What Calorie Counting Has Taught Me

There are thousands of methods to dieting. Just ask anyone you know and they will tell you their favorite way of dieting. Better yet, go to your local book store and look at the number of diet books on the shelf. They funny thing is, they all pretty much boil down to one fundamental principle: YOU MUST BURN MORE CALORIES THAN YOU CONSUME. Read that again. The only tried and true method to losing weight is to burn more calories than you consume. It’s a simple principle. Burn 3,500 more calories than you consume and you’ve lost a pound. To me, keeping caloric intake levels in check is the appropriate way to lose weight.

I’ve been using an app on my iPhone called LoseIt! to track my calories for almost a month now. I started on Juse 23, 2010 and have lost about 8 pounds since then. I speak to quite a few people who don’t understand how I can track calories for everything I eat. They also have a perception that people who count calories are hungry all the time.

In the short time that I’ve been counting every calorie, I have learned a few things:

1. Counting calories is easy. Easier than people think. There are numerous apps and websites that help. Almost everything has a nutrition label that you can gather information from.
2. Average portion sizes are HUGE. When you count calories, you understand that the size of a portion at a restaurant is enormous. I really don’t need to be eating that much.
3. Measuring food is a tedious, but very important and beneficial.
4. Eating three square meals while counting calories will result in you not sticking with it. Its way too easy to eat a lot of calories at once when you eat only three times a day. I eat a decent size breakfast, a decent size lunch and a decent size dinner. The key is to eat smart and healthy snacks throughout the day. Fruit, nuts and snack bars are my favorites.
5. When you count calories, you are actually getting nutritional education. You start to learn what is good for you and what is bad. Over time, you read less and less labels cause you know how many calories are in it. You know how big of a portion you can have.
6. MOST IMPORTANT THING I HAVE LEARNED FROM COUNTING CALORIES: it works. Plain and simple.

Counting calories is tedious, but its worth the effort. If you are serious about losing weight, take a look at what you are eating and document it. You will see patterns of self destruction which you can take actions to correct. Many of the opponents of calorie counting say that if your diet is calorie counting, you will have to do it all your life. This just isn’t so. I mentioned that learn along the way. At some point, you become an expert and you don’t have write everything down.

The most important thing is to find what works for you and stick with it. Counting calories works for me.

Be well. Feel great.