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The goal of this website is to give you a safe weight loss strategy that has permanent results. This information is free!I'm sure you have heard this plenty of times but here goes the same story again: To lose weight you must burn more energy than you eat each day. Therefore, eating too much causes weight gain and eating too little causes weight loss. To maintain an ideal bodyweight requires eating as much food as your body burns. For a lot of people this comes naturally, but for some people overeating has become a habit. The key to breaking this habit is to understand how much food your body needs. Weight loss is an exact science. The amount of energy your body needs each day can be calculated. Knowing how many calories you need during the day and eating less than what your body needs will make you lose weight!
The strategy outlined on this website is called "Calorie Counting". Calorie counting allows you to eat whatever you want but in moderation. You can have hamburgers, pizza and French fries so long as you don't over do it.
What is Calorie Counting?
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All the foods we eat give our body energy. This energy allows us to perform tasks such as walking, talking and even thinking. The amount of energy a certain food provides is measured in calories. Keeping track of how many calories you eat during the day is called "counting your calories". The amount of calories are specified on most packaged foods (See the highlighted example to the right).
To be successful at calorie counting requires you to memorize or keep a list of how many calories are in the foods you eat. With time this task will become natural. During the course of a day you must keep a running total of the calories you have consumed. If this total exceeds what your body needs then you will gain weight. However if your calorie intake is less than what your body requires you will lose weight. Its that simple! Some foods such as fruits and vegetables are not packaged and do not have a nutrition label. The calories for some of these foods are listed below.
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For a more extensive list of foods and their calories please try the Calorie Database.
How Many Calories can I Have?
The average man requires 2500 calories a day to maintain his body weight. The average woman requires 2000 calories a day to maintain her body weight. This of course is just an estimate and will differ from person to person depending on how active they are. A very active person such as an athlete will require about 600 to 700 more calories a day. To get an idea of how many calories your body requires use the tool below to calculate it.
When trying to lose weight you should be eating 500 calories less then what your body needs each day. This equals to about one pound lost per week. For example a woman that needs 2000 calories a day should be eating 1500 calories to lose a pound per week.
NOTE: Never eat less then 1200 calories a day. This will starve your body of important vitamins and minerals. Further more the next day you'll be more likely to overeat to make up for lost calories.
Keeping Focused and Motivated
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When starting the calorie counting diet a couple of tools are needed. If you don't already have one, buy an electronic bathroom scale. They can usually be purchased for about $30 and are more accurate than traditional scales. It is important to weigh yourself every morning (with no clothing and after a good morning pee). Weighing yourself is a good daily reminder of the goals you have set for yourself. Also, buy a new calendar and write down your weight each day and how many calories you consumed on that day. This log is very useful for examining your progress and for adjusting your eating habits to meet your goals. To the right is an example of a real calendar log where the goal was to eat 1500 calories each day.
Losing weight and keeping it off requires a consistent daily effort. This philosophy is referred to as "The Farmers Law". In farming success in life comes from regular disciplined daily effort. A farmer cannot expect to reap a bumper crop by being lazy for three months and then "cramming" to catch up. Similarly, the greatest successes in life are built slowly and deliberately through focused and consistent high-quality efforts on a daily basis.
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Satisfying your Hunger
When counting your calories meals will naturally become smaller because you will be eating less. Therefore, when choosing meals pick foods that are less calorie dense. For example, take the two breakfast meals shown below. Both have around the same amount of calories but with the McDonalds meal you get far less volume of food. The alternative option is much larger and therefore more satisfying.
| Option #1 | Option #2 |
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1 McDonalds sausage McMuffin (380 Cal) 1 McDonalds hash brown (140 Cal) |
1 Bowl of cereal with milk (200 Cal) 1 Slice of toast with jam (100 Cal) 1 Apple (50 Cal) 2 Eggs (140 Cal) |
| Total: 520 Calories | Total: 490 Calories |
When eating your meals try and pace yourself. It takes about 20 minutes before the feeling of fullness reaches your brain. Before eating, drink a glass of water, diet drink, or low calorie juice and have a second glass during your meal.
Snacking Sensibly
Snacking makes up for a large part of the average persons diet. As well snacking makes up for a lot of additional calories that cause weight gain. Fortunately many of the high calorie foods you eat are now available in reduced fat brands. The snack food industry is becoming increasingly aware of the need for low calorie foods. When purchasing snacks look for some of these things:
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100 Calorie Snack Packs Some manufacturers are now packaging your favorite foods in smaller portions. This allows you to count your calories easier and be less tempted to eat more. |
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Snacks made with Olestra Olestra is a fat substitute that has been approved for use in snack foods. Snack foods made with Olestra deliver half the calories and none of the fat. Read more about Olestra |
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Low Calorie Logos Low calorie snacks are usually labeled with a logo that helps you make a healthier choice. These snacks are typically baked rather then fried. |
Burning Calories with Exercise
Exercise is a great way to burn calories. Physical activity will increase your daily calorie needs and therefore make you lose weight faster. In addition, exercise promotes good health and reduces your risk to diseases such as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
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The tool on the right will calculate the calories needed to perform various exercises. Simply select an exercise and input how many minutes of physical activity you intend to do. Then enter your weight to determine how many calories you will burn.
NOTE: The numbers generated by this tool are only approximations. |
For more tools like this one click HERE. |
Keeping the Weight OffWhen you have finally reached your desired healthy weight the next challenge is to maintain it. Continue recording your weight and calorie consumption each day, but slowly increase your calorie intake until you stop losing weight. Add an additional 100 to 200 calories each month until weight loss ceases.Don't think that because you have attained your ideal weight that you should stop counting your calories and keeping the log. If you cease these practices the weight will come back. You must make these practices a life long habit. |
"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." ~Jim Ryun
Bibliography
Whitney, Eleanor Noss. and Rolfes, Sharon Rady. Ninth Edition: Understanding Nutrition.
United States of America: Wadsworth Group. 2002
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