Counting
calories is a quite complicated business,
there are so many books and articles on internet about this but the
truth is that “good” and “bad” fats, proteins, carbs and sweets created
calories; so, the big query is knowing which is better than others or if
maybe all are equal to our body.
There are so many ways to count
calories to
maintain your weight,
and you could base your all food choices depending of the calorie
content, but this is not the only criteria to ponder. Experts explain
that there are a million of reasons to consider other important features
in our food than just calorie content.
For example, if the food you are going to eat today contains fiber,
like corn, avocado or kidney beans, it will keep you feeling full
longer, and after eating maybe you would think that you ate so much, but
the really is that it does not have so many
calories.
And when you feel full, it can prevent you from reaching extra calories
when you try to eat something else, in order to fill yourself up.
Right choices
One of the many benefits of choosing fresh fruits, vegetables or
another lower-fat food to your daily diet is that you get more foods
(and healthier) for less money.
The really is that carbs and protein foods have about 4 calories per
gram, but all kinds of fats have more than twice, about 9 calories per
gram. And you maybe could think that you should eat according the
calories. But it is not good eating higher-fat every day just because is
a little bit.
Besides, if you want to lose weight counting calories, better choose
carbs and proteins for the breakfast. For your lunch you can cook a
delicious egg white omelet with vegetables like onions, carrots and
lettuce, also mushrooms and low-fat cheese or grilled chicken.
With this kind of meal for your day, you will able to eat some snacks
in the afternoon. But if you prefer to eating a lot of fat foods like
fried chicken, French fries, bacon and full-fat cheese, you will consume
most of the calorie portion recommended by the end of breakfast.
Calories means energy
You cannot avoid consume calories; this is not a logical thing.
Everyone needs calories to make activities, like walking, working, and
caring children. So if you are trying to feed you with low calorie foods
and water just to feel your stomach full and do not gain weight, you
will not have energy to do anything. You will feel tired and sleepy if
you do not eat protein, carbs and fat.
Calories are the amount of energy that a food can provides you, and
everyone should has a personal calorie limit. But the most important of
this is that you should balance your energy in (foods you eat) and your
energy out (calories you burn). The secret for eat what you want is
making some physical activity every day to burn the calories you gain
eating a delicious chocolate ice cream; so, take the stairs!
Mix it all
Although carbohydrates have less calories content than fat, you
should not eat them with wild abandon. Everything is about balance; for
that reason the best diet plan to you is about eating a healthy mix of
all most known three energy sources. Nutritionists recommended that a
good meal needs about 45-60 percent of calories and just a 15 percent
should come from carbohydrates.
But like we said before, you need to eat protein (meat, fish, milk,
eggs, and vegetables), carbohydrates (bread, rice) and fat (olive oil,
nuts, cheese, cream, butter). Some foods produce good hormonal effects
in the body, others build muscle and store good fat, and if you set a
calorie limit but with different proportions of protein, fat and carbs,
you will get good results about losing weight.
Then you need to mix all
these types of energy source to create a balance
diet for you.
Write a food diary
Most experts recommend having a food diary to keep track of the
calories you eat every day (including a weekend). This should be the
first step for getting a handle on how many calories you consume and how
healthy you could be eating some foods.
Also you can include the physically activities that you do and you
will compare if it is enough to balance the calories consumed or if you
need to do something else. You can find on internet the amount of
calories you burn with some common activities, like walk or cleaning the
house; so write these kind of activities too.
But it is important being completely honest with yourself, the cake
of your friend’s birthday, your mom’s cookies or the lunch you finished
from your son’s plate.
If you do not write this you will think that everything is fine, and
you really do not know why you cannot
lose weight. Track every food you
eat and you will be surprised about all sources of calories that you are
eating.