Calorie Counting Chart - As Easy as Using a Checkbook

Do you use a checkbook? Are you comfortable with addition and subtraction?

Are you tired of following every new diet tip or 'secret' that pops up?

Then maybe you are ready for the real deal.

Maybe you are ready to take control of your body management. Doing so is often easier than jumping from fad to fad. Taking control for yourself means coming to an appreciation of your body and its particular needs. Then using simple tools to get the results you want.

I'll give you an example from my own experience. I have used a calorie counting chart to lose twenty pounds. What I have discovered by doing so, is that what I *actually* eat each day and what I *need* to eat for good health and satisfaction are two different things.

And sorting out that difference is very much like using a checkbook to keep track of my family's monthly finances.

What about you? Do you...

- keep track of money that goes into your bank account?

- keep track of money that goes out of your bank account?

- understand you need money *in* your account before money can come *out*?

If you can successfully tackle those concepts with your money, I feel confidant in your ability to use those same skills to get the body weight results you want using a calorie counting chart.

Here's the deal. Using a calorie counting chart (just like a checkbook register), you

- keep track of the calories you take in each day.

- decide how many calories you need to use each day for good health.

- make adjustments in the amounts of calories available to you, through food choices and exercise.

Calorie Counting Chart

Did you know that it is easier to lose weight than to gain weight? Well, mathematically, it is. Energy from food that is not used by the body would most likely be stored as fat in the adipose tissues. Consider this hypothetical scenario: The meal you just had contains about 3,500 kcal of fat per pound. If you ate 3,500 kcal more than what your body actually needs, you will be putting on about 0.3 pounds from all that fat. Burn 3,500 kcal more, you would lose a surprising 0.7 pounds more than the prior figure, so that means 1 whole pound off the scale. Sounds impressive enough? There's more.

Counting calories, literally counting them figure by figure, is a thing of the past. Brought about by the endless advancements in technology, there are now such things as online Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculators and calorie counters. These make it even easier for you to do your math! The former determines your calorie needs based on your height, weight, age, and gender while the latter, on how many calories you actually are getting from the food you eat every day. This would give you a bird's eye view on whether or not you are eating more or eating less than what your body needs.

If losing weight is your ultimate goal, there is just one more part to the equation. You know that you have been eating more than what you should have so the question now is: how do you calculate the number of calories you are burning with the level of activity, or inactivity, your present lifestyle has? Furthermore, how many more calories should you be burning to shed those few extra pounds?

Eat to Lose Weight - The Healthy Weight Loss Plan

Healthy weight loss is extremely important. Pounds or inches lost at the cost of health don't stay away for long and bring their own set of problems. Nobody gains weight overnight or in a matter of weeks. Why should one then try and lose it quickly. Half the fitness battle lies in setting realistic goals. Goals that allow you to feel full not starve. Goals allow you to cheat once in a while. Goals that don't make you put life on hold while you 'diet'. All research shows that punishing the body by depriving it of food can actually back fire making it become even fatter. This happens because the body readjusts its metabolic rate to conserve whatever little fuel it has in the form of fat. Talk about starving one's way to obesity.

This article talks about making small changes in one's daily habits to bring about a huge change in the way a person looks on the outside AND feels on the inside. The correct diet is not only satisfying to the body; it is also satisfying for the mind as well. As somebody wise put it, 'you are what you eat'. Read below some of the great tips for healthy weight loss.

If a large part of your daily diet consists of packaged foods, it's time you started reading the labels. Read the calorie content and the nutritive value that the food provides. Try and eat no more than 1500 calories per day and divide them over at least 5- 6 small meal times. Then evaluate if the serving size is enough to make you feel full. If it isn't switch to another box, eating home cooked food is one of the easiest ways to lose inches since when we make food ourselves we don't add the extra butter or salt that is required to maintain the color and shape of most packaged foods. If you cannot cook, try stocking fresh fruits and vegetables that you can substitute for at least 2-3 of your 6 meals. Breakfast cereals that contain oats or bran are also great options that are easy to make and eat. Try mixing some blueberries or any fresh or dry fruit to give it variety. Even a simple diet made at home can assist in healthy weight loss.

Calorie Counting And Weight Loss - A Dieting Nightmare

Have you ever been guilty of feeling that the really fast way to lose weight is to eliminate as many calories you possible can? I mean, if your calorie intake is at 3,000 a day and you cut it in half to 1,500, then you should really see some weight loss, right? Well, let's take a closer look. You may be very surprised at the answer.

How often have you or someone you know, start a new diet plan like this...

You wake up one day and have a really tough time trying to put those pants on. This gets you angry and you've had enough. So, you decide you will start dieting immediately and stick to it regardless.

Now you're motivated and committed and you take action. So, what do you do? If you're like most people you start on the starvation diet as a way to lose weight fast.

What happens next? Well, since you skipped breakfast as a way of letting your body know who's in charge, your body starts letting you know how if feels. You begin getting a few hunger pangs. You quickly drink some water and go about your day.

Ok...lunchtime has arrived and you're starving. But you made that commitment so you only have a piece of fruit or a yogurt.

This can go on for a while longer until you're just about to go stark raving mad! Finally, you can't take it anymore and you start eating everything in sight. I think we've all been there at some point.

Well, the starvation diet just doesn't work. The weight you do lose is only water. Your body adjusts to the fact you are not giving it the calories to offset this. You hit what is known as the weight loss plateau.

Calorie Counters Are Perfect Weight Loss Tools

Counting calories is a powerful technique that can help those people who want to lose excessive weight. Knowing what you eat is important as it can tell you exactly which foods are good for you, and which ones should be avoided during your diet.

Losing weight equals consuming less calories and burning the energy your body has stored (fat). That does not necessarily mean that you should starve yourself. In fact, the opposite is quite true, and you should eat plenty, but the right foods. Without adequate nutrients, your body will not burn fat, but muscle. That causes a problem, because as soon as you return to your normal diet, you will gain all the weight back, sometimes even more.

Food calorie counters are comprehensive online food and nutrition database search engines designed to inform their users about the foods they consume. For each food item entered in the search box, the program will calculate the percentage of 'recommended daily intake value', and offer a complete nutritional breakdown. This is useful information for dieters who not only care about calories, but are watching cholesterol, carbohydrates, saturated fat, sugars, sodium, fiber, or other dietary components.

There are numerous tools available online to help dieters in their quest to shed some weight. 'Body Mass Index' (BMI) and the 'weight to height ratio' calculators can tell overweight or obese people if their weight is excessive relative to their height, while 'waist to hip ratio' formulas express the ratio of the circumference of the waist to that of the hips. Although not all of these resources deliver accurate results, because they are based on estimates rather than personalized data, they can certainly help track progress.

Calorie Counters - Search, Track and Achieve!

When that favorite dress no longer fits, or a belly peeks over the edge of those new designer bathing trunks, it is time to put on the food brakes and go on a diet. Everyone knows that this is easier said than done, and that without special tools and resources, this mission will not be easy.

Dieters have many aids and measuring tools available to them. They can use, for example, weight to height ratio, weight charts, waist to hip ratio, or Body Mass Index (BMI) calculators to help them figure out the shape they are in, and how much weight they should be losing to make their clothes fit better again. Once their weight loss goal has been determined, they can then put together a diet plan that will work for them.

The best way to lose weight is to keep track of the amount of calories you consume during the day. Knowing what you eat is indeed quite important as it can help you control the calories you put in your body. Researching your foods will also highlight the hidden calories, those you are often unaware of and make you gain weight.

With today's technology at your fingertips, take advantage of all the information you can find online, including the many free calorie counters that are offered by health and fitness sites.

Search

Search the food libraries that are presented to you and find out how many calories your favourite foods contain. These databases generally offer more than the simple calorie values of your produce, fruits, meats, grains, dairy, drinks, and other products. They also offer various options on how to burn more calories, so you can lose weight faster, all while staying fit and healthy. For instance, to exercise off one cup of sparkling apple juice, containing 39 calories (165 Kilojoules) you can run for 3 minutes, walk for 10, or swim for 4.

Calorie Counting and Belly Fat Loss

What is a calorie?

In short-it's a measure of energy. The scientific definition is "The energy required to raise 1 gram of water by 1 degree." Okay, you're probably saying, that doesn't help me.

Hold on a second. I'm getting there.

You're interested in losing all that fat that's hanging around your midsection, correct? Then we need to talk calories-specifically, about what they have to do with losing fat.

Ready for the answer?

It's... Absolutely nothing. And counting them doesn't help you lose fat either. Not arm fat, not leg fat, and no-not belly fat.

Whether you're losing weight for health reasons, or you just want to look good, calories have NOTHING to do with your success.

So stop counting them. It's only wasting your time and effort-and possibly even making you gain fat.

Why Calorie Counting Is Making You Fat

Although calorie counting is still one of the most commonly used methods for attempting to lose weight, it is based on a major fallacy.

This is because the idea behind fat-loss models that involve simple calorie counting (ahem, Weight-Watchers) is that all calories are created equal.

The obvious error in this thinking can be easily pointed out even without using science when you simply consider the difference between a 200 calorie 7oz. chicken breast verses a 200 calorie glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut.

One obviously makes you fat, while the other is touted as an essential health food, and rightly so. The difference that you have to consider is the composition of the calories.

The fact is that all calories are made up of different combinations of fat, protein, or carbohydrates. Even within these categories there are quite a few variations, but for the sake of clarity, I'll stick with the basics.

Calorie Counting - How Much Do I Need to Eat?

What do I eat?

When do I eat?

How much do I need to eat?

This is a problem for most people who either want to lose weight or build on it. It's easy to say 'eat and you'll be big' and yeah, this does work - but you don't want to put on 3 stone of unwanted fat or say lose all your fat and muscle mass at the same time.

Ahh, what do you do then?

First of all you need to produce a guild line where you need to start from, another words how many calories to start eating in a day and it is very simple when you know what you are doing.

First step

You need to begin by finding out how much energy you burn without exercising or eating, this gives us our calorie needs, another words what it takes to run your body at your specific weight and size.

Your weight in pounds ...x 11 = ...This gives us the total calories the body needs to run.

Second step

We need to eat to survive and we all do some kind of exercise like walking to the shop or looking after children, this all takes effort and energy from the body.

Activity Level

o Mostly sedentary - 25%

o Moderately active - 35%

o Dedicated exerciser or athlete - 45%

Calories that your body needs to run ...x activity level ...% = ...You metabolic rate.

Third step

This step is to find out how many calories your body needs to simply function on an average day.

Your basic calorie need ...+ Your metabolic rate... = ...Total calories need to function on an average day.

Forth step

We have our daily calorie intake now and we need to find out how much extra calories we need if we want to build muscle and train.