Calorie Counting Tips

In order to lose weight, you need to know a thing or two about how to count calories. It's not difficult or time consuming (once you get the hang of it). You can start doing it as soon as tomorrow. Here is what you need to know about counting calories.

First, you have to know how many calories you burn every day. The number won't be the same for everyone. It depends on your height, weight, activity level, etc. Enter your information in this calculator to find out. Now you will click "calculate".

You will see three numbers there. You should pick the "fat loss" number in the middle. This is your magic number. If you don't eat more than this number every day, you will lose weight. Now remember, every time you lose weight, the number will change. You will need to revisit this calculator and enter your new weight in and get a new number to work with.

Now just start counting everything. Don't do any guessing. Actually count the number of almonds. Don't just grab a handful and count it as one serving. You have to count every nibble, bite, and crumb. This is not an obsession. You need to do this because nibbling can add up over the course of a day.

For example, you have a piece of chocolate cake and you don't want to eat the whole thing so you just take small bites throughout the day. You think it's so small that you don't have to count it towards your daily calories. By the end of the day, you have eaten about a third of that piece of cake. Yes you do need to count this because it adds up.

You need to read food labels carefully. You may look at the back of a bag of gummy bears and see "200 calories" so you think the whole bag is 200 calories. That may not be true. It's 200 calories PER SERVING. You need to look at what a serving is. It says a serving is 25 pieces. So count out 25 gummy bears and that will give you 200 calories. This is a very common mistake.

If you don't count everything, it can prevent you from losing weight at all. Also, you need to count every drink you take. Anything that has calories should and will be counted. You can choose to count these on your phone if you want. You could keep a small notepad with you or if you have an iphone, there are apps for calorie counting.

If you eat something and you aren't sure of how many calories it contains, you will need to find out. Just google it. For example, if I eat an apple I will google "calories in an apple".

You will notice that foods have a lot more calories when you eat them at a restaurant. A chicken fried steak and mash potatoes dinner at home will most likely be half the calories of one that you would eat at Applebee's.

Counting calories will help you to make wise decisions. You will "save up" calories if you know that you have a special occasion that night. You will make smarter snack choices and watch how much soda you drink. It will really help you to change your eating habits.

Following this plan will not make you lose 10 lbs a week. That is unrealistic and unhealthy. A healthy weight loss is just one or two pounds a week. It adds up over time and you will start to see a smaller you if you keep this up. After a month, you may lose 8 lbs. In 6 months, you could be down 50 lbs.