Calorie counting is a proven weight loss technique that you should incorporate into your regimen. The science behind the method is that every time you eat a food item that is high in calories, your body retains more water, causing you to appear heavier. This may be an undesired effect, so keeping track of your calorie consumption and exercise routine is essential. The following are some helpful tips on how to calculate the calorie amounts to lose weight.
Use The Right Equipment
To start off with, you need to keep in mind that there are various ways to count calories. You can use an online calorie counter or download a calorie-counting app on your phone. Whichever method you opt for, make sure that you use the appropriate tools to get the most accurate results. For example, using a food database that is heavily fortified with nutritional info may produce the desired weight loss results, but you will have to input all the food items manually, which is a tedious process.
Use The Right Database
The type of food database you use will heavily depend on your phone or tablet’s operating system. For iOS users, the iFoodApp has a proven record of being highly efficient at calculating the calories you need to burn. On the other hand, if you have an Android phone, you should opt for the MyFoodApp, as it comes with a barcode scanner that makes scanning food items easy. Remember: the more information you can provide about the items you consume, the more accurate the calorie count will be. This is why you should always keep a food diary, as you will have all the necessary information at your fingertips.
Count Calories From Each Category
When calculating your daily calorie needs, you should include all the calorie-rich foods you consume. There is no way around this fact. However, you should not necessarily include all the foods you eat. For example, let’s say you have a small piece of cheesecake and a glass of wine with dinner. These are both rich in calories and should be factored into your daily total, but they are not indispensable to your diet. It’s entirely up to you whether or not you want to include these items in your calorie count. Just make sure you know what you are including and what you are excluding.
Take Into Consideration How You Feel
With a lot of people opting out of having a traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas meal and instead choosing to cook food for themselves, more individuals are opting to lose weight during the holiday season. One of the best ways to determine your ideal weight is to assess how you feel. Do you feel vibrant and energetic or exhausted and fatigued? If you feel great, you can safely assume that your body is burning off excess pounds. On the other hand, if you feel sluggish and tired, you should work on boosting your diet or taking a break from exercising to allow your body to restore itself.
Keep Your Body Hydrated
When you are dehydrated, your body retains water and can appear heavier. Drinking sufficient amounts of water can help you stay hydrated and thus appear thinner. You should drink at least eight glasses of water each day, and you can calculate how much you should drink using this formula: ((your weight in kg) x 2) + (your weight in kg) x 0.3. Essentially, this is how much you should drink for your body weight. The 0.3 is for individuals who are less than 50 kg (or less than 110 lbs). For those who are more than 50 kg (or more than 110 lbs), you need to drink 1.2 times the amount suggested here. Make sure you drink a lot of water throughout the day, especially if you are active. If you are at work, you may not have the chance to drink as much as you should. This is why you should try to drink at least 12 ounces for every hour that you spend at work. Remember, your body needs water to function properly, and when it does not get the proper amount of hydration, it can appear dull and bloated, thus causing you to gain weight.
Watch Out For Certain Food Combinations
Certain food combinations can cause you to gain weight. The best example is an alcoholic drink and a fatty meal. If you drink a beverage that contains alcohol, the drink will contribute calories to your daily total, but it also adds a carbohydrate component, which will then increase the food’s glycemic index, causing your body to register it as a carbohydrate-rich food even though you did not eat any. If you eat food with a high glycemic index, it will quickly raise your blood sugar levels, which may then cause you to gain weight. This is why you should avoid eating onions and garlic in combination with any other food product, as they will interact with each other in a way that will significantly increase the food’s glycemic impact. This will then, in turn, increase the likelihood of you gaining weight. The same principle applies to other food combinations, such as milk with bread or pasta. Check the food labels on all your food items, and be wary of which ones are high in calories and which ones are low in calories. It is also advisable to avoid eating foods with trans fats in them. These substances, when present in large amounts, will significantly increase your body’s production of adiponectin, a substance that helps regulate your appetite, among other things.
Track What You Eat
You should keep a food diary, noting down everything you eat and drink for a few days. This will then provide you with a good picture of what kind of food you are consuming and how much of it you are eating. If you have been keeping a record of your daily activities and have noted down everything you eat and drink, it will be easier for you to determine the calorie amount you need to lose weight. Also, you should never eat anything without keeping in mind that you are counting calories. This is why you should write down everything you put in your mouth. Even when you are not eating consciously, you may still be consuming calories without you knowing it. These are the hidden calories that you should not be consuming, as counting them will help you determine how much you actually need to lose weight. For example, when you are eating fast food, you should not get the notion that you can eat what you want because it does not matter how much you eat as long as you stay within your calorie count. Keep in mind that this is not always the case. Some foods are higher in calories than others and should be eaten in moderation, especially when you are trying to lose weight. For example, some restaurants serve steak and lobster, and while these foods are delicious, you should know that each one comes with a high calorie count. Similarly, some pasta dishes are not as low in calories as you may think, so make sure you check the food labels before you order.
Try Different Methods
As mentioned before, there are various ways to calculate your daily calorie needs. You can use an online calorie counter or download a calorie-counting app on your phone. Whichever method you opt for, make sure that you research different methods before you start using them. Some of these tools are highly sophisticated and can give you an accurate reading of how many calories you need to lose weight, but they may also be a little complicated for the average person to use. If you have tried other methods and they have not worked for you, try out different tools to see which one gives you the best results. When using any of these tools, be sure to enter in all the relevant information about what you eat and how active you are. In this way, you will have the best shot at losing the desired amount of weight.