Please read the first post of this blog entitled "The Basics of Weight Loss" before you read this.
The most successful dieters count the number of calories they eat and drink. Why? Because if you don't count calories, then how do you know if you have a negative calorie count at the end of the day? Get it now?
How do you count calories? By measuring the food you eat and using the nutrition label. Let's go through an example. I have a box of Cheerios with me right now. On the box it reads 1 serving is 1 cup of Cheerios. 1 cup of Cheerios is 100 calories without milk. When I woke up this morning I took a measuring cup and measured out two cups of Cheerios. That's 200 calories. I added 1 cup of skim milk. The nutrition label says 1 cup of my skim milk is 90 calories. So my breakfast this morning was 290 calories. It's that simple, an elementary school child can do the math.
Now you are thinking..."what if I buy food at a fast food restaurant? I didn't measure it out so I don't know how many calories it has?" Relax. That is what the internet is for. A simple Google search will show you many links to calorie counting websites with people who have already done the math for you. That Big Mac at McDonalds? I googled it and the links show me one Big Mac has 580 calories. Yikes. Use the Internet. It's your friend. You can use it for just about anything
The next important thing for you to do is to record everything you eat and drink in a notebook. That 2 cups of cheerios and 1 cup of skim milk I had this morning? I recorded it in my notebook and the number of calories. If I eat anything more, I'll write that down too and add up the calorie totals. The notebook keeps you motivated and honest about how many calories you are putting into your system.
Get the notebook! Use it!
My next post will explain how to apply calorie counting so that you can lose weight!
No comments:
Post a Comment