Preferred site for counting calories?

Nati05

I'll be joining you girls from now on, seeing how I'm finally ready to take control of my weight! I'd like to lose about 15 lbs and do some toning before my first fitting, sometime around April or May. I've been improving my eating habits with green smoothies for the last 3 days and I already feel a small change in my energy. Pretty pumped about that in fact! 

Anyway I'd like to keep some track of my calories. There was a site I used forever ago but can't remember which one it was anymore. So tell me, which site is your favorite? Preferably free of course. ;-) TIA!

anna.oskar

A lot of people use MyFitnessPal.  i use SparkPeople.com.   Both free!

What smoothie recipes are you using?

i'm starting smoothies on Monday as a snack because I need to switch things up to un-stall my weight loss.  I'm planning on doing some of the ones from :

http://greenmonstermovement.com/?cat=3

But i'm open to suggestions and welcome them!

Nati05

I've been drinking these
http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/smoothie-recipes/

I love that they're categorized by fruits and vegetables btw. I usually halve the recipes since I'm not ready to take on two whole cups of smoothie yet, and just pair it with something else to eat. But if you'd like to have one for breakfast you can totally "up" the recipe by adding extras like bananas, flaxseed, protein powder etc. Or not if you're just going for a snack.

I've seen this green monster around you know.. but I read the recipe and it seems so packed full of stuff that I'm kind of scared of it haha. Or maybe it's just a smoothie with "monster" in the name that scares me. Do you feel that it's really heavy? Would you say it fills you up/ lasts a good while before you're hungry again?

anna.oskar

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_preferred-counting-calories?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:2b64c34d-948b-434c-a460-95c7e99b037aPost:300271c1-52ba-4c6a-ba5c-d3a986d2b602">Re: Preferred site for counting calories?</a>:
[QUOTE]I've been drinking these <a href="http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/smoothie-recipes/" rel="nofollow">http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/smoothie-recipes/</a> I love that they're categorized by fruits and vegetables btw. I usually halve the recipes since I'm not ready to take on two whole cups of smoothie yet, and just pair it with something else to eat. But if you'd like to have one for breakfast you can totally "up" the recipe by adding extras like bananas, flaxseed, protein powder etc. Or not if you're just going for a snack. I've seen this green monster around you know.. but I read the recipe and it seems so packed full of stuff that I'm kind of scared of it haha. Or maybe it's just a smoothie with "monster" in the name that scares me. Do you feel that it's really heavy? Would you say it fills you up/ lasts a good while before you're hungry again?
Posted by Nati05[/QUOTE]

I find it to be filling but not really heavy.  I can't usually eat anything within an hour either way of working out, but I can take down a smoothie.  It's a really great energy boost too.  I'm going to have them as a "heavy" snack each day post-workout.  Plus it's an easy way to get tons of essential vitamins.  Don't be scared of the monsters.

Nati05

Well in that case, I'll have to try them out! Thanks for the recommendation.

Btw, congratulations on your 30 lbs lost! That's quite an accomplishment!  

AdeleDazeem

I use The Daily Plate on Livestrong (free).  I like it much more than Sparkpeople.  I'm also not into apps so I do it on all the computer, but I know myfitnesspal works from your phone.

RamonaFlowers

I love Green Monsters! I discovered them a few months ago, and they've really been a "life changer" for me. I was a bit nervous at first (Not going to lie, I really didn't believe the 6 billion people saying "I swear, you will not taste the spinach!"), but after a few preliminary experiments, I'm not afraid of throwing anything in them that I think might work now. I don't like bananas, so I just sub in other fruits. Here's the recipe I use the most often:


2 cups spinach
1 cup vanilla coconut/almond milk
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
1/3 cup blueberries
1 individual cup of Dannon Greek yogurt (Plain or vanilla)
2 tbs flax seed
4 ice cubes

Depending on if I use plain or Vanilla yogurt, this recipe works out to 320-380 calories. I don't find it "heavy", but it's very filling, so it's usually my breakfast (My stomach bothers me if I eat anything "solid" first thing in the morning, but skipping breakfast is a big no-no).

As for the calorie counter, I started using MyFitnessPal, which is free. I would actually advise against using the Livestrong one, because I tried that one last year, and after I hit a certain weight, it knocked me down to like 950 calories a day, and no matter how I tweaked the information, it just would not give me more than 1,000 calories a day. I'm not sure if they've since changed their system, but you need to net at least 1200 calories a day, or your body goes into starvation mode.

AdeleDazeem

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_preferred-counting-calories?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:2b64c34d-948b-434c-a460-95c7e99b037aPost:f6c6e70d-e086-4253-b5fd-d9018730b677">Re: Preferred site for counting calories?</a>:
[QUOTE] As for the calorie counter, I started using MyFitnessPal, which is free. I would actually advise against using the Livestrong one, because I tried that one last year, and after I hit a certain weight, it knocked me down to like 950 calories a day, and no matter how I tweaked the information, it just would not give me more than 1,000 calories a day. I'm not sure if they've since changed their system, but you need to net at least 1200 calories a day, or your body goes into starvation mode.
Posted by RamonaFlowers[/QUOTE]

That's odd, Ramona.  I never had that happen!

The calorie amounts are slightly higher with Livestrong than Sparkpeople.  I like any option that allow me to eat more :-)  They also have all the food I eat (which is specific shite from Trader Joe's since that's all that's available around here).

Obviously with any kind of weight loss thing, knowing the basics is a good idea.  If it's saying you should eat less than 1200 calories that's clearly a fixable human problem than blindly following a website.

Whatever works for you, OP! :-)

shannie11

I also use sparkspeople.  I have used fitday in the past though.  Both are great web sites.

rswans

I've used LoseIt to keep track of what I eat and really like it. I don't use it, but I think there's also an app for it.

petite+engineer

I used Daily Plate at Livestrong for a few years, but MyFitnessPal is much better for Canadians. Its database is contains more of the Canadian equivalent of restaurants (e.g. McDonalds, Wendy's, etc). A lot of things are different up north sometimes by as much as 200 calories!