Do You Know How to Count Calories to Lose Weight?

How to count calories to lose weight:  There are several ways to count calories, but do not switch back and forth too often.  When you switch back and forth too often there may be too much room to cheat.  Choose one method and stick to it for at least two weeks so that you can see if the method works for you.  All the counting methods below will be based on the following example.


Example:  I am a man who weighs 170 pounds and am 70 inches tall.


Remember the basal metabolic rate calculation :

Men:
66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

66 +(6.3x 170) + (12.9 x 70) - (6.8X58)  =
66 + 1071 + 903 - 395  =  1645

I want to lose weight so I must eat less than 1645 calories.  I will reduce by 20%,  therefore 1645 x .8 = 1316 calories per day

Count Up Calories

Most people think this chart is how to count calories. They start counting calories and then quit eating when they are up to their daily calorie allowance.

Count Down Calories

Now we add a column.  This method helps people like me who need to have a carrot held out in front of me.  You can see that because I was good I got the popcorn and beer at the end of the day.  Adding the column to count down really helped me see what I had to look forward to at the end of the day.

A word of caution about the count down method. Do not skip breakfast. You do not have to eat the second you get up; you do not have to eat much but make sue you signal your body that you are not starving.  I have read that to help them gain weight, Samari Wresslers skip breakfast.

But wait, I am going to show you more ways of how to count calories.

Count Food Calories Down and Exercise Calories Up

Check out how much more I got to eat at the end of the day!  This could be a good Friday night.  Also, by exercising you help your body retain muscle and lose fat instead of muscle. It costs the body more calories to maintain muscle than fat so it would rather lose the fat if the body thought it was starving.  You have to send a signal to the body that you need to keep the muscle.

Counting Points instead of Calories

For the most part when you are counting points you are counting calories.  The Weight Watcher Company has decided to give a little penalty for eating foods high in fat and rewarding you a bit for foods high in fibre, but then it tries to encourage you to eat at least 1 teaspoon a day of oil. As long as you try and eat a good bit of healthy unprocessed foods and try to cut out the high fat junk food, I do not think the difference in counting points or caloris is that big a deal. What point does do is to give a way of rounding off the numbers so that you can make quicker decisions.  This rounding off of numbers is also the advantage of thinking in terms of the 100 calorie snack. (100 is easier to count than 131)  Let us try the last chart with rounding to the nearest 50:

This is the method I usually use because even when I am not on a diet I can keep up with what I am eating by estimation. Another advantage of this method of how to count calories is that it encourages you to eat more fresh fruits and vegetable that come in different sizes and that do not have nutrition labels.

Estimations on How to Count Calories

Many Diet Plans tell you to estimate your calories by dividing a plate into sections and having 1/3 a 3 oz protein (meat or fish) dish, 1/3 a healthy starch and 1/3 low calorie vegetables (some would say 1/2 vegetables)....  These visual aids are great for maintenanc once you have lost weight and are good for young people who have never had to diet before and whose eating habbits are way out of whack, but most of us should start by measuring and looking at calories on the labels. Have you seen the "Eat this Not This" Books?  they are very expensive and of limited value, but they are a great visualization tool.