If you've decided that you're ready to eat a little bit better, lose a little weight and/or feel a little healthier you might have been looking at what you're eating and maybe have made a decision that you need to make some changes. And, let me tell you that I think that's AWESOME!!!! However, being thinner or at your goal weight doesn't always mean that you should be eat less food or starve yourself.
One of the best ways to lose those extra pounds is by counting calories. It's quite simple to do and I'm going to share with you how I do it. It's my secret formula for weight loss.
1. Find a calorie tracking program and create an account. I like loseit.com or myfitnesspal.com. They are free and you can access either one from a computer or smartphone. That helps keep me accountable even when I'm on the go. Personally, I use loseit.com because I like earning the badges. That's the competitiveness in me coming out. icon smile The Secret Formula For Weight Loss
2. Determine what your weight loss goal is. I like to have a long term goal in mind and then break it down into mini goals. Mini goals help keep me motivated to keep working towards that bigger number.
3. Determine how many calories you will need to consume each day by referencing your Nutrition Guide that came with your workout program. Keep in mind that those guidelines that are set in the book are what you should follow and not that on the calorie counting program that you're using. Depending on the workout program you may actually need to eat more then what you think you need to because your body is going to be burning a lot of fuel.
4. Start entering in anything that you have consumed for the day. Yep, record it all, even if it puts you over the recommended calories for the day. The longer that you log your meals, the better you'll become at managing what you should and shouldn't each eat day.
5. Enter in any activity that you participated for the day. Housework, yard work or the fitness program of your choice. You'll want to enter in the level of intensity used and the amount of time you spent working out.
6. Use this program each and every day! Every day you'll log in your physical activity and what you eat. If you find that you've gained a little weight or hit a plateau which unfortunately, happens from time to time, you'll have the information needed to go back and then make changes to move you forward. The goal with entering all of this information in is to have a deficit between your activity and what you eat so that you'll start seeing changes within your body. Please, please, please do not get upset if the scale does not move. It's just one of many instruments that can determine your level of success.
If you're not using a nutrition guide that came with a workout program, you'll want to keep a few things in mind.
DO NOT eat less than 1200 calories per day regardless of what kind of activity you are doing. If you're adding activity into your day, you'll actually want to bump your calories up by learning what you need to eat based off of a few things: your weight, your height, your age and how intense of an activity your doing. The programs I referenced above should tell you that. And, there are some really great devices that can help you get even more accurate information on how many calories you burn. I use a fitbit but there are other items like the Nike Fuelband, the BodyBugg, or a heart rate monitor. Take a look and choose one that best fits your needs.
As you're planning your meals, you'll want each meal to contain a 40% carb ratio, a 30% protein ratio and a 30% fat ratio. You will also want to replace processed foods with low density, high fiber foods whenever possible. One thing I suggest is picking foods from our "New You" Food Guide. The closer to the top of this guide, the better results you'll have. No matter how much you workout, if you don't make smarter food choices, you won't get optimum results.
I hope this article provides you with a better understanding of how to count calories and to lose weight.
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