How To Calculate And Convert Calorie Amounts

I wanted to be a math teacher because I loved algebra so much in junior high. (Ironically, now that we homeschool our two children, I get to be that math teacher!) I love using math in everyday life and I use it e v e r y day. Here's an example that might be helpful to you.

This morning, the beautiful red strawberries on the counter were calling out to me. Fruit is good, in moderation. I grabbed one large strawberry and cut it up to toss in my Fiber One cereal. But how many calories in my particular strawberry?

The online calorie count offers "strawberries, raw, 1 cup, 53 calories". Well that's nice, but I only ate one strawberry and I happen to know it weighed 29 grams because I weighed it.  So how can I figure out how many calories reside in my 29 gram strawberry?

It is REALLY simple. It looks confusing because I've broken down each step into microscopic pieces, but once you do it a few times, you'll be able to do it forever with any food! I've put the explanation into a PDF for you, too. You can download it here:
http://spiritledweightloss.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/how_to_compute_calories_slwl1.pdf

I use this little trick ALL the time! But what makes it work is that I WEIGH my food instead of measuring volume. How can you do this, too?

HOW TO BEGIN WEIGHING INSTEAD OF MEASURING:

• Get a SCALE (here's what I use: http://www.candlescience.com/equipment/candle-scale )
• Start WEIGHING your food instead of measuring it
• It is vital to keep a journal of the foods you eat on a regular basis. I prefer to use my own spreadsheet. The first page of the Excel workbook is "today", then subsequent spreadsheet pages hold info for the foods I eat most often. Then it becomes really easy to cut and paste and add new foods. You can download my Excel file here link to be announced My friend Gretchen told me about an AWESOME free online calorie tracker (with apps) that is super easy to use called MyFitnessPal.com which you can use anywhere, on the go.
• Don't put food in direct contact with your scale. With my method you'll never have to clean your scale. For example, I put my cereal bowl on the scale and zero out or tare the scale (pushing the tare button brings the measurement to zero so you'll be weighing the contents NOT including the bowl).
  
  I pour in some cereal...I know I need to be really close to 30 grams. I know this because on the cereal box there's a nutrition label. The label tells me the serving size and often it will show the volume measurement (1/2 cup) AND the weight in metric (30 grams) or imperial (1 ounce). Once the cereal is weighed, I push the tare button again to zero out the scale. Now I'm ready to measure the milk (almond milk today). I pour it directly on the cereal and pay attention to the weight. Next, tare the scale again and slice the strawberry into the bowl, make note of the weight.
  
  If at any point this becomes tricky, don't pour directly into your bowl...use a different bowl. But most of the time, it is fine for me to measure right into the container I'll be eating out of.
• It might be helpful to remember that ONE OUNCE is about 28 GRAMS (or I round up to 30) and be sure to use GRAMS, not ounces, it is just easier.