Calories made easy

In our post “Calorie Counting Made Easy,” we talked about how to count calories and how to find out how many calories your body needs. 

Now that you know what you “need” and what you are eating each day, you can see how those relate and affect your weight.  Need 2,500 and eat 2,500?  No change to body weight.  Remember, a pound of body fat equals 3,500 calories, so it takes a cut of 500 calories a day (3,500 divided by 7)  to lose a pound per week.  Need 2,500 per day and eat 2,000 each day?  You would be losing a pound that week. 

At Fantasy Healthball, we always stress the need for exercise in addition to a healthy diet.  So, if you wanted to lose a pound a week as in the above example, we’d suggest you cut maybe 250 calories a day and exercise for the other 250.  Or lose weight over a longer period of time.  For some, simply improving food choices throughout the day can reduce calorie intake significantly. 

Calorie counting can change the way you look at food.  The act of writing down what you put in your mouth, although a little burdensome for some people, can open your eyes to a healthier way of thinking.  Once you know the number of calories you need, and how many you average, it may make you look at food differently.  You may look at a candy bar, for example, and think “wow, that is 280 calories, is that really worth 280 calories, or maybe I should have an orange (also very sweet, but only 60 calories) instead.”  Jelly (raspberry filled) doughnut, 350 calories.  Piece of coconut crème pie, 450 calories. 

Sometimes people “sneak” a snack.  They eat a candy bar or some other candies quickly as if to minimize the act.  But when you are calorie counting, the fact you know you will have to write it down and add it up may change your mind about eating it in the first place!  At a restaurant staring down at your giant serving of spaghetti and sausage?  Put half in the “to go” container to eat the next day and you’ve just cut your calories in half for that serving.  Skip or reduce the parmesan cheese and you saved yourself some more.  Drop us a comment or email to tell us how this is working for you!  — Jim Ballard