How To Count Calories In Food?

How do you count calories if you don't prepare your own food?

• Answer:

  There are a lot of calorie counting books for eating out. These are focussed on popular restaurant chains. These places will have standard portion sizes so you can generally trust them. They also will take an average portion of some common dishes, e.g lasagna. As long as you're not eating out too often it should be OK to use the guide, use some common sense though. If someone else is cooking for you on a regular basis, this is much more difficult. Even if someone is using a recipe, people will tweak them to their own tastes. People don't always measure every ingredient. High fat foods like cheese are usually guessed and few people can accurately guess the amount. If you're following a calorie controlled diet to lose weight, you would be better of preparing the food yourself, or giving strict instructions to the person preparing food for you. Perhaps a better option, is to follow a diet that is about eating the right foods, and fill up as much as possible on vegetables and salad and taking much smaller portions of the main dish.