5 Weight Loss Tips for counting Calories (or should you even bother?)

February 6, 2008

Counting Calories 
Photo by Sister72 

Last year when I lost 20kg (44 lb), I initially spent a lot of time counting calories – I do like to look at things from a technical point of view, so at the time, it was a comforting distraction. What I soon found though was that as long as you eat the right foods, it generally tended to work things out for itself.

Now, I do have quite a bit of weight to lose, at 131kg (289 lb) it’s pretty easy to lose weight by just eating the right foods, as I get closer to my goal weight, then a closer look at my exact calorie intake will be far more useful. For now, apart from a quick glance at the nutrition labels of foods I’m not that familiar with, I’m not going to stress about Calories all that much.

My tips for making sure you avoid the Calorific Overload:

1. Check out the nutrition labels for foods you eat regularly. Learn to compare the number of calories for a constant weight of food. For example, in Australia, all our Nutrition labels have Kilojoules/100g (4 KJ’s is approximately 1 Calorie), so this makes most food easy to compare and you’ll soon be able to tell at a glance if something is a bit too ‘Calorie heavy’.

2. Think about what you’re getting for the cost. It’s not enough just to look at the number of Calories, but you also need to consider the benefits you’ll get from the foods. Some ‘low fat’ snacks for example can also be very low on Calories, but they also have a nutritional value of next to nothing (meaning you’ll need to eat something else soon after anyway), whereas most nuts can have fairly high Calorie contents, but contain many essential oils and other goodness, are low GI and a small handful can stop those hunger pains and get you through to your next meal.

3. Cut out the ‘dead’ Calories. Similar to the above point, pay extra attention to cutting out foods that are high in Calories and have a high GI. Not only will these foods take up a large proportion of your daily Calorie intake, but they will also give that energy to you in a quick burst and leave you wanting more sooner than you should need it.

4. Have ‘pre-screened’ snacks that you can reach for when needed. It always helps to have some sort of plan, and having a list of snacks (and meals) handy that you enjoy and know won’t derail your weight loss efforts can be a godsend. Try to make sure you always have a few of them handy for times when you need that extra snack.

5. Above all, enjoy what you eat. There’s no need to limit yourself to low Calorie ‘cardboard snacks’. Just because lettuce leaves are virtually Calorie free doesn’t mean you need to force them down your throat if you can’t stand the taste. There is virtually a limitless supply of great healthy foods out there, find ones that work for you.

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February 6, 2008 | Filed Under Weight Loss Strategy 

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One Response to “5 Weight Loss Tips for counting Calories (or should you even bother?)”

  1. Why cutting bread from your diet can get you off to a good start | Lose 40kg - Weight Loss Blog on February 7th, 2008 3:28 pm

    […] 5 Weight Loss Tips for counting Calories (or should you even bother?) […]

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