5 Tips for Calorie Counting Diets

If you’re anything like me and struggle to ‘diet’ because of your love of food, you may have taken to the calorie counting way of eating and are beginning to just start taking more notice of the foods you’re eating, rather than starving yourself daily and binge eating at the weekends! Calorie counting works for me because I know that I’m in control of the food I eat and it means that if I still want a doughnut, then I’ll plan it into that days’ calories and take a hit on everything else I plan on having and make better choices for the rest of my meals (usually filling up on vegetables at dinner instead of potatoes or pasta). 

Of course, calorie counting isn’t for everyone and sometimes, calorie counting alone isn’t going to help you lose weight or achieve fat loss, everyone should be doing some form of exercise to increase their weight-loss and overall general health and of course, if you are, you’ll see the difference a lot quicker than you would without the exercise. So, if you’re looking into a calorie controlled diet or you’re doing it already and just want some tips, then carry on reading! 

1 - Get a calorie tracker if you haven’t already! App’s like MyFitnessPal and Lose it! make it really easy to keep track of your calories and macros (if you’re tracking those too) and means that you can input regular meals so that it’s easier in the long run to see what you’re consuming.  

2 - Make everything from scratch instead of buying pre-made meals. Even though buying pre-made meals may seem like the easiest way to track your calories, you won’t be getting the goodness from the pre-made stuff that you would if you were to make things from scratch. Vegetables and Fruit don’t have that many calories in and so you know you can eat pretty much as much of these as you like without going too far over your calories but using sauces or jars that are pre-made will up your calories significantly! Be savvy when you can and cook things at home! 

3 - Be cautious of eating out; Most places should have a nutritional guide to hand for anyone who requires the dietry information of the meals, places like Wetherspoons have their calorie information actually on the menu so if you’re heading out, either look on the net first to see if their nutritional info is on there or ask as soon as you arrive to know what is open to you. You don’t have to go without, just be mindful of what you’re eating. 

4 - Try not to ‘drink’ your calories; A lot of people won’t realise when it comes to calorie counting that they may well be going over their allowance just by drinking their calories. Drinks such as pre-made smoothies, juices, fizzy drinks, energy drinks and Coffees will be packed full of calories without you realising. If you’re looking to drink smoothies then make them yourself at home using water and low-fat milk to save on the calories and use a juicer or smoothie maker to make your own. You can get some fab deals on MyJuicer so if you browse online and take a look, doing this won’t only save your calories but will save your pennies too! 

5 - Don’t be too hard on yourself. Dieting is tough and we all fall off the wagon every now and again but it’s important to know that everything is fine in moderation. If you want a pizza on Friday, have a pizza but remember to be mindful of what you eat for the rest of the weekend and don’t overindulge too much - you aren't going to put half a stone on just from one meal. Dieting is a hard task for most of us and it’s all about mindset, once you get that balance between thinking and eating then you’ll start to see amazing results! 

The above image shows you just what 100 calories looks like an how deceiving it can be to think that you know what certain foods contain but if you’re looking for low-calorie snacks, I wrote a post including some of my favourites and you can read it here. 

One of the most important things to remember when it comes to any diet, but especially calorie counting, is that the thing that always works is following the calories in vs. calories out module. As long as you’re burning off more than what you’re consuming, you’ll be on track to lose weight, this is why exercise is important. The average person will burn around 1600 calories a day regardless of what they do but if you add an hours exercise on top of that, you’ll be looking at burning an additional 400-700 calories which means you’re burning off more than you’re eating. It’s a hard thing to understand so make sure you’re tracking your calories as well as you can and everything else will follow. 

(Sponsored post)