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.