Calorie counting…Heck No

A few weeks back Dan suggested I start calorie counting and my instant reaction was “Heck No” as I find it was too time consuming and very little benefit. As I was listening to the “Cut the Fat Podcast”, they were speaking on the proper way to calorie count and how to figure out how many calories one should be consuming in a day. It actually sounded somewhat simple, so I thought I would give it a shot.
 
My ideal weight is between 140-150lbs so I took my weight of 140 and multiplied it by 12-14 to figure out my daily caloric intake. I used the lower end of both (140lbs and 12 calories) to see faster results.  Then Dan and I worked on creating a meal plan for me, which I would follow daily for the next 8 weeks, right up until the day we leave for Florida.
I took the meal plan and googled every item on it to find out how many calories is in each. The simpler your meal plan the simpler it will be to determine the calories. You want to stay away from foods that are variable, meaning they fluctuate in size, such as Power Ball Bites (http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/) as this is much harder to determine how many calories per one ball.
 
Now that I have my meal plan and I know, it is within my allotted 1680 calories per day I eat the same thing each day. This concept may be a struggle for you but if you can handle taking the variety out of your meals then it is worth it.
 
I encourage you to do the math based on your goal weight and multiply by 12 to determine your daily caloric intake and then sit down to create a healthy meal plan that you can stick to for 2-3 months. I promise you, you will see great results. If you find you are having difficulties, there are many apps out there that you can use to track calories.
 
I am just starting into my second weeks now and let me tell you….week one was difficult for the first three days. I feel I was at a slight disadvantage having just come off the holidays but I was able to push through. I felt very tired, lacked energy and was irritable….I bet you are all thinking, then why would I even bother! Once you push through those first few days, your body really starts to adjust to the changes and it gets easier with each day. The weekend presented it’s own challenges as there are a lot of mental changes I needed to make around weekends. We didn’t have our traditional date night of Milestones (Portobello Mushroom Chicken) and a movie but rather Dan got fully on board with my new journey and cooked a nice healthy meal at home.
I did have a melt down on Sunday as I ate my plain rice cake with a small amount of peanut butter on top and complained that it just isn’t fair! There are so many people out there who can eat whatever they want and they don’t put a pound on and I just want to have their body. With Dan’s little pep talk I was able to refocus on my end goal and realize that once my body hits the 140lbs and has a new hemostasis I will be able to lighten up on my restrictions but for now this is what I need to do to get there!
 
Week 1 is complete and I lost 4lbs…If you have read my previous blog you may say….”but you are not weighting in for a year” and you are correct. I still have no idea how much I weigh as Dan is the one who weights me each week. With a very straight face not to give away anything to me, he tells me my success!
 
I feel calorie counting has gotten a bad rap and people do not give it a fair try. I am telling you after one week it has been working and will continue to get easier with each day.
 
If anyone is interested in getting help setting up your program, please leave a comment below or send me a message and I would love to help.
 
I also encourage everyone to start listening to the Cut the Fat Podcast as it is FILLED with amazing helpful knowledge to make these changes! http://cutthefatpodcast.com/
 
Tiffany Ashmeade