Have you heard people say, “you cannot outrun a bad diet?”. Calorie counting is one of the most important things to learn in your weight loss journey. It is also one of the most dreaded activities you will have to do if you are serious about fitness. Believe it or not, going to the gym is the easy part. Control what you eat daily? not so much. This is because our sensation of hunger is neurohormonally connected. The balance between the hunger hormone ghrelin and the satiety hormone leptin must be in harmony. When you are fasting, you are disturbing the balance between these hormones. It will make you highly uncomfortable and potentially lead to binge eating. With a carefully executed diet plan and calorie counting, you can minimize the discomfort and lead to great success in your journey. Here is a step-by-step guide on how you can start learning how to count calories and start seeing results.
1. Start by understanding macro and micronutrients.
The macronutrients make up the bulk of your day’s calorie intake, while micronutrients enhance your health. Macronutrients include protein, carbohydrates, and fats, which are the building blocks of life. Each of these macronutrients contains different amounts of calories per gram. In general, carbohydrates measure four calories per gram, proteins are four calories per gram, and fats are nine calories per gram. To estimate how much food you should eat, you should calculate the total daily expenditure and carefully measure the amount of each macronutrient. For example, if you have a complete daily expenditure of 1800 calories, you should have 50 grams of fats, 80 grams of protein, and 290 grams of carbohydrates throughout the day. You can also change the total number of these nutrients to fit your needs. If you are involved in resistance training, feel free to increase the number of proteins to 1 gram per lb of body weight and reduce the number of carbohydrates.
On the contrary, micronutrients include vitamins and minerals. They have no impact on your caloric intake. But they are essential in the balance of your hormones. These nutrients include vitamin C/D, iodine, magnesium, and zinc. In fact, minerals like Zinc involves in activating the “zinc-finger” and ultimately, in the development of the hormone testosterone. They are critical in the building of muscle, recovery, and the immune system.
2. Measure your food using a food scale. Better yet, use a meal prep service.
If you don’t measure your food, you will not know how many calories you consume. Use a food scale to help you make better portion control. Eating out can single-handedly ruin your progress if the portioned size is not considered. Most people underestimate the amount of food they eat because of miscellaneous oils that are included in their food. To counter that, start learning how to make healthy choices such as vegetarian base food in your favorite restaurants. Avoid eating at fast-food chains. And perhaps use a meal-prep service to help you count calories. Using services like the Blue-Apron, FoodieFit, and Freshly can take away all the guesswork and allow you to measure your calorie intake accurately. Thanks to their dietitian-based meals, I have successfully lost 25 lbs after using meal prep services and avoided eating out every day. Interestingly, it also saves me money in the long run because of their cost-effective meals. I can easily spend over 30 dollars more due to inflation than a 10 dollars meal from a prep company when I eat out.
If meal prep is not your jam, buy a food scale with a zero function to easily measure your food. You can easily calculate the raw ingredient at home when you cook. Place a container on top of the scale, hit the zero button, and then put in your food and measure how many grams there are. Then you can use phone applications like MyFitnessPal to track your calories. Do not forget about the oil you use while cooking. You can start with 2000 calories and go up or down depending on your needs.
3. Log your diet using technology.
Technology has made our life so convenient. The most powerful tool you have is a calorie tracker when it comes to weight loss. Applications like MyFitnessPal make tracking so easy. It contains millions of recipes and their calories. You can separate them into breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Add them up and calculate the total amount of calories per day. You can also add in your exercise routines, steps, and the amount of water you drink. It can help you to achieve your goals in a stepwise fashion. One caveat is that it does contain a considerable amount of advertisement. But if you are serious about your weight loss, you can also purchase the premium version to avoid ads. It also can break down all your nutrients according to the ratio of macronutrients that you can achieve.
Another tool that I use is the fitness application with the Apple device. It automatically syncs with your Apple Watch. It counts the steps you take and keeps track of your exercises. It also displays all your activities in the calendar and shows how you are progressing in your journey. This app is free to use, and it has had a tremendous impact on my weight loss journey. I aim to have 10,000 steps per day and exercise two to three times weekly. You can also start with this goal and adjust as needed. In the gym, I perform resistance weight training, in addition to walking on the elliptical for an hour. According to the Fitness application on Apple, I burn approximately 1000 calories per day.
4. Reduce total calorie intake—no cheat meals.
I said it. I am not a proponent of a cheat meal. If you have done your meals correctly, you will not need to have cheat meals. That is not to say that you have to restrict yourself at all times. But it would be best if you ate so that you do not need to starve yourself but still achieve a good energy level to go about your daily routines. Imagine if you have a cheat meal every week. You can easily overeat 2000 to 3000 calories in that cheat meal, throwing off an entire week of progress in just one meal. Worse yet, some people have a cheat weekend. This can quickly sabotage your total weight loss progress.
Another reason why I do not think a cheat meal is good is because it breaks your daily habit. “Things that are in motion stay in motion.” It is difficult to stop a moving car. Similarly, it is essential not to stop the progress intermittently when you are losing weight. When you are breaking a habit, you introduce a mental block that potentially erases that pattern in your mind. Instead, pick an attainable calorie goal and hold yourself accountable. Check online to see how many calories you need, and reduce it by 200 calories every day. Eat food that can satiate you and allow you to stay full longer.
5. Weigh yourself every day.
Again, metrics are essential. You should measure your weight every day. Although your weight may fluctuate every day because of water retention, you should continue to measure it. This, again, is to develop a new habit in your subconscious. If you see an increase in weight, you should start cutting back on the number of carbohydrates and salt, as they are more prone to retain water in your body. This can also keep track of how many calories you should consume every day. For example, if you see progress but are hitting a plateau, you should decrease another 200 calories for one to two weeks. Set up a correct expectation and do not cut too drastically. A significant amount of calorie decrease can lead to mental exhaustion. Do not expect progress in one to two days. But instead, keep going and recheck in one to two weeks.
Thank you so much for reading my blog if you made it this far. The weight loss journey is not easy, and I applaud you for trying to improve yourself. Calorie counting is a critical skill to develop, and it takes time to get used to. If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment down below. Like and Subscribe if you would like to read more content like this.
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