Do you know how to count your calories ? (muscle, fast, program)

[jeorge_jeorge]

Undoubtedly, the best way to lose weight is to watch what you eat and increase your activity level. Staying active is an easy concept to understand, but which could be confused about what to change your diet. Fortunately, the answer is simple. Any weight loss program that teaches you how to fill out the form to count calories.

Learn to count calories may seem like a big mess, but it is really easy to make and can be a great help for those who have a diet. The basic rule of counting calories is: our body will use a number of calories as energy every day, if we consume more calories than you need, they are stored as fat or muscle, so we consume less need, you will burn fat stores excess energy. So if you want to lose weight, your goal should be to consume fewer calories than you use in your daily routine.

Most people need about 1500 calories per day, if it is not active. A moderate level of activity can increase this number to 2000 or 2500 depending on your gender, age and health. In general, eat less than 1500 calories per day will help you lose weight. However, given the caloric needs vary from person to person, the best way to determine the number of calories consumed is to calculate the basal metabolic rate or BMR. Search online for free BMR calculators on the websites of health and fitness. A calorie counter fast food can be a life saver when you're in the race.

Once you have calculated your BMR, set your goal for your daily calorie intake, but should be less than your BMR by a few hundred calories, if you want to lose weight. When you learn how to count calories, it may be helpful to keep a diary of your target intake at the top of each page. While you eat things, write down its caloric value and subtract the number of your order. In this way, it will keep a count of how many calories you have for the day.

[grmi66]

Found counting calories to be rather cumbersome. Had better luck keeping a food journal for two weeks and writing down everything that I ate or drank. If I felt like crap or felt a little heavier, just simply looked at what I ate the day before.

One of the best things I did after reading about this was to eat the same meals every week. Saves time at the grocery store, don't stress about what I am eating and have been able to maintain a healthy weight for my activities. So Sunday through Thursday my menu does not change. Friday and Saturday are for going out to eat, making a new dish and cheat meals.

Also try to cook up chicken once a week, then divide it up and throw it the freezer. So when I want to cook a meal I can have something healthy whipped up in less than 15 minutes.

[Ameriscot]

I found that using my own judgement with portion sizes, etc just didn't work. So I started counting calories.

I use Excel and one worksheet has lists of calories for the foods I eat most often, adding to it when I add something new. One worksheet has my food plan for each day and totals the daily calories for me. I find that planning ahead makes me more likely to stick to it.

I find that since I now live in the UK it's much easier to calculate calories as portions are per 100g. I weigh everything on my electronic gram scale. Very easy. I make whole grain seeded bread in my bread machine for my husband, and once in a while I like to have a slice. I totalled the calories of all the ingredients divided that by the weight of the loaf to figure out the calories per gram. For example, a 60g slice is 150 calories.

Because they are so good for you I like to add nuts, seeds and dried fruits in small amounts. Easy to go overboard on those. But weighing them in 10g servings let's me know I'm within my calorie limit.

[caligirlz]

I use livestrong and let the computer program count calories (& other nutrients) for me. So much easier!!! Most all the Internet/calorie counting apps work the same, but each has a different format. when you setup the program, and enter your data (height, weight, etc) the program asks you if you want to lose, maintain or gain weight. Once you make your selection, it gives you your recommended daily calories.

[Ameriscot]

Originally Posted by caligirlz

I use livestrong and let the computer program count calories (& other nutrients) for me. So much easier!!! Most all the Internet/calorie counting apps work the same, but each has a different format. when you setup the program, and enter your data (height, weight, etc) the program asks you if you want to lose, maintain or gain weight. Once you make your selection, it gives you your recommended daily calories.

I looked at those programmes when I first started counting 2 years ago and found they were not flexible at all. It has no idea how many calories in 350 grams of my husband's homemade curry, or my mix of 10 grams of walnut pieces, pumpkin seeds and slivered almonds that I put on my salad, etc.

It takes me very little time to plan my meals for the day and they are calculated for me. I already know that when I've put on a few pounds that what I need is 1400 cals a day.

[hawaiiancoconut]

I don't count calories, I instead eat clean and healthy. I've only counted calories in the past because I incorporating processed foods.

[Ameriscot]

Originally Posted by hawaiiancoconut

I don't count calories, I instead eat clean and healthy. I've only counted calories in the past because I incorporating processed foods.

That's great that you can use your own judgement. I can't though. Very little of what I eat is processed.

[RD5050]

Originally Posted by Ameriscot

I looked at those programmes when I first started counting 2 years ago and found they were not flexible at all. It has no idea how many calories in 350 grams of my husband's homemade curry, or my mix of 10 grams of walnut pieces, pumpkin seeds and slivered almonds that I put on my salad, etc.

It takes me very little time to plan my meals for the day and they are calculated for me. I already know that when I've put on a few pounds that what I need is 1400 cals a day.

I used SparkPeople.com to count my daily calories. It is MUCH faster than doing it manually or with Excel.

And SparkPeople is free to use.

If they don't already have one of my foods in their database, I can add the food to the database myself, which then becomes available to everyone else as well. Their database already has practically every food imaginable. And the database includes complete nutrition info for the food, including calories, fats, carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals.

Tracking a "homemade curry" is simple. You just enter the quantity of each individual ingredient in the curry, and save it as a combination in your favorite foods. I did this with my salads and sandwiches. Once a food (or food combination) is saved as a favorite, you can add it to any meal on any day.

I tended to eat the same foods each day when losing weight, so I would just copy a previous day's foods into my current day, which made entry very simple and fast. Sparkpeople makes copying foods from one day to another extremely easy.

And the best thing about Sparkpeople is it gives you great reporting on your daily nutrition. You can see totals of your nutrition broken down for each meal, and a final total for the entire day. The nutrition includes calories, fat, carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals.

One important thing to remember when counting calories is to check number of servings on packaged and canned foods. For example, a can of soup may have 3 servings. The nutrition info printed on the label is for 1 serving. So if you eat the entire can, you need to multiply the calories (and other nutrition info) times 3.

[Cattknap]

I never count calories - ever. I have learned to know the foods to avoid, what portion size to eat and when to push myself away from the table. I guess if you are completely clueless as to the fat/carb/sugar content of the foods that you eat, then you need to learn that information but counting calories is not something I choose to do.

[wcu25rs]

i also dont count calories, never have, never will.