 Calorie counting easy, effective
I've gotten a large response from my recent articles concerning calorie counting.
It would seem that in this era of counting just about everything else (carbohydrates, fats, etc.), people have lost track of the simple calorie.
With that in mind, here is a quick tutorial on calorie counting. First, let's define what a calorie is. It is energy. The calories in food are what give our bodies energy to function. Regardless of the diet plan you use, if you put more calories into your body than you expend, your body will need to store those excess calories and you will gain weight. If you expend more calories than you take in, your body will need to access that storage and you will lose weight. It takes 3,500 calories to make 1 pound. So, changing your intake or expenditure by 500 calories per day will change your weight by one pound per week.
According to the American Dietetic Association, a typical person needs 1,800-2,000 calories per day to maintain his or her weight and 1,200-1,500 calories per day to lose weight. Of course, if you are particularly heavy or very active, your numbers will differ. You should confirm an appropriate range with your doctor.
How can you find out how many calories are in the foods you are eating? There are a number of calorie count books available. I suggest getting two: a small portable book that you can keep with you and a larger, more complete one for at home. You can also search for "calorie counts" on the web.
A simple and effective weight-loss plan is to log all of the food that you eat along with its calorie count. When you have reached your calorie limit, you are done for the day. It's surprising how effective this small change can be. Try it for just one month and see if you don't agree.
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