Most people assume that the rule of calories is that the more you consume, the more your weight increases. While this is true, things are more complicated. Calories mainly depend on the carbs and sugar content of a food and drink.
If you are not a fan of weight loss diets, then counting calories might be more up your alley. So, are you ready?
Let’s start:
Calculating Calories
To calculate how many calories, you should consume to lose weight, you first need to find out your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is a number that tells you how many calories you burn when your body is at rest. It involves involuntary functions such as regulating body temperature, breathing, blood circulation and digesting food.
Here’s a formula to count calories, as recommended by experts:
655 + (4.35 x your weight) + (4.7 x your height) – (4.7 x your age)
Let’s put some numbers into this equation. If you weigh 125 pounds, are 26 years old, and 5 ft. 4 inches tall, then your calorie intake should be as follows:
655 + (4.35 x 125) + (4.7 x 64) – (4.7 x 26) = 1,377.
There are plenty of other formulas that you will find online and they will spit out almost the same numbers. So, don’t panic if you get a lower number.
6 Tips on Cutting Calories
Send Back the Bread Basket
When you are at a restaurant and the waiter puts down the bread basket, your hand immediately reaches out to nibble on the hot treat. A single slice of bread, drenched in butter contains around 206 calories. The wait for your entrées pushes you to eat one bread slice after the other. Before you know it, you have consumed more than 500 calories. A simple tip is to ask the server not to provide any bread because once it’s in front of you it can be hard to resist. When we show up at a restaurant we’re usually hungry and when they provide bread before the meal we usually over indulge. One of the main reasons for this is because we see everyone else eating meals around us and the smell of all that food doesn’t help.
Avoid Buffets
Portion control is the best way to control your weight. Not only does this help you cut back on calories but also the amount of food you eat. You can do this quite easily at home and at parties but when it comes to a buffet, the huge spread tempts you and makes you reach out for more. Buffets can cause people to eat more because they want to get their money’s worth. After spending for the entry fee all bets are off and eating everything you can isn’t uncommon.
Use Less Sauce
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise contains 95 calories and 1 tablespoon of ketchup contains 19 calories. That’s a whopping 114 calories that you consume every day. From burgers to French fries and other fast food items, you use these two condiments more than twice. Bet you never thought about measuring how much you put in your plate! If you’re trying to skip the sauce, try to buy low calorie options. You can find mayo that has lower fat, ketchup that’s low sugar or BBQ sauce that’s low sugar. Every little calorie can add up and at the end of the year all of that sauce could be the differences between a few extra pounds.
Avoid Sugary drinks
Limiting added sugar can go a long way when you’re trying to cut calories from your diet. Unless you’re an endurance athlete you should stick with the low calorie/low sugar drinks like water, coffee and tea. If you drink fruit juice, soda or energy drinks that can add a lot of extra calories to your diet and cause you to gain weight at the end of the year.
Limit fat intake
Fats have a lot of calories vs carbs and protein. Having too many fats in your diet can make you go over your daily calorie limit quickly. Fat has 9 calories per gram while carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram. One of the biggest offenders when it comes to fat is fried foods this is because the cooking oil gets into the food that you’re frying. The key to this tip is to limit fat intake and not cut it out completely but to get your macronutrients in the proper ratio. Fat should account for 20-30 percent of your caloric needs.
Eat More Vegetables
Vegetables are high in nutrition and low in calories. Having a bowl of salad with your meal will fulfill your appetite and then you can have only the recommended amounts of fats and protein. One of the biggest reasons that vegetables help with weight loss is that they’re packed with fiber which your body can’t digest as fuel. The fiber will leave you fulling full without adding extra calories to your diet. Try adding 3-4 servings of vegetables to your diet daily to help with weight loss.
Counting calories will show you how much junk food you have been eating and hence increasing your weight. It’s important to add a small exercise routine to burn out the extra calories. If you need a fitness coach to help you with your weight loss, then visit On the Go Fitness Pro. They offer in-home personal training sessions. To know more about their services, call on 702-756-4444.
