Calorie Counting
The simplest and most effective way to lose weight is by counting calories. This guide will give you what you need to know in order to start losing weight quickly and easy by counting calories.
A food journal is a must if you want to see what foods you eat most and why you are gaining or not losing weight.
For more information go to: How to count calories
Keeping track of what you eat
Keeping track of your food intake is necessary to know where most of your calories are coming from. Start off simple by just using a notepad to track your food intake. By doing this you have a log which you can refer to when you start to plateau or suddenly start putting weight back on. Start of as easy as possible so you don’t overwhelm yourself. All you need to track is what you ate, when you ate it and how many calories worth did you consume. That’s it.
Calorie Counters
The internet had many free calories counters to tell what foods contain how much energy. There are a few websites that even have meal planning tools.
Calories counters are really useful for those food items that don’t have the calorie information on the packaging like some meat, fruits and vegetables. More and more restaurants have calories information on their websites, use this to log you calories when going out for a meal. You need to remember that all foods have calories, you need calories to provide your body with fuel but your body only needs a certain amount each day, the rest it stores away as fat. You want to try and eat healthy foods but remember that even healthy foods like nuts are very high in calories so keep track of how much you eat. Try to drink only water, getting energy from drinks won’t fill you up and you’ll still end up eating the same amount which could result in an over consumption of calories.
Going out to eat
Eating out doesn’t mean giving up on your calorie plans, a lot of places will tell you how many calories their meals have and even offer low calorie versions. Even fast food resaurants like McDonalds and KFC do some salads. Just keep an eye on the dressings and other sauces as they can add up the calories.
To see my article on low calorie foods go to: Low calorie foods
Reduced calorie snacks
When buying snacks get the ones that are packaged into small 100 to 200 calorie sizes. This makes logging a lot easier and you reduct your chances of eating too much. If you need to, prepare your own portions into some sandwich bags or tupperware and have enough ready to last a few days. Just because you have the snacks ready doesn’t mean you can grab several bags and binge on them. These snacks are usually high in things like calories, salt and sugar so don’t go overboard with them.
Piggin’ out
Your body can only handle so much food at one time so you should not have all your calories in one go like starving yourself all day then going out and having the most fatty and calorie dense food you can find. This is a fast way to put on a lot of pounds. Eat foods that have a high quantity of nutrients in them like vegetables and fish. Try to eat as much natural foods as possible and you’ll find that you end up eating a lot of low calorie, high nutrient content foods.
Counting calories is probably the simplest way to get started on your weight loss journey. By logging you food intake you can watch what good and bad habits you have when it comes to food, you can also start seeing patterns E.g. I lost more weight last week when I was eating more vegetables and less snacks.
I have reviewed some products that I think teach the concept of calorie counting very well: Best weight loss programs
