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Counting Calories to Lose Weight

Stop counting calories on a daily basis. This is how to count calories for a successful weight loss.

The good news is; to lose weight, you don’t have to be counting calories on a day-to-day basis. Taking it one meal at a time is actually better.

A healthy diet plan advises you how to spread out your total caloric intake during the day and how much to eat at each meal.

When you combine that with what the calorie guide tells how your ideal caloric intake should be divided between fat, carbs and protein so that you get the maximum benefits for your weight loss, it’s not that tricky to count the calorie content of foods.

Mastering the Art of Counting Calories to Lose Weight

First, you need to know approximately how many calories per day you currently burn. This is easy (takes some time though) using this calorie burning calculator.

The next step is very valuable as a reference point so that you can decide on how to proceed with your weight loss project and make the necessary adjustments to your current way of eating.

Do you know how many calories you eat on a normal day?

This part needs honesty. You probably eat more than you think, just as you might spend more money than you think.

Image courtesy of anjsand

Most of us don’t want to admit that we eat too much and we try to convince ourselves that there is another reason why we have weight issues; something is wrong with our metabolism, for example.

Unfortunately the most common cause is that we eat too much.

The longer you try to ignore that fact and start dealing with your eating habits, the longer it will take before you reach your ideal weight. Is that what you really want?

How to Count Your Calories

Use a calorie counting chart and track your food intake by writing down everything you eat and then check the caloric content with the free calorie calculator. The point is to get a pretty good picture of your current habits.

Are you currently consuming an amount of calories to maintain weight or are you putting on weight?

We don’t vary our breakfast that much, so let’s use breakfast is a place to start adjusting to the fewer calories needed per day. According to the healthy diet plan, 20-25 % of your total caloric intake should come from your breakfast.

Let’s say you have decided on a 1500-calories-a-day-regime. The caloric content of your breakfast should then be 300-375 calories; 105-130 from fat, 120-150 from carbohydrates and 90-110 from protein.

How much does that differ from the caloric content of your current breakfast?

A Meal with Fewer Calories

Use the calorie counting chart and the free calorie calculator again, and this time, find lower calorie alternatives to your current breakfast choices. Don’t do too many changes, it will only feel awkward and you still want to enjoy your meal. You can always change a bit more later on.

Now that you have put together a breakfast you like within the ideal caloric intake limits you decided, you stick to it. As long as you don’t change your breakfast, you don’t have to be counting calories anymore. You already know it.

When you feel you want to change your breakfast you repeat the process you just did. No need of counting calories on a daily basis.

Continue and do the same with the rest of your meals. If you want you can put together a menu for 2-3 days and see how it goes. Learn from your mistakes.

Everything feels odd to start with, but after you’ve been doing this for awhile, you will master it and manage to put together menus with the right calorie intake for weight loss.

counting calories

As you don’t have all the calories you want to spend (just as you probably don’t have all the money you want either) you want to get the most value for your calories.

So what you are looking for is food with high nutritional value for few calories.

And even if you can’t eat everything you want all the time, you can still enjoy it, just as a picnic in the park can be fun even if it’s not an expensive vacation to the tropics.

When you know how to be counting calories right, make sure your food choices don’t affect your blood sugar levels negatively and that they keep your hunger at bay for as long as possible. (Check the satiety index for the most filling foods).

With you on the weigh,
Eva

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