Tracking what you eat when you can't measure & cook every meal

[Ballad]

I'm bulking thankfully so basically my goal is just eat tons and I can always pretty easily grasp if I'm getting enough protein or not and other than that I know I always have trouble getting to 3k cals and since I'm trying for 3900 I know I need to just smash food down.

But just wondering, how do you keep track of what you eat when you're not eating structured meals? I've got all I can do between practice/school/life/lifting to sit there and measure out meals even though I'd love to. So I usually don't know wtf I am eating. I mean for example lastnight for dinner my mom makes me 5 porkchops I have no idea what size they are, then I get greenbeans and beets which I have no clue how much is there, and dark brown whole grain store brand bread without a nutrition label on the package so idk what I'm getting there... and my mom'll make me snacks a lot since she knows I'm pressed for scheduling so I get a lot of sandwiches with heavy peanut butter (she knows I love bulking on it) and she'll throw on different stuff all the time like pickles/jelly/fluff/chicken breast/etc (she knows I mix peanut butter with ****ing everything). But obviously I have no clue how much of it all I'm getting.

And so on, you all know what I'm getting at. So what do?

[ErikTheElectric]

Your 16, you DON'T need to be counting/measuring every single meal.
Let me ask you something, are you a pro - bodybuilder? Do you plan on becoming one?

HAving to be OCD about counting/measuring every little thing in your diet can lead to some very f*cked up issues down the road. I myself
developed an ED just from doing little stuff like that. So trust me bro, its not worth it. Your 16, just live life.

[TN42]

Just estimate it. You don't need to be super accurate, just know in general (or look up) how many calories foods you eat have and guess how much of them you ate. Learn to tell what a cup/half cup/3oz of meat/tablespoon/etc look like and just go from there. If you're a bit off it's not big deal, but it will give you some idea where you're at for the day.

[xicemaniacx]

just eat everything you see as long as its fairly healthy.
i eat constantly.

just eat whatever when your young (like me) and worry about that stuff later on

[avodo]

Your 16, you DON'T need to be counting/measuring every single meal.
Let me ask you something, are you a pro - bodybuilder? Do you plan on becoming one?

HAving to be OCD about counting/measuring every little thing in your diet can lead to some very f*cked up issues down the road. I myself
developed an ED just from doing little stuff like that. So trust me bro, its not worth it. Your 16, just live life.

I agree. Forget about counting all this **** right now.

[leanliftin]

If you want to see your results over time, or lack of them it helps to count calories no matter how old you are. I count calories, 3500 in a day, and I either memorize the nutrition facts or go to caloriecount.com and type in my food and the portion size. If you want to do this, I recommend getting a food scale- I got one for $7 and it makes all the difference in counting calories. Without counting calories, you may think your eating 3900 when actually you just scarfed down 5000 or 2000 calories. Counting calories= success in gym. Rep if this helps!

[DDon1996]

If you want to see your results over time, or lack of them it helps to count calories no matter how old you are. I count calories, 3500 in a day, and I either memorize the nutrition facts or go to caloriecount.com and type in my food and the portion size. If you want to do this, I recommend getting a food scale- I got one for $7 and it makes all the difference in counting calories. Without counting calories, you may think your eating 3900 when actually you just scarfed down 5000 or 2000 calories. Counting calories= success in gym. Rep if this helps!

I agree with this 100%. Age has no bearing..

[ParkRanger]

If you are consistently gaining weight each week, then you are eating enough. If you want to gain more weight than what you currently do, just add a couple more foods to each day or just increase the quantity. As long as you make sure you are consistently gaining the weight you want, then there is no reason to count out the exact calories. However, you should always have a rough estimate of the foods you eat so you know you are getting enough protein/carbs/fats.

BUT...

If you are really set on counting calories, then go ahead and do so. Its tedious, but rewarding. Age doesn't matter like someone above has said. If you can work it into your schedule and do it some-what accurately, go ahead.

[ptwa9]

Food scale + Fitday.com or LoseIt(iPhone). Or lazy, so don't bother.

[SportbikerKid]

once again: only *******s count calories

[ptwa9]

once again: only *******s count calories

Do f@gs run cycles without PCT and get gyno?

[DorianJ]

I always count calories and it takes me 2 minutes at the end of the day and never made me OCD
I don't strive for perfection and aproximate a lot of thing but at least I know aproximately whether a meal was 200 or 1000 calorie, big diffenrece... but I don't care about 50-60 calories difference. I wrote on a note pad all the calories of the food I usually eat (the brands I buy, the cut of meat the butcher has on sale...) so most of what I need is there. Without trying hard to I just memorized most of the anyway so I always know a teaspoon of oil is 45 calorie for example. If I'm eating out I guess calories like a salad I don't know what dressing they used to make, I just add 100 calories with a safe margin for the extra oil and dressing they might have used. If I eat a chocolate praline somewhere (happened during the holidays) it's just 50 calories for me, no matter how big how small. If I eat a meat with bones I know the weight from the butcher package bill and at the end I just weight the bone and subtract that.

OCD people who blame calorie counting for their issues it's like a killer blaming the knife for the killing, come on
Also I don't think you need 3900 calories with your current weight, you will struggle just to gain more fat than necessary

[DatDude25]

I don't think its important at 16 and while your bulking, i didn't start counting cals till i went off to college and after a year i have a good understanding of how much calories are in things just by eyeing it its a great skill to have to be able to figure out whats in a food before you eat it. I wouldn't worry just go by the mirrror if you start to see fat gain eat a bit less in the end your 16 eat and grow, now if you were cutting id reccomend tracking cals. But once it again its tough to even guess calories if you've never really cooked for yourself full time and look into nutrition labels and what not.

[DorianJ]

I think caloric counting is a problem when you eat according to calories
What I suggest instead, and I would suggest it to a 12 year old as well, is to eat according to your hunger and instinct, eat as if you didn't have any notion of calories but at the end of the day just count aproximately how much you ate. This way you know if you're on the right path, if you can trust your hunger and the difference between a day with lot of food and a day with less food. Obsessive disorder is an issue only when you count calories in order to know what to eat while I eat what I want but count calories to track. Makes sense?

[ptwa9]

I don't think its important at 16 and while your bulking, i didn't start counting cals till i went off to college

Yeah but look at it this way - how many beginners do you see not make progress at that age because they don't eat enough?

And you can make the largest gains while you're still growing...

[comps]

Guesstimate.

[DorianJ]

Guesstimate.

In order to guessstimate one needs to have been counting calories for a few months at least, otherwise wouldn't even know the visual difference between 20 and 200 grams and whether a food he ate has 100 or 1000 calories

[comps]

In order to guessstimate one needs to have been counting calories for a few months at least, otherwise wouldn't even know the visual difference between 20 and 200 grams and whether a food he ate has 100 or 1000 calories

I do not know OP's circumstances.
This is my suggestion.

[Ka0s]

who cares about calories and macros

just do IIFYM that way you can eat anything and not a single fuk will be given

[DorianJ]

who cares about calories and macros

just do IIFYM that way you can eat anything and not a single fuk will be given

How can you do IIFYM and not cares about macros?

[Ka0s]

How can you do IIFYM and not cares about macros?

because of studies, jackass

[comps]

who cares about calories and macros

just do IIFYM that way you can eat anything and not a single fuk will be given

in on this

because of studies, jackass

Lol

[DorianJ]

because of studies, jackass

ehmm I mean, how can you fit your macros while not caring about your macros at the same time? plato himself would get an headache from this