Tracking Calories Matters

A lot of times we come up with an incorrect hypothesis to why we're not losing weight. We see pet owners do this all the time. They tell us how this particular animal "only" eats a certain amounts of cups of their food a day (usually within the recommended amount). But what they're not counting is all the extra snack/treats the animal gets either by taking them from another animal in the house, food falling on the floor, from food handed to them from the table, food stolen from the counter, etc. etc.

The best way to avoid this is to count every single calorie you have. Whether in liquid or food form. This isn't always easy; since we sometimes have to guess portion sizes if we're away from home; but the more you measure out portions the better you'll be able to at least guess how much you're eating/drinking of something.

Even though I've counted calories off and on for years I still find a new smoking gun of some food that was "natural" so I underestimated how many calories was actually in it. Fruit's always a big one for people, large oranges come in at around 100 calories, and a large banana is approximately 120. For me, it was dates. Five dates come in at 330 calories. WHAT?!?! I could have had a candy bar and still eaten less calories.

Another common one people forget to add is the cream and/or sugar they add to their coffee. I've recently switched to milk which means I can have 4 tablespoons and come in at just 25 calories (I drink a bit of coffee in the morning). But 1 tablespoon of flavored creamer can vary from 30 to 35 calories. If I had 4 tablespoons of creamer that would be anywhere from 120 - 140 calories, just from creamer for my coffee. Honestly, I'd rather have an English Muffin for 120 calories than the creamer.

While we should strive to eat healthy for our overall health and to help lower our risk for disease; it looks like the biggest determination of whether or not you'll lose weight is to create a calorie deficit no matter what you're eating. I do remember starting to lose weight after having my first child and I was more concerned with sticking to my 1200 calories a day than eating a well-balanced diet. I was also working full time so convenience and time were huge factors for me as well. I did lose weight, and the thing I remember doing was sticking to 1200 calories a day. This man tried an experiment to create a caloric deficit eating primarily junk food to prove the point:



Again, I'm not recommending doing that because that's not healthy, but to show that more and more we're seeing that calorie deficit is the #1 factor in whether or not you will lose weight.

I also found this article online to be helpful. While at times this man can be a little harsh; he raises some good points of things we should at least look into first before we assume that we're not our own worst enemy.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/