CALORIE COUNTING FOR WEIGHT LOSS

If you're trying to lose weight, calorie counting can be a critical part of your weight loss process. It has been proven that calorie counting is an effective way to lose weight, because it enables you to identify low-calorie foods and perform the right physical exercises to maintain a fit and healthy body.

Caloric Requirement
Caloric requirement varies from one person to another, and you have to find out your own caloric requirement before you can set your calorie goals for losing weight. There are a number of tools on the Internet that can calculate caloric requirements for people of different weights, genders and activity levels. All you have to do is provide certain information about yourself, and you will get a response showing your caloric requirement and recommended caloric intake. You can also use a formula known as the Harris-Benedict Formula, which is a mathematical formula that is specifically developed for estimating caloric needs.

Determining Calories in Food
The next thing that you need to do is learn how to determine the calorie contents of foods that are sold in the supermarket or grocery store. Most packaged foods have a nutrition facts label on them, and this label provides lots of information about the nutritional contents of the food, including the amount of calories per serving. The label also shows the size of each serving. Another way to find out about calorie contents of foods is to use calorie charts and calorie counting tools on the Internet, such as FitDay.com. These tools can provide calorie information on many different types of food, ranging from fruits and vegetables to fast food.

Portion Sizes
When you are counting calories, it is important that you follow the portion sizes that are recommended by the nutrition facts labels or calorie counting tools. You have to measure the portion size of a food before consuming it, so that you can keep track of the number of calories that you are taking. Some of the things that you can use to measure portion sizes are a measuring cup, tablespoon and teaspoon, and kitchen scale.

Cutting Calories
To lose weight, you can either eat less or burn more calories, and the amount of calories that you manage to cut is called a calorie deficit. To keep track of your calorie intake, you need to have a notebook to record the total number of calories that you consume and burn everyday. Certain tools on the Internet can help you find out how much calories will be burned when you do certain physical activities. You have to be disciplined enough to eat the right foods and do the necessary exercises to reach your calorie goal everyday. While you are concentrating on cutting calories, you should also try to consume foods that are rich in essential nutrients, such as fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy and whole grains.

Bob Harper - Workout Tips - Motivation

RESULTS TIME!

TOP 10 through week 2
1. Holt, Derick -8.52%
2. Hooker, James -7.32%
3. Almarez, Martin -6.03%
4. Holt, Rick -5.45%
5. Nieuwsma, Deb -5.34%
6. Parreira, Joe -5.31%
7. Parreira, Merry -5.08%
8. Giffen, Jacob -5.02%
9. Rodrigues, Darren -4.70%
10. Rose, Cathy -4.66%


Following 2 weeks of healthy eating and activity, our group has lost a total of 688 lbs!

Our mini challenge for last week was to maintain a food journal for a minimum of 3 days. Unfortunately only 20 of you brought in your journals to show us for the challenge. If you aren't a believer in the power of a food journal (heightens awareness of the amounts you eat) take note. The 20 folks that DID track their food with a food journal this week, lost an average of 3.5 lbs each! And our winner for this challenge is KYLEE SKIDGEL. Kylie wins a Biggest Loser digital food scale! (Pick it up next week at weigh-in)

THIS WEEK'S MINI CHALLENGE... 2lbs...lose 2lbs...you can do it! Each person who loses 2 lbs this week will qualify for our drawing for 1 of 5 Biggest Loser Complete Calorie Counter Books: The Quick and Easy Guide to Thousands of Foods from Grocery Stores and Popular Restaurants--As Seen on NBC.


COUCH POTATO WORKOUT
Too exhausted or busy to squeeze in the gym? Ditch your DVR and try these 6 simple moves between commercial breaks.
1. Couch Push-Ups
These modified pushups sculpt your triceps and chest.
Facing a couch, kneel on the floor about 2 feet away from it. Cross your ankles, and place your hands shoulder-width apart on a cushion edge. Slowly bend your arms, and lower your upper body until your chest touches the couch. Hold, then press up again.
Cardio finish: Do jumping jacks.

2. Side Crunches
These work your oblique muscles for a trimmer tummy.
Lie on the couch on your left side with your legs together and your knees bent. Place your right hand behind your head with your elbow pointing toward the ceiling. Wrap your left arm across your waist. Contracting the oblique muscles along your right side, lift your shoulder off the couch, bringing your rib cage toward your hip. Hold, then slowly lower. Repeat, then switch sides. (If your couch is too soft, you may need to do this exercise on the floor.)
Cardio finish: Do crossover punches. While standing, twist from your waist, and alternate punching your fists diagonally across your body.

3. Armchair Stands
This variation on squats tones your butt and thighs.
Sit on the edge of a chair or couch with your feet shoulder-width apart. Without using your arms, press into the floor with your feet, and stand, tightening your butt muscles as you rise. Keep your abdominals tight and your back straight. Hold, then slowly lower yourself. Before you touch the chair, stand up again.
Cardio finish: Walk or jog up and down stairs

4. Armchair Dips
These moves are the ultimate arm flab fighter.
Sitting on the edge of a chair (or couch), place your hands on the edge on either side of you. Move your feet out so that your butt is off the chair, and your knees are bent at 90-degree angles. Bending your elbows so they point behind you, lower yourself as far as comfortable. Hold, then slowly press up again.
Cardio finish: Circle your fists in the air, as though you’re boxing a punching bag.

5. Leg-Up Couch Crunches
Watch your form on these for maximum flat-belly benefits.
Lie on your back on a couch with your knees bent, your feet up on one end, and your hands behind your head. Pressing your lower back into the couch, slowly lift your head, shoulders, and upper back off the couch. Hold, then slowly lower. (If your couch is too soft, you may need to do this exercise on the floor.)
Cardio finish: Do knee lifts. While standing, alternate bringing your right elbow down to meet your left knee, and vice versa.

6. Scissors
These will help your legs look amazing in skinny jeans.
Lie on your back on a couch (you may need to angle yourself for more room) with your hands (palms down) under your butt and your legs straight up in the air. Keeping your knees slightly bent and your feet flexed, slowly spread your legs as far apart as comfortable. Hold, then slowly bring your legs together, resisting as you press them in.
Cardio finish: Do side slides, stepping your right foot out to the side, then sliding your left foot to meet it. Repeat in the opposite direction, doing this as quickly as you can.

HOW TO SET UP A FOOD JOURNAL

You can use a regular notebook for your food journal. It does not need to be a special journal that is made just for dieting. A basic notebook will give you the room to customize your journal to your specific needs. This is very important for food journaling success.

Food journaling should be something that is done everyday. It is important to note the date and the time of day at the top of each journal entry. This is a basic step for everyday to make sure that you can reference your journey later on to see how well you have progressed. You can make posts after each meal to make sure that you do not forget to enter your food.



Food Entries

When it comes to food journaling, the more specific you are in the details when you enter your data, the more successful that you will be. You will want to write down everything that you eat and the amount of food that you eat. It is important to include everything from what you drink to the butter that you place on your roll. This is the only way that you will get an idea about how many calories that you consume during the course of the day.

Food journaling is about listing everything that you eat, not just meals. Any time that you snack, you will want to list it in your food journal. By being honest with yourself and your food journal, you will see the greatest weight loss results.



Entering More Than Food

As you write about what you are eating, think about what you were feeling when you ate. Were you hungry or were you bored? By noting your emotions and feelings in your food journal, you will begin to see patterns in how you eat. To lose weight, you only want to eat when you are hungry. By identifying other emotions that cause you to eat, you will be able to eliminate them from your diet and life.

Food journaling is a tool that will help you to evaluate and track your diet. This is a key factor in being successful when it comes to any diet plan. You need to be able to hold yourself accountable for what you eat and to see your progress as you go through your weight loss plan.

KEEP THE WEEK'S MOMENTUM GOING!

Keep it up. Your healthy habits, that is.

We all tend to relax – or be lax – on weekends; that’s what they’re for, right? But loosening our grips on a healthy lifestyle, even just for the weekend, can sabotage our efforts to reach health and fitness goals.

Recent studies indicate that we tend to take in more calories on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The exact number varies from an average of 85 calories per weekend day to 115, and while that may not seem like much, it adds up. A pound is 3,500 calories, so 345 extra calories a week will lead to nearly a pound after 10 weeks — or an extra five pounds over a year.

You may think, "So I eat a little more on Saturday night, I’ll exercise that off on Sunday." Sunday arrives, yet you find excuses not to exercise.

Church starts at 9 a.m.? Then get up at 7 a.m. and walk a few miles. You rise early to workout on weekdays, why not now?
Not a morning exerciser and you can’t miss 60 Minutes or Alias on Sunday evening? Tape or TiVo it and hit the gym.
Your wife wants your help in the garden? Good news – the experts deem yard work real exercise.
Watching your kids’ baseball games all day? Stand up while you watch: standing burns more calories than sitting. Or take a walk between games.
Do you just not feel like working out because, after all, weekends are for relaxing? Just a few minutes of exercise is better than none. Keeping up with your exercise routine will help you reach your fitness goals that much faster, and once you get into the groove of working out, you’ll crave it. Promise.
And it doesn’t stop with fitness. While it’s easy to drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day when you have a water bottle sitting on your desk at work, where you’re stuck for half your waking hours, weekends are different. You’re watching your kids’ soccer games or shopping or doing yard work or visiting the craft booths at the local art fair. Carrying a water bottle with you everywhere you go just doesn’t seem feasible.

Keep your eye on the prize: a healthier you. Be conscious of what you eat during the weekends, stick to your healthy lifestyle of eating right and exercising just like you do during the week. If you need to reward yourself for the hard work (or the diligence you’ve kept to your diet) through the week, see a movie or get a massage. DON’T get the cheesy fries appetizer or order an extra margarita – the study mentioned in the third paragraph shows that the additional weekend calories come from fat and alcohol.

On weekends, give yourself a break, but make it a healthy one.

Looking forward to seeing less of you at Monday's weigh-in!

GOAL SETTING FOR SUCCESS

Actively setting sensible diet goals increases your chances to meet those goals. Not only that, but it has also been proven that those who do set goals increase their chances of keeping the weight off.

When setting nutritional goals start first with a long-term goal. Long term may include things like:

To be healthier
To look better
To feel better
To have more energy.
It's easy to be motivated when you climb out of the shower and catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. At that moment it's simple to vow you're going to lose the extra weight you've put on. But at the end of a stressful day, it's easy to forget about that promise to yourself because you just want to relax with the comfort food of your choice.

Initial motivation is not the problem. When your pants don't want to zip, you're motivated, but slip into something a little more comfortable and the motivation wanes. It's keeping that drive and momentum going that's hard. To stay motivated, you must stay focused on your long-term goal. From the following tips, choose strategies you think will work for you:

Post a photo on the refrigerator of what you hope to look like when you reach your long-term goal
Write your goal down along with what you'll be able to differently—how your life will change. You can add to this list throughout your diet.
Keep a food journal and count calories
Take a before picture of yourself and look at it everyday
Short Term Goals

Base your short term goals on your long term goals. It's a way to take baby steps to reach your long-term goal. If you plan to lose 20 pounds at 2 pounds per week that means it will take 10 weeks to reach your goal. However, goals must be achievable and realistic. If they aren't, it leaves the door open for discouragement. Give yourself a few extra weeks to accommodate the weeks when you may lose only one pound or perhaps none at all.

Short term diet goals include the small things you must do each day to reach your long term goals. For example, if you're counting calories or carbs, a short term goal may be to create a menu each week with the calories figured out. Short term nutrition and fitness goals help develop healthier habits over time and ultimately see you through to reaching your long term goal.



Setting Diet Goals

As you set goals, it's important to remember that health goals need to be flexible but not loose. Don't create a reason to fail. Be sure your goals are:

Realistic – If the goals you set are too stringent, or difficult to follow it encourages failure. Be realistic. Start with a goal that isn't too ambitious and build from there.
Specific – A specific goal is one that can be measured and tracked.
Achievable – An achievable goal means you have control over it. For example, counting calories every day is achievable, whereas a goal to lose three sizes may not work for your body.
Stay focused – Whatever motivational strategy you chose at the onset of your goal setting, be sure to keep it handy and look at it everyday.
Be Prepared

The last tip in setting diet goals is to be prepared. Prepare for success. When you have to navigate the office party, attend a neighborhood barbeque or celebrate your childs birthday - these are all part of life. Prepare ahead to know how you will navigate the temptations successfully with a contingency plan. Having a plan doesn't leave you vulnerable, and setting diet goals puts a plan in place.