Day 4 - Counting Calories

Now that I have determined that I need to first determine what and how I eat....or more importantly HOW MUCH I eat, it's time to find out the best way to make sure I am staying on plan.  One of the greatest things about the internet these days is that there is a wealth of information right at your fingertips.  In my quest to learn the "right" way to get healthy I found a great cheat sheet that describes the most important things to remember about counting calories.

You can find the cheat sheet here: Calorie Counter for Dummies Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet gives practical suggestions and helpful hints on how to make sure you are eating healthy and within the allotted number of calories you need each day.  There is also a section that dicusses calorie counting for weight loss.

So how do you know how many calories you need to eat each day in order to lose weight?  We all know that in order to lose weight you have to cut calories from your daily diet.  But did you know that if you cut too many calories from your daily diet that could be bad for weight loss too?  Cutting too many calories from your diet can mean that you are not getting the proper nutrition that is needed to aid in weight loss.

When too many calories are cut from your diet the metabolic rate will adjust in order to conserve the few calories that you are giving your body, which means that you will not lose weight any faster - and in my own experience, you may not lose any weight at all.  I once had a doctor put me on an eating plan that was restricted to 1,000 calories a day.  After two weeks, I felt physicall ill.  I was nauseated all the time, suffered from a severe migraine that last for 10 days and to top it off I didn't lose a single pound.  After two weeks, I called the doctor and told him that I could not follow this eating plan.  Needless to say, I never went to see that doctor again.

Here's what I had to learn about calories and how they affect weight gain, weight lose and weight maintenance.

1. Each pound contains 3500 calories.  
2. To lose 1 pound per week - cut your DAILY calorie intake by 500 calories.  (remember yesterday's post about figuring out your average daily caloric intake?  This is why you need to figure out what you are currently eating - so you can figure out how much you should be eating.) This means that if your average current daily caloric intake is 2000, you need to now cut that down to 1500 calories a day to lose 1 lb per week.
3. Adjusting caloric intake alone is not the only way to fight obesity.  Lack of exercise also leads to obesity.  (this is my problem - lack of exercise + to many calories a day = morbid obesity) This means that in connection with cutting calories - we also need to increase exercise.
4. Use the 20% rule: Figure out your average daily caloric intake.  Then, subtract 20%.  For example, let's say your average daily intake is 1800 calories x 20% = 360 calories. So, 1800 - 360 = 1440 calories.  Using this rule of thumb you can expect to lose 1/2-3/4 of a pound per week.  
5. Remember: Calories In Calories Out - Here is a cool website to help you determine how many calories you are burning.  It also contains other calculators like BMI (Body Mass Index) and BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate) caloriesperhour.com

Okay, I have given ALOT of information in this post.  So I am going to close for today.  Be sure to check back tomorrow!!!!