Overdoing it and underdoing it.

Often when I tell people who are interested in losing weight about my program I get one of two responses. Either I hear that's good, but really to lose weight I'm going to need to cut my calories more than that. I'm going to need to cut back to 1200 calories a day. Or I hear that's nice but I don't need to count my calories I'm just going to "watch what I eat." While both of these methods may help you lose weight for a time, they both have problems.

I was talking to a lady yesterday and I noticed she was wearing a Bodybugg (a little device you wear on your arm that calculates how many calories you've burned). So I started talking to her about weightloss and how I've lost weight through counting calories and by starting to limit myself to just under 2000 and then more lately to 1800 calories a day. She insisted that to lose weight you had to eat no more than 1200 calories a day just like the women do on The Biggest Loser. I tried to tell her that I have successfully managed to lose 40lbs and have never once eaten as little as 1200 calories a day, but she wasn't having any of it.

The problem with eating so little is that it is not sustainable. The Biggest Loser is a rigorous 3 month show where they try to lose huge amounts of weight in a very short period of time. It reflects almost a sped up reality, no average person with a job and other responsiblities can lose weight like that. After a month or two of eating only 1200 calories a day you will not be able to continue with this program, it is just too taxing and also there is no where to go caloriewise after, 1200 is rockbottom. It is best to start at a number just below what you regularly burn in a day and then slowly drop that daily calorie limit throughout the months. You need to keep your body from getting used to a set number of calories.

On the flipside, just watching what you eat is not enough either and is actually harder than just counting your daily calories. First of all, you may deny yourself a lot of things you could actually have or overindulge in others because you don't know the exact calories of certain foods. You may say "I can never eat ice cream," when maybe you can eat a certain kind of ice cream that has lower calories than another kind or because you have consumed less calories today than another day. You may also go over on your calories because you don't realize how many calories are in a certain food. A salad may have a huge amount of calories with salad dressing and breaded/fried chicken but it's a "salad" so it must be good, right? Wrong!

Also this method gets very tiring because the results are often lacking. It's not an efficient way to lose weight. When you count your calories you know exactly what you can and can't have in a day, it also lets you stagger your calories in a week if you happen to go over your limit one day. And when you just watch your intake you don't know your limit, you have no boundaries; you're just guessing and that is really more frustrating than just keeping a daily food journal. Also calorie counting is a great way to learn the calories of foods. You are sometimes suprised what you can and can't eat. Another great reason to have a food journal is you can go back and look at your eating trends. How do you do on certain days of the week and what do you need to adjust? My food journal includes not only my calories but occasionally my weight and measurements so I can track progress and my physical exercise for the day. I also write the things I did that day, so it is truly more than just a food journal!

Ok I know this has been along post, but to my friends who are really wanting to lose weight there is no substitute for keeping track of all of your calories, you don't need to over do it or under do it. In the end it will make the whole process easier and more acheivable than you ever imagined. Good luck!