possible)

I am also replacing "white bread" with whole wheat pita... according to the label a whole pita has 200 calories... doesn't that seem a tad bit to high? *looks at the contents seperately... doesn't really add up but who knows - oh well*

Also, foods like rice (that grows when you cook - I don't use oil, I boil the rice then just "steam" it until it's dry and fluffy - I do use spice while it's boiling which is 0 calories) or items like fish (atlantic ocean salmon that is just grilled with only squeezed lemons on top - I eat this on weekends) with no nutritional data... how do I go about this?

Thanks - and this may seem "DUH" to many of you - but this is really the first time I attempt something like calorie counting so I'm pretty much lost (newbie!)

EDITING: PS I HOPE this is in the right forum section

FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal is a site used by many on these boards to keep track of calories, including fruits and veggies. All foods you eat have calories so don't set your mind on them being 0. The amount of calories in whole wheat pastas and rices can be high, but they're a whole lot healthier than white pastas and with portion control, can easily be fit into a diet, especially with exercise.

Oh wow apples around have 73.75 calories and oranges have around 85.1 calories... ohhh that's a lot

I'm saying I eat A LOT when I am stressed so I'm substituting all my "junk" with fruits/veggies (like every 2 hours I eat a fruit)... hmmm is there a way to tell how much calories your body takes to break these items down (so I am what "net" calorie intake I am at?)

PS. Yes I know there is exercise and I am trying to exercise whenever I can - but this post is just about nutrional value of items

I think you getting a little to accurate with your intake. I would just worry about how many calories you burn in a day doing your usual routine rather than how many calories you burn with digestion.