Big Fat Loss Secret
If you eat more calories than your body requires, you will gain weight.
If you eat less calories than your body needs, you will lose weight.
I must admit that I am not a fan of counting calories. However, I found it to be necessary in order to get a clear picture of what I am eating and how it affects my body. So what is an easy way to keep track of the calories you eat you ask?
Easy ways to track daily food intake
So for whatever reason you are not a big fan of tracking your calories, I suggest the following:
A. Track your daily food intake and calories for a month
Tracking the calories in your food for a week gives you a clear picture of what you eat and how much of it. However, a week is not enough time for you to make proper adjustments to your diet. Tracking food intake for a week just gives you a clear picture of your current eating habits are. So that is exactly why I suggest that you follow your food intake for a month. This way you can adjust the amount of food that you eat to fit your healthy weight goal.
B. Use a calorie calculator for putting together an eating plan
The other option is that you use a calorie counter not for logging food and calories you already ate, but for planning of what you are going to eat that day. This is also a simple way of keeping track of what and how much you eat. Basically you put in everything you think you will eat that day, and you can see what are the nutrients that are missing from your diet. So you can adjust your food intake accordingly.
How to calculate the amount of calories you need to eat
If you haven’t already figured out how much calories you need to eat in order to maintain your weight, you can do it by heading to a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator here. It will help you figure out how much calories you will need to eat. There are many other calculators out there, but this one is my favorite.
The formula is easy.
- If you want to lose weight: subtract 15-20% calories from the calculated amount.
- If you want to gain weight: add 15-20% calories to the calculated amount.
- If you want to maintain weight: eat the calories suggested by the calculator.
If you are not sure about putting together a meal plan for yourself, you can always consult a doctor and a dietitian! Good luck!