Hey mami, what I do is use a cup to measure liquids like your soup; I dont log things like cucumbers or lettuce that are virtually calorie free, but if you log them in your fitday then you go to the search foods box and type in cucumber and it will come up.

The best approach for me is to accurately measure only the really high calorie foods like nuts, oil, butter (sometimes I guess though); the other stuff I do my best to guess or I measure things if its easy to do in a measuring cup or spoon. You can input foods you eat into fitday by looking at the label and going into "add custom food".

To get the nutrition info for a homemade recipe like soup or stew or anything with natural ingredients, you go to calorie-count.com, scroll halfway down the homepage and click on "recipe analyzer"; you can add all the ingredients like (1/2 teaspoon butter, 2 squash, 1 cup milk) plus you input how many servings you've made and it will give you the info per serving. Just make sure there are no foods that were not calculated in; it will not add in foods it couldn't understand until you re-enter them.

hey that works.. wow thank you so much.. although screwed up my day today.. ate severely.... kill me..

Dont say that sweetie, its OK. We all screw up (trust me) but what's important is that we get back to our weight loss plan as soon as we possibly can get control. So if we have a shred of control, we don't chuck that smidgeon of control to the wind and say F-it I'll keep going because I've messed up and I'll restart tomorrow or monday. Rather, we grab hold of that bit of control as soon as it shows itself and we get back to our plan right away (as you are doing!). Slip ups can actually BE part of our plans.

What is your plan as far as number of calories and types of foods you'll be eating?

Don't give up and don't get discouraged..you CAN do this. Sounds like you just need a little guidance to get you started is all.

so this is what im planning or started 2 days ago until i screwed up yesterday.. well good start again.. i am gonna do the fit day calorie counting thing.. as i weigh 167 i am assuming i would need 1670 calories or less. and thats what i wanna strive. on top of that i'll burn calories by cario and weight training and the days i dont do that i go for pilates.. the only hurdle is my finals coming up next week which makes me eat way too much.. i hope i pass that stage. i'll record my weight every week and see what i strived..
thats for ur inspiration biancita... and everyone whose here to support others..
hope it works..
any suggestions ??

okay, need little help again.. i am lost in all this math... they say that we should eat similar to our basal metabolic rate (BMR) which is your weight times 10 .. cause thats the amount of calories the body burns at rest each day ... so my weight being 167 .. i should consume 1670 calories to keep on even weight.. on the other hand. 1 pound of fat - 3500 calories. so to burn 2 pounds of fat each week (which is the realistic goal) what should be my calorie intake and workout schedule ? calculating 3500 in 7 days = 500 calories.. so is this the math .... if i eat 1670 calories a day and burn 500 calories a day... i will lose 2 lbs in a week ??? i am just not sure if my calculation is correct or not..
another thing.. 1670 calories make sense.. can it be cunted any way including fat and carbs or should it be healthy calories like vegetables and more lean protein.. ???
help appreciated.. thanks..

Welcome. if i may share my insight on calorie counting.. i cut out all guesswork and bought a digital food scale. it was only 50 bucks from amazon.com I figure its well worth it. I love fit day. I think its really helped make a difference. not too big of a pain to weigh everything

food scale ??? how does that work ?? sorry not known to this device thats why i might hv questions. does it onl weigh food or it counts calories too ..

Amazon.com: Salter 2001 5-Pound Microtronic Kitchen Scale, White: Home & Garden

this is what i have... its easy... you put your plate on. press the zero button. then add one food, record the weight. re-zero, add the next, and repeat. absolutely no guess work

sounds good. thank you..but still wondering if my calculations of losing 2 lbs a week is correct or not..

weight - 167
bmr - 167 times 10 = 1670
so i burn 1670 kcal a day on average
2 lbs of fat = 3500 times 2 = 7000
to burn 2 lbs of fat a week i hv to eat 1670 plus workout 500kcal to attain that..
i just want to make sure this works or not... and if i calculated everything right or not..
thank you..

with your present calculations you will theoretically be creating a 500 kcal defecit daily. x7 days would equal 3500 kcals a week, meaning 1 pound. in addiciton to your 500kcal workout, cut your intake by 500kcal. so eat 1170 kcal a day

still dont know how many calories should i intake and how many should i burn a day to lose 2 lbs a week.. lost lost lost.. can anyone help.. height : 5'5 weight 167... thank you..