Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Effective Ways to Count Your Calories When Dieting


One of the most common steps in dieting is calorie-counting. It is a tedious process (counting the amount of fats, carbs, and proteins of almost everything you put inside your mouth) that is why a lot of people tend to just give up eventually. The sad thing, though, is that dieting is almost all about the calories (how much you take in and how much you burn). To help make calorie-counting a lot easier, here are some ways you can try.

1. Know how much you need

You cannot directly begin counting your calories if you do not know the amount you need to take per day. There are several factors to consider when determining how much you need like your current weight and your activities. For more accuracy, it is best to seek for advice from an expert.

2. Know what you eat

We get our daily caloric intake from the food we eat so it is important to be familiar with them. Take a trip to the bookstore or spend some time on Google and read about the common food that you take in. Make a list of these foods along with the amount of calories and other essential components and go through the list during your free time. That way, you gradually get accustomed with them until counting their caloric content becomes a no brainer. This really helps because one of the reasons why calorie-counting gets frustrating is because we tend to not know the caloric-amount of some foods we take.

3. Have a fixed meal as much as possible

Another reason why calorie-counting becomes frustrating is because we come across foods that we are not familiar with. To address this, it does not hurt to eat the same types and amount of food per day. You can do this by fixing your own meals or by frequenting the same restaurant everyday. Cheat days are still welcome.

4. Keep a food diary

A food diary is an effective tool in tracing and keeping track of your daily caloric intake. This way, you can easily look back on the days when you might have taken in too much calories. This will also help keep you on track. Keeping a food diary does not have to be a boring activity; try to be creative with your entries.

5. Find and download a software

In the advent of technology, an activity such as calorie-counting does not anymore have to be taxing and time-consuming. There are many available software and applications that you can download to help you record and count your calories. A lot of these applications are available for your mobile so you can bring it anywhere you go.

Calorie-counting can get really annoying, especially if you are not so fond of math. But with patience and commitment, you will eventually reap the fruits of your labor.

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