Counting Calories

One of the most tried and tested methods of weight loss. Counting calories is very effective for most people if done correctly.

A calorie is a measure of energy that is released when food is consumed and metabolised by the body. When we talk about a calorie we actually mean 1000 calories or 1 Kilo calorie/Kcal.

When you read food packaging the amount of calories will normally be listed under the heading Energy.  

An average person burns about 60% of their daily calories just by being alive that is without even getting up and moving. When we move we use even more calories, we also burn calories when we eat and digest our food.

An average woman should consume about 2000 kcal per day an average man should consume about 2500 kcal per day. If you are an athlete in training these figures should probably be adjusted up. If you are trying to lose weight you should try consuming 500 kcal less per day.

The key to successful calorie counting is to make sure that the calories you are eating are full of nutrients. Don’t eat “empty calories” foods that are made up mainly of sugars and fats.

Make sure you always read the food labels and check the quantity of each food that the label refers to. Often it will be 100g many labels refer to both 100g and per serving. Just remember that 100g of peanut butter is a very large amount and you will only use a small percentage of this to spread on your bread.

A great way of counting calories is to use one of the many web sites that hold a database of foods and the amount of calories that each contains. On many of these sites you can keep a food diary and the site will add up your daily calories as you enter the foods. Some will even let you keep an exercise diary that calculates how many calories you have burned. This is a very useful tool and makes calorie counting less boring. You can also buy books that have lists of calories contained in a wide variety of food.

You should always make sure that you include drinks when you calculate your daily calories. If you drink tea or coffee with milk and sugar you will be surprised at the amount of calories you are consuming without even eating. Try cutting out sugar in drinks and using skimmed no fat milk. Drink less tea and coffee and more water and herb teas. Fizzy drinks or sodas are often full of sugar so stay away from these too.

When you first start out counting calories it can be very time consuming but it is worthwhile as we all know that the key to weight loss is to use more calories than we put in. By reducing the amount of calories in your diet and increasing the amount of exercise that you take you will steadily lose weight. Counting calories will not get you thin within a week but keep it up and you will have reached your goal before you know.