How to track your calories for weight loss | IMPERIUM GRP PTE LTD

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How to track your calories for weight loss

3 mins to read

When it comes to losing weight, it is good to track your daily calorie intake as you need to be in a calorie deficit in order to lose weight.

There are also people who prefer to count calories to help them balance their energy intake and output to support their body composition goals.

Intuitive eating is great when it comes to overall weight maintenance but if you are looking to lose fat or even gain muscle, then calorie counting can act as a beneficial weight-loss supplement in Singapore.

Calorie counting can help people with disordered eating habits

Most people with eating disorders have been known to have a poor relationship with food. Obesity, anorexia, bulimia and even binge eating are some examples of eating disorders.

Calorie counting can help people lose weight by tracking food intake and making healthier food choices. They can also do the opposite and help people gain weight as they practice calorie counting to meet their daily calorie budget. This is all dependent on why you are tracking your calories.

It is important to remember that reducing and increasing too many calories in a day can be unhealthy and is an unsustainable diet in the long run. We should aim to have a healthier lifestyle, not just a body weight that meets that ideal form in our mind.

Tips for Success

There are several different ways to streamline the calorie counting process so that you get an accurate number each day.

Use technology to help

You do not have to rely on your memory to remember what you actually consumed in a day. Even if you are someone who can always recall what you ate, it is impossible to remember how much you actually ate.

Therefore, it is unlikely for you to get an accurate calorie number if your food journal is incomplete as the serving sizes are usually wrong.

Instead, you can easily download a calorie-tracking app on your smartphone.

Remember to record the food and calories prior to eating. The point is to have a calorie tracking method that goes wherever you go.

Learn about portion control

Everyone practices their own methods to determine portion sizes and most people tend to underestimate the number of calories consumed in their portions.

Cereal is the perfect example of underestimating calories. People tend to pour way more than the recommended portion for a serving size into their bowls. This is the same for chips. People also eat way more chips thinking that the calories are low because they don’t feel full after they have consumed the whole bag.

In order to stop consuming too many calories, you can invest in a digital kitchen scale.

You don’t have to use this all the time as you can keep a notebook or track it on your phone after you weigh every new food item you usually eat.

If you consume more or less than the serving size indicated on the nutrition facts label, you’ll be able to get the correct calorie count whenever you eat that specific food item.

Consider your budget

If you are someone who doesn’t want to buy expensive tools or sign up for a subscription for a calorie-counting app then you can begin by weighing foods you usually eat and keeping a notebook of it.

We tend to consume similar food items throughout the week as it is natural to gravitate towards foods we love eating. Therefore, you can use this to your advantage by weighing the foods in individual servings sizes so you are always aware of your calorie consumption.

If you are willing to spend, you can definitely go for different gadgets and tools that help you track your calories burned, steps walked and even your heart rate to see if you are in the fat-burning zone.

Consider your lifestyle before you make a purchase. The main goal here is to achieve weight loss and develop healthier eating habits in the long run.

Track calories burned while exercising

Calorie counting doesn’t have to be limited to food only but it can also be applied to exercising.

Depending on the type of workouts you do and how long you do it, it can help burn the extra calories you need to lose weight.

Cardio workouts are great for burning fat but strength training workouts are better as they help your body build muscle which helps your burn more calories even when you are not working out.

It is important to have at least 150 minutes of cardio along with 2 strength training workout sessions in a week for overall health maintenance.

Track your macros

Don’t limit yourself to just tracking calories as not all calories are made equal.

You can track your macronutrients as well such as protein, carbohydrate, and fat grams. This can be easily found in any food app.

Consuming higher amounts of protein along with fibre can help aid weight loss and improve your overall health in the long run.

Therefore, it is beneficial to understand what different foods can do for your body by tracking the macronutrients every food offers.

Best Calorie counter apps

Calorie counting apps are great to aid in your health journey as it helps simplify things.

Here are some great apps for you depending on your lifestyle needs:

1) Fitbit

The Fitbit monitors steps and activity whilst allowing you to take your food tracking to the next level. It provides a daily breakdown of your macronutrients consumed such as carbs, protein and fat intake to help you understand how your food choices impact your overall health.

2) Lose it!

Lose It! comes up with a personalized calorie budget based on your height, weight, age, and gender.

It also gives you a choice of how to keep track of your meals whilst searching their food database, scanning barcodes, or using the new Snap It feature, which allows you to send a photo of your dish.

3) MyFitnesspal

Known as the queen of diet and fitness trackers, this app is easy to use as you can enter what you ate without the hassle of trying to do things like math on things like portion sizes and protein content.

It also has plenty of recipes online to help lose weight or gain muscle and it has a premium membership to help you discover your eating habits in detail but if you can’t afford it, you can also use it for free.

Other calorie-counting apps in the market include Nutritionix, WW, Noom, Lifesum, Lumen, MyNetDiary, and Cronometer.

For those who find calorie counting to be restrictive and ends up creating more stress and negative feelings surrounding food intake and your body, we recommend you stop counting calories and consult a healthcare professional to assist you on your journey.