Calorie Counting Doesn’t Have To Be Hard!

Nutrition & Weight LossJuly 14, 2020

For several people, keeping count of their calorie intake and having a food diary to do so is simply another chore – another item on their to-do list and a burden on their shoulders! Well, we promise it isn’t that bad. Counting calories is an effective way of ensuring that you maintain weight loss and that you keep on track with your body goals. Having a diary in which to record this information is helpful for making you feel accountable and to gain a better understanding of how you eat and how what you eat matters. Here are a couple of great ways to make counting calories far easier than you imagine it to be!

Don’t Focus On the Number Alone

The biggest mistake that calorie counters make when they begin counting calories is having the perception that ‘a calorie is a calorie’ and this is simply not true. Focussing on calories as a number and nothing more means you are not taking into account the quality of the calories you are consuming. You can choose to consume 2000 calories of nutritious, low glycaemic index foods in a day that make you feel fabulous pr you can choose to consume 2000 calories of sugar and high glycaemic carbohydrates that will leave you sluggish and miserable. They are not the same. Pay attention to the food choices you make, not just the calorie count.

Start Small

Don’t dive head-first into the deep end of calorie-counting. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to count the calories of everything you eat all day or all week. Establishing calorie counting as a habit will not happen if you begin to dread doing it or begin looking at it as a chore. You have to choose a way that works for you to start small ith counting calories and work your way into doing it. Try either counting the calories of only one meal a day – say, dinner. Or perhaps even counting calories only 3 or 4 days a week. Whatever helps you stick to your goals of counting calories works!

Find a Friend

It can be very encouraging to hold yourself accountable to someone and to also know that they are doing this with you having company in a challenge makes it far easier to stick to. So pick a friend who is kee no n the idea and work on counting calories together. Don’t force one of your friends into it else it will be more discouraging than helpful! It doesn’t even need to be someone you know, because these days there are so many apps based on fitness, weight loss and particularly calorie counting that it is immensely easier to find a like-minded friend – even if it is over your phone.

Use a Tracking App

Speaking of apps, there are a number of immensely helpful apps available for smartphones and other devices that are designed to help reduce the bulk of the work when it comes to calorie counting. Using an app like MyFitnessPal can give you nutritional information of foods at your fingertips, making it far easier to jot down your count.

Look at the Bigger Picture

Tracking your food intake in a food diary is more helpful than you think. Don’t just think it is for tracking your calories, think of the fact that having a record of what you have eaten and what you frequently eat gives you the advantage of figuring out what your diet is lacking in. If you tend to steer clear of green leafy vegetables, your food diary will tell it to you! And you can easily make the necessary changes to your diet. This makes maintaining overall health your goal, and not just losing a couple of pounds.

We know you don’t like the idea of keeping a tab on every item you consume, but it gets easier as you go and you start learning the calorie counts of different foods. It is a gid habit that takes some time and effort to build, but once it is established it will quickly become something you wish you had started doing sooner! So be more efficient at calorie counting by trying out our tips, and enjoy real results!