by Jess Shanahan

Created on: July 31, 2009

How to Calorie Count Successfully

Calorie counting is the best way to lose weight if you still want to eat some of the foods you love. Of course you must keep your diet balanced but calorie counting is the way forward if you do not feel you want to stick to a strict diet plan.

How many calories.

The best way to work out how many calories you should be eating is to look at an online calculator that will look at your body weight, your height, you ideal weight and your exercise level to determine how much you need to eat in order to lose weight. Another thing you can do is work out your ideal weight, you can either find an online calculator for this or you might even know what your goal weight already is.

So if your ideal weight is 150 pounds then take a look at how many calories a 150 pound person of your height would need to sustain that weight. Once you have an amount then you can stick to that many calories, eating enough to sustain a person of that size will make you drop weight until you reach it.

Keeping a log.

With the internet there are so many ways of monitoring your calorie intake, daily exercise, weight and measurements. There are many databases on the web with a huge listing of various foods and the calories they contain as well as how many calories a variety of exercises will burn. Keep a log daily, whether it is in a diary or on the web, this will ensure that you don't go over your calorie limit. You will get used to creating meals that will fit in with your recommended intake however, fi you do struggle then it is likely that the same sites that tell you how many calories there are in the foods you are eating will also have sample menus for you to try

Losing weight.

When calorie counting it is important that you understand that getting to you ideal weight is only one part of the process. Weigh yourself once and week and note this down in your log, if you are particularly technically minded then you may even be able to make a graph of your loss. If you find that one week you haven't lost or have put on then go back through your log and see what you did wrong so you don't make the same mistakes again.

Also take measurements of the areas you wish to lose weight; waist, hips, thighs, neck etc. If you find that you haven't lost weight then you still might've lost inches. Muscle weighs more than fat so if you exercise is focused on strength training then it is likely you will be heavier in the first few months as you lose.

Maintaining that Weight.

Once you get down to your ideal weight don't just stop eating healthily because the weight will just pile back on. Make sure you stick to the recommended amount of calories for that weight to maintain it. Keep exercising and keep up with the healthy habits that you've gained on your weight loss journey. The result is a healthier, happier you!

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