The point of counting calories for shedding pounds will be to make sure that you’re having a calorie deficit. It is important since the only process for losing weight will be to be in a calorie deficit. Here, we will be explaining the procedure of counting calories for losing weight in 4 simple steps.
FIGURE OUT HOW MANY CALORIES WILL BE REQUIRED BY YOU FOR MAINTAINING YOUR WEIGHT
It is important to be aware of your maintenance calories such that you can consume less than that generating a calorie deficit in the long run. You will come across several ways for estimating your maintenance calories which includes various formulas using your age, height, and gender.
One of the most popular ones happens to be the calorie calculator available at calculator.net given that it is quite simple and does the identical calculation which is used by MyFitnessPal, one of the most well-known calorie counting apps at present.
You simply need to provide your stats into the given form and that’s all! Once you click calculate, your maintenance calories are going to be the initial number displayed.
SET A DAY-TO-DAY CALORIE TARGET FOR LOSING WEIGHT
It is known to you that you must consume below the maintenance calories for slimming down. But have you ever thought how much below?
This will depend on how fast you’d like to lose weight.
A pound happens to be 3500 calories, and therefore, in case you like to get rid of 1 pound every week, you have to target 500 calories below your maintenance calories every single day.
In case you’d like to shed pounds quicker, then a larger deficit of calories has to be targeted every day. If you like to lose weight gradually, then a smaller calorie deficit can be targeted by you.
It is recommended to go for a calorie deficit of approximately 20%. This deficit will be big enough for you to get the desired results pretty quickly, and it is not so big that it will be difficult for you to stick to.
For instance, in case your day-to-day maintenance calories happen to be 2000, a calorie deficit of 20% will be 400 calories. In that case, you need to consume 1600 calories every single day.
MONITOR YOUR FOOD ITEMS
Using an app will be the easiest way to do this. However, you must keep in mind one important thing that your tracking is not going to be absolutely precise since you will find it quite difficult to come across the calorie counts for the food items consumed by you. Nevertheless, try your best.
In case your app comes with generic food entries, then you can always replace similar items for something that you are not able to find. For instance, if you are not able to find your college cafeteria pizza, you can enter Domino’s pizza in place of that.
TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
When you first begin to track, it will take some time for you to know about the calorie counts for the typical food items consume by you. However, it is going to become easy over time.
In case you believe that you are in a calorie deficit consistently and still are not able to make any progress, then you are probably underestimating your intake of calories while overestimating the calorie expenditure, or maybe both. It is very important to make adjustments to make the process smooth. Do not give up in case you are not able to get the desired results after several weeks.
Ron is a health instructor and an owner of a gym. He also conducts seminars about healthy lifestyle. He own a Labrador named Chuck.