The easy way to keep within your calorie count and still enjoy what you eat
Counting your calories can seem like a daunting task.
This is just simply untrue. Once you get the hang of counting your calories, you'll be doing it in your sleep.
Weight loss is not about eating veggie soup for three days, losing 10 pounds, and then going back to your regular diet. Consistent weight loss happens when you change your relationship with food.
In order to begin changing your relationship with food, you have to understand the fundamentals of the food pyramid.
Credit to Centre for Health Protection
The above image is probably what you saw all throughout grade school health classes, but none of us really understood what it meant.
According to the Centre for Health Protection, grains and carbs are a key part of your diet. Most crash dieters will tell you if you limit your carbs and eat mostly protein, you'll lose weight. While this is true in the short term, your body actually can't process that degree of protein, and this style of diet will negatively affect you over time. Carbs should be eaten with most meals, and it is recommended that 50% of your carb intake be whole grain. So, this doesn't mean that you can eat bowls of Barilla pasta with every meal, the grains you eat must be quality.
Moving up the food pyramid, fruit and veggies are essential to gut health. The fiber and sugars in fruit naturally stimulate your metabolism and intestinal track. Most health experts say that you can eat as many fruits and vegetables as you desire.
Meats and eggs should be limited in your diet. You should eat them at every meal, but they shouldn't be the focal point. In addition, avoid high fat meats such as beef and pork, stick to leaner meats such as chicken and fish.
As most of us know by now. Lactose isn' t good for you. Our bodies stop producing the enzyme, lactase, need to break down lactose around age four. And, despite what dairy companies tell you, the high calcium levels in milk actually overload your body and its natural response is to get rid of it, which your body does by leeching calcium from your bones. Milk is high in fat and sugar and it has little to no nutritional value, so try to avoid it. Try alternatives such as almond or oat milk, once you get used to it, you'll barely notice the difference. However, cheese and yogurt are a different story. There is so much healthy bacteria in cheese and yogurt, and the fermentation process actually breaks down the lactose in most cheeses and almost all yogurt, making it lactose free! So, just like with meats, use dairy sparingly and employ healthy, more natural options.
Lastly, we really shouldn't have that much oil, butter, or refined sugar in their diets. Try to limit these to the best of your abilities, go for unsaturated fatty oils such as extra virgin olive oil. Unsaturated fats can be good for you, but if you're consistently frying food, you're going to feel the negative effects of it.
How do I know how many calories I'm eating?
Now that we've broken down what you should be eating, we can discuss how to determine exactly how many calories you're taking in. The most helpful jumping-off point is to look at both the calories and the serving size of what you're buying at the grocery store. A potato chip bag may advertise that it's 100 calories per serving, but if the serving size is ten chips, it's not really worth wasting the calories on it. Pick foods that have seemingly low calories for their serving size.
When you're cooking on a weight loss plan, measure everything. If you're unsure about exactly what a serving size is, see how many servings are in the unit. If you have a package of ground beef and there are four servings at 100 calories each, measure what you estimate to be a quarter of the package to get 100 calories of it.
The miracle that is MyPlate
Perhaps the easiest way to measure your calories and exercise (if you choose to exercise), is to use the app MyPlate. I love MyPlate and used it for months before I came to an understanding of the average calorie content for the food I was eating.
Credit to Livestrong.com.
MyPlate is a free app created by Livestrong.com. If you click on the image above, it will link you to MyPlate's page on the Apple App Store. The app has amazing features such as workouts that tell you exactly how many calories you'll burn, recipes, and charts to show growth. But perhaps my favorite feature is the calorie counter. You simply input how many calories you wish to burn everyday, and then click on the breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack icons. MyPlate has an enormous database filled with almost every food you can imagine. You can type in grilled chicken, insert your serving size, and MyPlate will tell you exactly how many calories you took in. This is great for foods that don't have labels, or for when you go out to eat, and the restaurant doesn't have the calories on their menu. In addition, MyPlate also has an exercise database, so if you decide to walk your dog for a half hour, the app will tell you how many calories you burned.
It also gives you a wheel chart to show how many calories are coming from fats, carbs etc so you can stick to the food pyramid. Counting calories with MyPlate is super easy and effective. This app really kickstarted my weightloss journey. If you have any additional tips to keeping count of your calories, leave them in the comments below! I'm always looking to improve!
On October 20, I'll share with you how I discovered low calorie alternatives to pasta, dessert, and so much more without sacrificing my taste buds. It's so easy and simple.
But for now,
Comments