Contents
Do You Need to Lose Weight?
Understanding Weight Loss
How to Calculate How Many Calories You Burn
How to Calculate How Many Calories You Consume
Understanding Your Eating
How to Eat More Healthfully
Exercise
Weight Loss Programs
Working with a Nutritionist
Special Weight Loss Issues
Dieting Dangers
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How to Calculate How Many Calories You Consume
You can use the Harris Benedict formula to get an idea of how many calories you burn each day, but the only way to get a sense of how many calories you consume each day is to record what you eat.
Keep a Food Journal
A food journal is a precise record of what you eat each day. By keeping a food journal and analyzing your entries, you can get a general sense of how many calories you’re consuming each day and also gain information about your eating habits. To keep a food journal:
- Buy a small notebook: If you wait until the end of the day to update your journal, you’ll probably forget about some of the items you ate. If your food journal is small enough to throw in your bag or fit in your back pocket, you’ll be more likely to record what you’ve eaten right after you’ve eaten it.
- Record exactly what you eat: Be meticulous about noting every single item you eat, not just the major meals. That handful of jelly beans counts, as does the butter you put on your toast.
- Record what you drink: Note everything you drink, from water to soda to alcohol.
- Record portion sizes: Instead of writing down “ice cream,” write down “two spoonfuls of ice cream” or “two cups of ice cream.” Be sure to note the amount of each liquid you drink. You may even want to measure or weigh your food for a few weeks.
- Note the time: Your food journal will help you determine the times of day at which you’re likely to overeat or skip meals.
- Note the place: Write down whether you were in your kitchen, a restaurant, on the street, or somewhere else.
- Note the company: Your food journal will help you gather information about what kind of company causes you to overeat.
- Use emoticons: Draw a little smiley face (or sad face, neutral face, or angry face) next to each entry. Part of the goal of a food journal is to figure out whether you eat because you’re actually hungry or simply because you’re bored, stressed, and so on.
Estimate Your Daily Calorie Consumption
Your food journal is the best way to get a sense of your typical calorie consumption.
- Go down the lists of types and amounts of foods you recorded for each day.
- Look up the foods in a calorie counter, a book, or an online database that lists the calorie content for different foods.
- Estimate the total calories you eat each day and find the average.
Counting Calories
Many people associate weight loss and diets with counting calories—tabulating the exact calorie value for every little thing that passes your lips. Counting calories is exhausting and for that reason is not a good weight loss tool: people abandon their weight loss efforts because they get tired of having to count all their calories.
The goal in calculating how many calories you consume is not to set you on the path of counting calories for all your meals but instead to help you get a sense of two things:
- How many calories you typically consume
- The general caloric values of different foods
Having an understanding of these factors will help you develop a lifestyle that provides the right number of calories for you without having to count every last calorie.
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