Counting Calories.... In China???

[sirant]

Hi all,

As many of you know, I am living in China which comes with many challeneges when it comes to losing weight. On top of EVERYONE here telling me I shouldnt lose weight (fat = rich and strong here for men) and the lack of good face to face support, it is damn near impossible to find out the calorie content on everyday foods. Nutrition labels are beginning to appear on a few products packaging, but not alot. And when it comes to day to day food, forget it. Even if I knew how to ask the little Baozi vendor how many calories were in the Qing Cai Bao (tiny steamed veggie bun) I am sure he would think I was on crack and just tell me to shut up and eat it already. I know there are many counters out there for Chinese food back home, but honestly, Chinese food in North America is 100% different than the real deal over here. In a lot of ways that is good however. There is very little deep fried food here for the most part and most dishes are very very simple, using peanut oil, rice wine and soy sauce as the main flavorings, other than natural things like fresh garlic and ginger. Almost all veggies and meats are bought fresh on the day they are consumed. All good things really. However, when trying to be scientific about weight loss, and trying to go calorie into calorie deficit, without going too far into starvation mode, it constantly has me wondering... So far most Chinese people I have talked ot about losing weight just say run 10km a day and take magic pills or get yourself an electronic vibrating machine. Ask about calorie counting and they think you are from mars....

SO my question is, (though I realize it isnt likely to be easy to answer) does anyone here know of a decent calorie counter that would include non-westernized foods? Perhaps some of the members who are in other countries can help me out.

Its so frustrating to think I could be sabatoging myself by not eating enough calories! The reason I worry about that so much is in the past I definitely did go into starvation mode without realizing it and was pissed at myself later because of it. So now I am eating 5 small meals a day, but still I worry because I have no real idea of what the calories are in what I am eating.

I did see a couple trainers here recently, in different gyms, and talked to a few so-called nutritionists here. They all said the same thing. "eat rice and vegetables" That was the extent of the advice.

My weight in the past month has fluctuated from 267 all the way up to 275 and now back down to 270 again, which is really annoying, but at least the clothes seem to still fit better.

I know this is a tough one, but does anyone here have any suggestions?


sirant

 

[TomO]

Sirant,
I have a similar problem, in that I do most of the cooking in the family, and I don't want to spend the entire day entering food items in FitDay. So today I finally broke down and ordered the software for your PC for $20. I find that it's easier and faster to use, and it's especially good for putting together "custom foods". This is important to me, because there are about 30 or 40 dishes I make all the time, and once I go through the effort of getting all the ingredients, after that it's a real breeze to add the custom meals.

 

[MCLoss]

Sirant,

Ha, sounds like my situation. I currently live in Guangzhou and am from North America as well. What I pretty much do is eat a lot of natural things I can look up. For instance, 6 oz of chicken breast you can pretty much find the calorie count looking at sites such as fitday.com, etc. As long as you prepare your meals at home you should be able to get an accurate count. After a while I believe you will figure out how much food you need then can start playing with local chinese dishes.

Let me know how your luck fares.

 

[sirant]

Thanks everyone.... You are all so darn helpfull here!

* Tom *

Hmmm, haven't looked at fitday.com before, I will have a peak. I doubt they would have some of the more standard chinese items, but maybe if I broke it down into individual components I might be able to get an approximate value. I have been wanting software for some time, so I will give it a go. I like getting some input before I buy, even if it is just 20 bucks. Thanks!

*mindovermatter*

Good on ya! 2 pounds a week is not bad at all! And must be nice to change that 2** into a 1**. I don't think I will go that low myself, but as for the wrestling moves..... Oooooooooohhhh don't tempt me! If not for the government here I would start my own training center here just for fun... Sometimes I wish I were rich enough I didnt need to watch calories. I would rather just hire a 300 pound muscle woman named helga to beat my sorry butt into fit submission and force me to eat the right amount of calories.....

*MCLoss*

Hey wow, a neighbor and only an hour away!! Small world! Believe it or not I am a far cry from the norm here. I do eat 90% of my meals homemade so thats not too much of an issue, I get very funny looks from others in my office, since as a manager I am expected to go out and eat in restaurants everyday for lunch, yet I go out for a walk and then back here to eat my homemade lunches. Normally it isnt a problem but some of those quick fix meals would be nice to know, like my little veggie baozi for breakfast. I mean the things are tiny, only made of steamed rice flour, veggies and a little tofu.... How bad could they be?(and only 7 cents each!!) Sadly, thats the question of the day for me..... Usually if you need to ask, I find it is bad.... Ahhh well....

Thanks for your support and responses everyone!

sirant

 

[TomO]

Sirant -- that's why I broke down and got the PC version for $20. I found the online version wouldn't let me create "dishes" out of individual ingredients. I could only put the totals for the whole dish as a custom food. Since I do a lot of cooking, I wanted that ability.

That way, let's say you want to store 5 or 6 different stir fry dishes, each with or so overlapping ingredients. You can create one of them, then select all the ingredients, and paste them into the next custom dish. That way, you can easily create a library of nutrient info on a wide variety of dishes.

I realize that part of your problem will be getting reliable nutrition data on some of the basic ingredients. There I don't have a quick answer -- except for doing some research until you find the info somewhere on the web.

The pc version of FitDay will also help you keep track of your exercise, weight, etc., just like the online version. But again, I find the ability to create a custom exercise session much better in the pc version. This is great for me, since I have two different weight training routines, and that way I don't have to enter all the individual execises.