Day 2, Week 2,Counting Calories With A Cup and Chocolate For Breakfast

Today's weight: same

Weight loss: 4 pounds in 8 days





5 tbl of chocolate Malt-0-Meal: 215
1/3 cup of 1% milk: 36
sweet-n-low on cereal
coffee with 1 tbl of powder creamer:30
sweet-n-low: 0
--------------------------------------running total: 281

5oz apple: 75
2 large eggs: 140
lefse: 120
cheese curds and cheese sprinkled on eggs: 75
1/2 cup of Orange Juice: 55
coffee with powder creamer: 30
and sweet-n-low:0
total: 495
----------------------------------------
running total: 776

bites of cereal:100
1 cup of cereal:110
1/2 cup of 1% milk:55
protein shake: 120
Light Bunny Track icecream over 1/2 cup:175
total:560
---------------------------------------
running total:1336

banana :80
3/4 cup of cantalope: 60 (estimate)
total: 140

total: 1476

Fitness: 1 hour bicep and back weight lifting work-out
1 1/2 mile run

Today's challenge: Not snacking

Note on Pict: I had chocolate for breakfast. Smooth, creamy, filling. Yummy.

Counting Calories With A Cup


I've include this post for those of you who don't think they can start counting their calories until they've purchased a scale for measuring their food.

When I set about to lose 45 pounds six weeks after Dandy Lion was born, I did not own a scale. I lost the first 30 or so using a one cup measuring cup to measure my calorie intake. Of course, I also used a table spoon, teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, and 1/4 teaspoon.

Oh. And I forgot I also used my God-given ingenuity and creativity to find a way to get a measurement.

I didn't really know how to cook when I got married. So, after I had Dandy Lion and I was staying at home for the 12 months after I had him, I made a lot of hamburger helpers.

I would figure out my calorie count by adding up the total number of calories that were put into the dish, for example: the meat, milk, mix, seasoning (see I still know how to make a hamburger helper by heart). Then after the dinner was ready, I would taking my one-cup wonder and measure out how many cups were in the whole dish. Then I would take the number of cups that were in the dish, say 7 1/2 and then divide that by the total number of calories. This would give me a number for each cup. Then I knew how many calories I was eating.

The cool thing about a cup, I would take great pleasure mashing the food down in there as tight as possible to get the most inside it. Is that cheating I wonder?

Most labels will measure things in cup units. If they do ounces, you just calculate an ounce as equaling 1/4 a cup.

This Pyrex I have actually has a line for ounces as well.

I used the cup method to measure everything: chicken, salad, vegetables, potatoes.

As I got further along in my diet, I felt like things could be more precise if I used a scale. I think they were, but the cup method can still get you pretty close to actual.

Another nice thing about measuring is that a lot of things you don't need to measure because the back of the package tells you how many calories are in each piece.

And when you make cookies for example (yes, it is possible to make cookies and stick to your diet...maybe just not right now:)) You just take the total number of calories divided by the number of cookies made. I think I better stop talking about cookies.

So, if not having a scale is stopping you from starting, just know the cup method works.

And, hey, most everyone has a measuring cup at home.