How to count calories?

Question

I know most foods come with nutritional information, including calorie intake.

But what about when you cook your own food? How do you count calories for things like chicken or steak once you've added your own seasoning and other ingredients to it?

I'm not trying to lose weight (I wish I could gain some) - I'm only 115 lbs. I was just curious on how to count calories for foods that don't have posted nutritional value.

Answer 1

You can use a food database to determine how many calories it has. For chicken and other such food, you are going to have to guestimate how much you are eating. You can use a website such as:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

As far as seasonings / toppings go, I wouldn't sweat the calorie counts unless they include butter. Salsa's, ketchup, mustard, etc. are generally regarded as free (they contain about 15 calories per serving).

Once again, for calorie counting, for home cooking, you are going to have to make some educated guesses about how much you are actually consuming and how big your portion size really is.

Good luck.

Answer 2

go to www.nutrack website i hope this helps

Keep a Health Journal!
Your physical and mental health is affected by nutrition

Count Calories or any Nutrient
Monitor your calorie intake by entering the foods you eat into the journal and receive a daily total.

Track Results
Whenever I try a new supplement to help with a particular problem, I track my consumption and the results. For instance, I found that taking L-arginine and CLA seemed to reduce my waist size.
This is not a recommendation as to what you should put into your body. Do your own research, draw your own conclusions but keep track

Cut down on Smoking


Monitor Health Problems
When you have a health problem, keep a journal of the symptoms and the things you take or do to help alleviate them. The process itself is therapeutic and by tracking different solutions, you may see what works and what doesn't.

Use as a Reference
,..



Keep a Health Journal!
Your physical and mental health is affected by nutrition, drugs and the things you do. By keeping track, you may discover cause and effect relationships that surprise you!
you can keep a daily journal of what you eat or drink, the pills you take, what you do and how you feel. You can also track what is important to you such as weight, energy level, blood pressure, etc..

To make journal entries, you select items from one of three lists - Foods, Activities and Results. Foods can be real food, dietary supplements or drugs. Activities can be things like swimming, weight lifting or yoga. Results can be measurements, vital signs or symptoms like stomach ache.
software that can track any nutrient or chemical found in food or dietary supplements. . The database provides nutrition facts for over 10000 foods and supplements. The program can be used as a calorie counter and a calories burned calculator. Nutritional analysis includes a pie chart breakdown of calories from fat, carbohydrates or protein can keep a journal of foods or supplements consumed, activities such as exercise or sports performed and results achieved. Results can include physical or mental reactions, medical test results or any measurement. Goals or protocols can be built of desired daily nutrient consumption, activity schedules or desired results.
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Answer 3

ok so a lot of seasonings arent too bad...so you take the caloric intake from whatever your eating and for each serving (depending on how much seasoning you add) you add 90 calories if you use an average amount of seasoning 80 if you use a lil and 100 if you use a lot and for italian food? one serving of lasagna is about 450 calories one serving of spaghtti is 300 calories its a lot of guess work though most of the time and counting calories isnt really the best thing to do....just eat healthy

Answer 4

When you cook fresh food in your own kitchen the calories don't count! Just share it with as many as possible and you will gain friendsa and lose weight.

Answer 5

Forget the calorie counting if you feel like counting something count your fat grams!!!! To go along with that you can go to a healthfood store like GNC to get a Fat burner!!! Drink lots of water!!!! Water is one of your main keys & getting your heart pumping speed walk dance or something!!!

Answer 6

you shouldn't be