Sort of a stupid question on diet

[Rolls Royce]

This might be a dumb question but I'm going to ask anyway.

How do you measure how many calories you are eating? Lets say that I should be eating 2400 calories a day at a protein, carbs, fats ratio of 35/55/15... How on earth am I supposed to figure all this own and make sure that I am getting the appropriate amounts?

I understand that protein and carbs is about 4 calories per gram... And that fat is about 9 calories per gram. So if my diet has me eating 2400 calories per day, I'll need 210 grams of protein, 330 grams of carbs, and 40 grams of fat.

But this is when I become lost. How can I figure out exactly how much I am eating. Do you all just read that info on the package and figure it out manually, or is there some all powerful book out there that tells you exactly how many calories are in every food? Things like ground beef... Steak... Even chicken... I don't recall ever seeing labels with calorie content on any of those foods. And even if there were, wouldn't I have to weigh it to be accurate?

What about the things that I drink? I drink a lot of GatorAid and I just read the label and it says it has 32 grams of carbs per 2 cups. Normally I will drink one of those giant jugs in one day... So I am also wondering what to do about things like that. Should I just limit myself to only drinking water? I already drink a lot of it, but I also drink milk, juice, and GatorAid as I mentioned.

This is the main reason why I have never started a really strict diet, so if anyone can help me I would very much appreciate it.

 

[diamonddiceclay]

this is on the label of the item

 

[Rolls Royce]

this is on the label of the item

i don't think you understood my question... i am aware that most foods have calorie info on the package.

take pasta for example... on the package it states the calorie information for an 85 gram serving... how much is an 85 gram serving? i usually just grab handful of pasta and toss it in the pot... i don't have the slightest idea of how to determine what is an 85 gram serving. the package is labeled 900 grams so i could probably dump the entire package out on the counter and separate it into 10 equal piles but that seems like a lot of work, not to mention that i would probably want more than an 85 gram serving so i would then have to go through even more BS to determine whether i am getting the exact amount of calories.

 

[diamonddiceclay]

I weigh all of my food on a food scale

 

[JayBro]

I have found web sites that have "general" information like you are looking for.
My hard drive has recently been re formatted so I have none of those links. I would try and go to google dot com and do a search for "nutrition"

As far as a reduced calorie diet, I would say stay away from simple carbs from sources like soda, juice, ect. On a reduced calorie diet water is your best friend.

Try and do a weeks worth of stuff at a time so that you know what you can and will be eating for that time.

If you add fats to your diet \mMake sure they come from good sources like fish oils, flax oil, olive oil, fresh nuts. And dont forget that when you eat meats you are also getting some fats with it.

 

[Enock]

http://www.fitday.com

when you jot down what you eat can can do it by cups instead of grams. Much much easier to recall the volumes of the foods you eat than the weights since volume is optical.