Do you just 'know' how many calories are in the food you're eating?
I'm new to calorie counting, so I'm using the phone app to find out what calories are in all the foods I'm eating. But do any of you who've been cal counting for a while, just 'know' what calories are in your foods, or do you still have to put them into the calculator to know?
I'm just wondering, because when I'm away from my phone, how will I know how many calories are in what I'm eating, or do I just guess?
Personally, I just "know" how much I am eating since I dealt with EDs (eating disorders) for years but those nutritional stuff comes in handy now. I can roughly gauge how much calories I am eating from the look of things and the ingredients used though some food can come across as a shocker. Burgers, for examples. 
You can learn more about the nutrition of the "common" foods that you eat because there's no other way. Not all food display its nutritional values especially when you dine out. It gets easier as you go, but it's also easy to be obsessive about it... so you gotta be careful.
If anything, you can learn to listen to your body signals - stop eating when you feel 80% full/satisfied, savor your food and taste it, eat slowly and take your time, learn to eat without having distractions around (so easy to over-eat when you're fixed on the TV, for example), use smaller plates... those techniques help in controlling the possibility of overeating.
Good luck! :)
Thanks for the reply, and for the advice! I'll have to make sure that I don't become obsessed with counting cals, because I do tend to obsess about things...
Do not buy a food scale. Ever. You don't need to weigh every single gram of lettuce or whatever. It's totally obsessive.
And yeah I have the calorie in every food memorized so I couldn't stop counting if I wanted to. I cook and bake a lot too and I know the ingredient and what goes into every single dish you can imagine. So yes I am a calorie genius. Haha. Not a good thing wish I could unlearn everything.
Try to focus on overall health instead of calories and fat grams and carbs and whatnot. Remember: healthy is happy :)
If it taste too good it's bad for you. Like milkshakes and candy and chocolate.... If it is fast food chances are its bad for you. Ex burgers and fries...
Simple. Haha. The more veggies and fresh fruit it has the healthier.
Original Post by supwrskinny:
Oh I forgot to add. If you are away from your phone here is a trick to tell if it's good for you or bad for you.
If it taste too good it's bad for you. Like milkshakes and candy and chocolate.... If it is fast food chances are its bad for you. Ex burgers and fries...
Simple. Haha. The more veggies and fresh fruit it has the healthier.
Brussel sprouts are the most delicious things on the face of this earth and they are healthy. This theory is flawed!
Original Post by supwrskinny:
Oh I forgot to add. If you are away from your phone here is a trick to tell if it's good for you or bad for you.
If it taste too good it's bad for you. Like milkshakes and candy and chocolate.... If it is fast food chances are its bad for you. Ex burgers and fries...
Simple. Haha. The more veggies and fresh fruit it has the healthier.
That's pretty good advice, actually! I'll just have to judge whether it's good for me by how many fruits/veg it has in it, and then just hope for the best!
Original Post by sungiant:
Original Post by supwrskinny:
Oh I forgot to add. If you are away from your phone here is a trick to tell if it's good for you or bad for you.
If it taste too good it's bad for you. Like milkshakes and candy and chocolate.... If it is fast food chances are its bad for you. Ex burgers and fries...
Simple. Haha. The more veggies and fresh fruit it has the healthier.Brussels sprouts are the most delicious things on the face of this earth and they are healthy. This theory is flawed!
OH YES. Brussels sprouts with bacon = taste like heaven! Now if only I know how/bother to cook it...
Original Post by ursula_apples:
Thanks for the reply, and for the advice! I'll have to make sure that I don't become obsessed with counting cals, because I do tend to obsess about things...
Don't buy a food scale then. It could be worse with it. I thought over and over again if I should buy one but I decided not to in the end because I have this obsessive, explosive personality and I might just have to weigh every little thing. BAD.
I know that it's more "accurate" to have a scale but at the cost of mental obsession, I think I am better off without them! :D
Good luck girl! :D
With practice and experience you will get good at estimating.
Eating out is the most difficult time I've found to count calories, particularly if it is not a chain restaurant where you can google their nutritional info. Then you really have to do some hard estimating based on knowledge of similar dishes.
The easiest food to keep track of is the stuff you make yourself, because naturally you know exactly what went into it. Quite the incentive to become a good cook. 
You really don't want to obsess over calories. Just don't. Eat what you want, when you want, eat until you JUST begin to feel full, which is a little more helpful (personally) than 80% full, eat 3 meals with about 2 snacks, and just go by the food plate. Eat at a typical calorie intake, counting everything for a couple of months, then just eat about the same amount of food from memory. Counting calories can take the enjoyment away from eating, and once it's in your head about 'how to eat healthy', it really can't go away. I love to cook and bake, and for me, my brain's always running off calorie counts, which isn't fun.
