Calorie Counting Done The Right Way
= Weight Loss? Absolutely!
ByErik Pijcke
You and I know that losing fat and staying
in great shape is a difficult task because
it is so hard to stay motivated and it is
so tempting to cheat, especially when you
can hide the cheating. We dieters have all
been in a starving situation when dieting
and our mind reasons very quickly why that
extra piece of pie is not going to hurt us.
We take it, forget about it and then wonder
next day why we didn’t lose weight.
For most of us dieting is a constant
battle between emotion and reason and
when hungry, reason is out of the window
and emotion just wins. We do not see the
immediate effects of our behavior and
therefore our brain is fooled into thinking
that everything is all right. On the other
hand, let’s say you would get very sick
when eating more than you need, overeating
would stop very quickly.
Getting sick after a little bit of overeating
does normally not happen therefore we
need to find a different way to show the
consequences of our behavior. We need
to show this in a factual manner, an immediate
visual display of the results of our cheating.
It is not punishment right away, but over
time our brain will be conditioned such
that taking an extra piece of pie will
give negative weight loss results. Then
we will start to understand why we don’t
lose weight and can pinpoint the causes.
What should this visual display look
like? First I like charts, they are very
easy to understand and can show trends
and correlations between variables. In
this chart I would like to see over a
period of time, the average calories that
I take in per day compared with the average
calories that I burn per day. If the chart
shows that the intake calories are lower
than the burned calories, I will lose
weight and vice versa I will gain weight.
Correlate that with a chart that shows
your weight or BMI (Body Mass Index) over
time and I have the tool that helps me
regulate my food consumption versus my
daily activities.
If I add my hunger levels before and
after the meals, I can fine tune my meal
plans and daily activities. In this way
I can sustain my dieting for a long time
and preferably it will become my way of
life. I have minimized the hunger pain
and increase the pleasure of losing weight
and feeling more attractive.
There is abundance of free online food
calorie calculators. These calorie counters
just display nutrition facts and are not
going to help you lose weight. Nor is
a simple calorie calculator that tries
to calculate your calories burned solely
based on your weight and average activity
level. These are simple little gimmicks
that are a waste of your time.
Only when you seriously can track and
correlate your calorie intake and calories
burned over time, depending on your age,
weight, gender, height and individual
activity intensity levels can you precisely
measure your calorie balance. Seeing visually
that your weight loss program works is
a big motivator to stay on track. Also
you can see immediately when you are off
track and you can adjust your situation
accordingly.
Acquiring great health is a complex task.
Interrelating factors like diet, nutritional
facts, meal plans, calorie balance, body
reading measurements, supplement and medicine
intake, exercise routines, daily activity
intensity and costs will make it very
difficult for you to see the forest for
the trees.
Well designed software that keeps track
of all of the above factors and can correlate
them will make it very easy to manage
your health, fitness, weight loss, muscle
mass gain or any goal you have set...
About The Author
© Erik Pijcke
Erik Pycke is founder and CEO of Pycke
Inc. He is the architect and developer
of Hythial Pro, an all-inclusive personal
health and fitness software program. Part
of this software program contains a comprehensive
calorie counter module. You can download
this program at http://www.hythial.com.
NOTE: You are welcome to reprint this
article online as long as it remains complete
and unaltered (including the about the
author info at the end).
