Calories Count!

Whatever they tell you, this is the basic principle of weight loss. It's scientific law. If someone says that they don't count, they're BSing you. All the lose weight quick schemes are BS, or if it does work, it's not the weight you wanna lose. The more the caloric deficit you have, the more faster the weight you lose. And if you're doing it at a healthy and steady weight, you can lose 1-3 pounds a week! It's all science, and if you do your research, you can find alot of info the back up what I'm saying. But I'll try to explain it a nutshell, but read this to get a better understanding on the science behind it.



Energy can't disappear. It has to be used, or stored. Based on our individual metabolism, calories (energy) varies, and some burn more than others. So let's say that you burn 2700 calories a day. If you consume 3500 calories through food, than the remaining 800 calories is stored as fat. That's what you see around your belly. Energy that wasn't used, so it's stored on your body. And vice versa for fat loss. If you burn 2700 calories, and you consume 1700 calories, than the body will use other sources of energy since the food is not enough fuel the energy used in the day. So the body will take the fat from your body that was stored or even muscle protein to make up for that. That's how you lose weight. With that said, I know the goal is that you want to lose body fat, and keep lean muscle mass. It is important that if you want to lose weight, and keep lean muscle mass, lose the weight at a steady pace and eat plenty of lean protein. You see some folks that lose weight, but they just become a skinnier fat (i.e. Jared from Subway). That's because their lean muscle mass is not much. Maybe they're not working out much, or not getting a steady supply of protein. But this is something I will touch on a little bit later, but wanted to touch on that a bit.



Counting calories is easier said than done. There is no way to get an exact caloric calculation, because your metabolism varies day to day, and calorie counting is not an exact science. But you should be able to know what neighborhood your in. You should research different types of foods to get an approximate amount. But using the nutrition labels is very important if you get packaged foods. And also, if you decide get some fast food, before you go, go to their nutritional facts page to see about how many calories you're going to consume. But if you consume more whole foods (lean meats and veggies), then you know that you're caloric intake will always be not as much as getting some type of processed foods, fast foods, or foods high in carbs. Like for an example, an ideal day for me would be a veggie omelet with whole wheat English muffin on strawberry preserves. I know with eggs (2) being about 75 calories, and with the mixed veggies, I add 50 calories, and then for the muffin, I add 100 calories, I figure tha meal is about 300-350. Then the second meal, I try to make it the biggest meal of the day, since after this meal, will be the time where I will be the most active. So I'll eat a grilled chicken with a garden salad and mixed veggies which I figure around 400-500 calories. Then I might eat a Trader Joes burrito which is about 350, and then depending on my appetite, eat a 4th meal that I try to keep under 350 calories. So if I can keep my intake between 1500-1800 calories, then I know I will have a great calorie deficit that day. Nobody is perfect, and you shouldn't try to be. I just explained an ideal day. There are days where I might wanna get a big mac, or get a nice sandwich. That's fine, as long as I keep mind of what I ate. The other day, I had that egg omelet breakfast I talked about, but I a craving for a Whooper for my second meal. I got a Whooper with cheese, no mayo which is about 560 calories, small onion rings which is about 150 calories, and a diet coke which has 0 calories. That is 710 calories for that meal. With that in mind, I knew that my 3rd a 4th meal (if I have one) will have to be alot lower. I had a 350 calorie burrito later, and that was it. I consumed only 1400 calories that day! What tends to get people fat is that with the Whooper, they will get cheese, mayo, with a large fries and soda which could be almost a 1400 calorie meal. And they multiply that caloric intake over 3-4 meals a day, and have a lot of calories consumed for the day, way above what the body has burned. So what the key is to be consistent with your nutrition, because you can never go wrong by eating right. And you must get it into your mind of eating less, and eating better foods. If you can get those two things ingrained into your mind, the rest will come easy. And it will come to the point to where you might want to indulge once and a while, and that's fine. Some of the food that is high in calories are very good. But to indulge everyday all day is not a good way in trying to lose or maintain your weight. I indulged all the time throughout my life. I was very implusive, and lazy and didn't want to cook, so I would go out all the time. Even to this day, it's hard for me to eat out, because I tend to go for foods that I shouldn't be getting. I think it was Muata that said be mindful of your pitfalls. In other words, no what your kryptonite is that triggers eating habits that are good for you. Since I have that in mind, I make sure I spend alot of money on groceries, because I'm very good at just buying good food at the grocery store. I love going through the vegetable isle and picking out all the vegetables that I love. And sense I spent a good amount of money on food, I know there will be no reason for me to eat out, because I just spent that money on food.

So please, be mindful the amount of calories you are consuming. Even before you start "dieting" just start be counting the calories you're consuming now, or think is this meal good or bad. We're all men, and we know what we know which foods are better for us. I always think of this line: Eat for purpose, not for pleasure. Even though what I'm eating gives me alot of pleasure, I think of that line when I get cravings.