Sunday, February 27, 2011

How to calculate calories?

As I mention in my long, slow quick update, I've been working out less to lose weight than to quit smoking.  So I haven't really been focused on losing weight.  The funny thing about exercise though is that almost by default you start to lose weight.  Well, actually not weight per se, since it seems that I have stayed pretty much the same weight, but I have certainly gotten thinner.  The jeans I wore yesterday are a testament to just how much I lost. Trust me on that.

Anyway, even though I haven't been focused on losing weight, I am more conscious of what I'm eating particularly since all of my numbers were elevated thought probably not death sentences yet.  So I've been eating items with more omega-3s, fiber, etc., etc., yada, yada, so forth and so on.  I've largely switched from drinking milk to soy milk, for example.  In fact, I'm probably drinking the soy milk more than I ever drank milk.  But I'm also replacing milk in recipes with soy milk, at least sometimes.  

I've also recently downloaded a bunch of 'droid apps that hook up with web sites that help you track your workouts, calorie intake, etc.  But the one thing I don't get is how to calculate calories for something home made.  Most of the apps have pre-defined calorie counts and other nutritional information available because the food they are referencing are commercial products and provide that nutritional information.  But  what about the omelett I made for breakfast this morning?

My Breakfast Omelette
  • 1/4 cup egg substitute ( = 1 egg)
  • dash of soy milk (1/4 cup? less?)
  • 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
  • 1 green onion chopped
  • 1 slice of small onion chopped
  • 1/4 green pepper chopped  (if you think of the green pepper as having 4 corners, the 1/4 is just one of the corners)
  • 1 garlic clove chopped
  • handful of shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 2 strips bacon cut in half
  • 1 tablespoon Canola oil
  • 1 slice of bread
So how do I calculate the calories contained in the above?  I know the cheese and the bacon are my real gotcha's on this ingredient list, but you just gotta have them or it's not a proper breakfast!
Note, along with this I would have some fruit and probably some yogurt.  Those I can figure out, particularly the yogurt.  But what about my omelette?  How do I get the nutritional information for that? 

So I'm headed off for a workout to burn off probably 300 calories(?).  I'm guessing, no hoping,  that'll use up the calories from my breakfast.  Then I'll be sitting pretty on the calorie count front today.


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