how can I track my food when I am not eating what I should

Hi all,
I have  a small problem. I know we should track our food and water intake and such but how does one do that when one is not eating the amount they should?. I can only eat about 4 maybe 5 baby spoons full of food so I have no idea how to break down the amount of calories/carbs/fat and protein.
Also I can only drink little sips at a time and I throw the water away when it gets warm and put new water in my bottle so I really have no idea how much water I am drinking.. any ideas??

Davina

I had the same problem at first.  The trick is to know your conversions and break everything down into ounces. (see equivalents below)  For example, most serving sizes will be listed as 1/2 cup, 1 cup or in terms of total ounces.  A 1/2 cup is equal to 4 oz. or 8 tablespoons.  If the 1/2 cup serving size equals 40 calories and 8 grams of protein just divide every thing by 4 to find out how much one ounce would be.  So one ounce of this item would be 10 calories and 2 grams protein.  Once ounce equals 1/8 cup = 2 tablespoons or 6 tsp.  I eat 1/8 cup now and use a baby spoon but I started with 1 tablespoon = .5 oz = 1/16 cup or 3 tsp.  So if one ounce of this item is 10 calories then .5 ounce would be 1/2 at 5 calories and 1 gram protein.  Just use the measure equivalents below.  If a serving size is listed as 1 cup=8oz=16 tablespoon then just divide the calories and protein by 8 to find out the value of each ounce then multiply by number of ounces you use.

Measure Equivalents
1 cup = 8 oz = 16 tablespoons = 48 tsp
3/4 cup = 6 oz = 12 tablespoons = 36 tsp
2/3 cup = 5 oz = 11 tbsp = 32 tsp
1/2 cup - 4 oz = 8 tbsp = 24 tsp
1/3 cup = 3 oz = 5 tbsp = 16 tsp
1/4 cup = 2 oz = 4 tbsp = 12 tsp
1/8 cup = 1 oz = 2 tbsp = 6 tsp
1/16 cup = .5 oz = 1 tbsp = 3 tsp

I also use the two sites below to look up calories etc on items without labels and the fit day I use to journal my food.  You can create custom food recipes and put in the amounts or you can modify an existing food if it does not match your labeled brand.  Once you have the main foods you use entered it is easy to click on each time and indicate the amount you ate of it.

The liquid tracking is a little harder because I too like to keep it fresh and cold.  So, the first thing to know is that a cup of liquid is 8 oz and a 1/2 cup is 4 oz.  Ice is 1/2 that amount equivalent in liquid.  I measure 1 cup of crushed ice which is equal to only 4 oz instead of 8 like liquid would be normally.  Then I put in 2 cups of liquid equal to 16 oz.  The total liquid oz is at 20 oz.  If my ice gets melted I add in another cup of ice and now I am at 24 oz and continue drinking the same liquid I did not finish.  I drink Strawberry Zero Powerade since it has no calories/carbs/sugars but does have electolytes.  Sometimes I drink water or crystal light. 

Lots of measuring!  Hope this helps.

Thanks for the education on measuring - this is great info!

Oops forgot to paste in the site links -

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

http://www.fitday.com/

Also, in case it was not clear you look for the ounce equivalent and divide the calories, fat, protein by that number and you will know what one ounce is worth in each of those areas.

Thanks for that information.. that is going to help me A lot!!!!

Hugs
Davina

Hi Davina, you already got a great reply.  Another option is to use the health tracker here on the OH site.  You have your own area to track food and liquid on your home page.  There are many already programed in foods, read the labels and divide the servings into what you actually ate.

Documenting the foods on paper works too.  Initially, do not worry about calories.  Do count protein and fluids.  When I was only drining water, I would measure what I drank by measuring the fluid as I refilled the bottle.  What I added was the total I drank.  Best of luck, you will figure out what works best for you.  I used the small medicine cups provided by the hospital.  Each of the plastic med cups holds 30 ml or 2 oz of liquid.  If you are eating sugarfree popsicles, the label on the box will tell you how much liquid you are taking, the popsicles to cound as part of your liquid intake.

Great to hear from you, anything else I can offer?  Hugs

You got really great replies. i haven't got much to add other than, hang in there..it all gets easier as time goes by.
As far as tracking water, use a bottle or something that has measurements on it. Then before you dump it to freshen it, read how much you drank. You can get drink bottles at heath food stores and maybe even walmart that has the measurements of oz's on them.
Best of luck! Hope this helps a bit!

This conversion chart is awsome. I am going to print it out and carry it with me. Thanks

It actually came from a pampered chef magnet my mother-in-law gave me.  I've always had it on the oven but never really had to think about it so much before.  Now I use it several times a day!