I know what you're thinking, why in the world would you want to add more work to losing weight?! I was there once, too. When I thought that I knew better, and knew that what I was eating was healthy enough for it to all count, and in a good way. I was sorely mistaken.
I've tried many diets. You name it, I've done it. Atkins, yep! South Beach, yep! Lean Cuisine, yep! Protein shakes, yep! Cabbage soup, yep! Now aside from those big money output diets like Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem, I've put forth a good effort to losing weight. But there are two things that I fall back to now, that I KNOW will always work......Diet and exercise.
I know, that's that last thing you want to here. Honestly, it's the last thing I want to SAY!! But here is the bottom line to all those other fad diets. You may lose the weight right away, but once you are done losing the weight and you jump off that bandwagon, unless you have taught yourself the correct way to eat, you WILL gain it all back. No ifs, ands, or buts! Well, bigger butts, yes. :)
See, that's the thing. Those diets don't teach you HOW to eat, they merely tell you, or pre-portion for you, WHAT to eat. They don't explain to you the help that fiber is to a diet, or how to accurately count calories. Instead, they give you lists of foods to eat and not eat, and you are counting that company's system of points instead of calories. When all is said and done, and you regain some of that lost weight, you will either return to that diet or try a new one. Ever wonder why some diet plans have "Lifetime" memberships? That would be why. :)
In order to EFFICIENTLY lose the weight you want, it will take time, planning, patience, experiment, and EFFORT! It takes time to plan your meals and exercise, patience to stick with the program, experimentation for when you plateau or when your body doesn't react to a diet like it used to, and EFFORT at ALL STAGES of your routine.
That's where calorie counting comes in to play. We all know the basics of calories in, calories out. Basically, you need to burn more calories than you take in in order to lose weight. 3500 calories is equivalent to 1 lb. So if you want to lose 2 lbs a week, your exercise needs to burn at least 7000 calories a week, or 1,000 a day. Plain and simple, right? But that won't work if your body only needs 2,000 to run on a day to day basis, and you're taking in 3,000 calories a day. See? Because then, if you're taking in 3,000 a day, and you're burning off 1,000 a day, you are right back down to that 2,000 that your body needs to stay at the weight you are. Yes, it takes some math to figure out all the numbers, but it's not that hard anymore!
Some of my friends have been using this site for a while. I decided to check it out for myself. The site is My Fitness Pal (www.MyFitnessPal.com). It does the math for you when you set up your profile, so it tells you, based off the information you put in, how many calories a day you need to eat and burn to lose weight at the rate that you would like to. By the way, the recommended rate is 2 lbs. per week. Keep that in mind! ;)
You then input everything you eat throughout the day and what kind of exercise you've done and for how long. Now, I have tried MANY calorie counting sites. And trust me when I say, NONE compare to this site! Their index of foods was simply amazing in and of itself! There was not one food that I typed into the search box that didn't come up with a result. And being a Military wife, sometimes the brands we get are not the popular ones. But even this site had those things in there. Rest assured, though, should something you type in NOT be in their database, you can input the item in, and it then becomes a part of their database for all their users to find. Amazing, right? That's just the half of it!
Most sites will have some sort of exercise tracker that lists certain exercises, and tells you how many calories you've burned for however long you did that exercise. But most sites don't take your weight into account for calories burned. This site does!! AND their list of activities is so long! I found things from Table Tennis (Ping Pong!), to Yoga, to Cleaning, to Cooking, to Walking your dog! It was a fabulous array of activity, and the best I've seen yet!
Oh! This is my FAVORITE part! As a person who prefers to make her meals from scratch, and with as organic ingredients as possible, I end up having to do the math for all the ingredients to figure out how many calories, fat, carbs, etc. are in my meals. NO MORE!!! This site has a "My Recipe" section, where you list how many people that recipe serves, and then you add your ingredients to the list for the recipe using things from their database, and VOILA!! Your recipe is complete! All the ingredients are added together to tell you all the nutritional information for your homemade meal! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!!!
I am sure that is just the tip of the iceberg, and I'm sure that I will discover many more wonderful things about this site along the way! But let me encourage you to go over, sign up for their free account, and get yourself started. This site literally makes it easy to count your calories, and keep your log. And I assure you, after tracking your calories for ONE day, you will see how much you really know about the foods you are putting in your body. Oh, did I mention that they have a FREE App that you can download to your mobile devices making it that much easier to stick with it? Yeah, check that out, too! :)
Diet and exercise is the slowest way to lose weight. That's because it's the healthiest way. Losing weight too quickly is unsafe for your body, and yo-yo dieting is just as bad. Deprivation diets only work for as long as you're willing to deprive yourself of the things your body needs to run every day. Learn to eat right, get out and be active, and you will find that the payoff is much better.
Head on over to My Fitness Pal to sign up for your FREE account and get started on your fabulous journey!
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