How To Count Calories for Weight Loss

You may hear advice that you should count calories for weight loss, but you may wonder how exactly you should do that?  Start with a small notebook and write down every food you eat during the day.  For boxed and prepared foods, the calorie count is listed on the packaging.  Be sure you determine how much a serving is, and measure that amount precisely.  You may regularly eat a portion that the packaging considers to be 2 or 3 servings.  If you only record the calories for a single serving, you won’t have an accurate view of your caloric intake.

For items that are not pre-packaged, consult a food calorie book or search the internet to count calories for the food you’ve eaten.  You’ll have to use a resource for things like fresh fruits, vegetables, and the like.

Once you have written down the calorie count for all that you’ve eaten, add up the calories.  This will tell you how many calories you are consuming, and give you an idea of where and how much to cut back.  You are on your way to count calories for weight loss.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

Burn Calories Fast

Everyone wants to burn calories fast. One way to burn calories fast is by increasing your activity level at a much faster pace, while decreasing your caloric intake. While you may think that exercising 3 hours while eating 1000 calories a day would help you burn calories fast, it may actually have the opposite effect as your body may suddenly think that it’s heading into a famine.

A better strategy would be to use a stair-step approach. Plan to increase your activity level by 30 minutes while maintaining the same caloric intake. After 2-3 days, decrease your calories by 2 - 300 per day. After another 2-3 days, increase your activity level again, or perhaps increase the intensity. After a few more days, decrease your calories again.

Continue doing this until you reach your activity level and caloric goals. By slowly easing your body into a new routine, you will burn calories fast.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

3 More Fat Loss Tips

Every little bit helps when you’re trying to lose weight, so consider these fat loss tips:

1. Avoid alcohol.  A glass of wine may taste great with dinner, but it’s likely to help you over-indulge as well as add extra calories to your meal.  You’re better off choosing to drink water with your meals.
2. Fidget.  Pace the floor as you’re talking on the phone, wiggle your legs as you sit in a meeting, tap your pencil as you’re reading a book.  These extra movements add up and help your weight loss.
3. Reduce stress.  A fat loss tip that many overlook is this one.  Your body tends to crave more food, and hang onto weight during stressful times.  Find an activity that lowers your stress level and you may find yourself losing more weight.

These fat loss tips should help you as you get healthier.  Remember to try new things regularly so that you can find the things that work best for you.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

3 Ways to Burn Fat

Any successful dieter needs to incorporate ways to burn fat into their lifestyle. You should try a number of different ways to burn fat, but here are 3 ways to get you started:

1. Drink green tea.  Green tea has been shown to help boost metabolism, which in turn burns fat.  You can drink the tea hot or iced, but try to add 3-4 glasses to your fluid intake per day.
2. Lift weights.  A pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat, so by increasing your muscle load you will burn more fat throughout the day.
3. Get a good night’s sleep.  When your body is exhausted, it cannot work efficiently.  This includes being able to burn fat!  Don’t skimp on your sleep when you are trying to lose weight.

These 3 tips are ways to burn fat that should be easy to work into your routine.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

Choosing Quality Carb Calories

You may have heard that reducing carb calories is a key to weight loss.  Your body needs carbohydrates, just as it needs protein, some fat, and vitamins to maintain health.  The key to choosing the carb calories you ingest is choosing high quality carb calories.

Processed and highly refined foods can be high in carb calories, but deficient in any other nutrients.  Fruit is a high carb calorie food, but is also packed with fiber and vitamins which help your body use the fuel for energy.  Other good choices are bread made from whole wheat flour, skim or 1% milk, and baked goods made with applesauce instead of oil.

Carb calories are not evil, but you should choose them carefully.  Avoid carb-laden foods that are also high in fat and sugar.  Careful choices are healthy choices.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

Should You Count Calories or Carbs?

There are many weight loss diets available, and you may be wondering if you should count calories or carbs?  It depends on what would be easiest for you!  Changing habits and taking on a healthier lifestyle may be a big change for you, and choosing a plan that is difficult for you to follow can make it harder than necessary.

When you’re deciding whether to count calories or carbs, consider how you will track the food that you eat.  Keeping a food diary is a wonderful tool to help you watch what you eat, and keep yourself honest.  It’s hard to eat 3 candy bars when you have to write them down and look at them written down for the rest of the day.

You may count calories when you first start losing weight, and then switch to counting carbs after some time.  You may realize after looking at your food diary that you eat mostly carbs, and your weight isn’t dropping as quickly as you like.  That is a great time to switch from counting calories to carbs.  The most important thing is to have a good balance of all foods in your diet.

Whether you count calories or carbs is a personal decision, and you should be willing to count either or both to help your weight loss.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

4 Ways To Burn Fat

Losing weight requires you to find ways to burn fat.  Here are 4 ways to burn fat that you can incorporate into your weight loss journey!

• Increase your muscle mass.  This will take some time, but it is one of the best ways to burn fat.  As your muscle mass increases, your body will metabolize food faster and you will burn more fat with less effort.
• Drink more water. Water helps flush your body of toxins, as well as helping you feel fuller.
• Challenge your body.  Don’t do the same workout day after day.  You need to vary your workout to increase the ways to burn fat.
• Give your body a rest.  If you have been diligent about working out all week, give your body a rest at least one day.  Muscle needs rest to grow and you want to avoid injuries.

Follow these tips and you will find yourself burning fat!  Don’t be afraid to look for other ways to burn fat, either.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

You burn calories by moving!

You burn calories whenever you move.  The more you move, the more calories you burn — it’s that simple.  Even the act of sitting in a chair watching television will burn calories, but not very many.  Your body burns the calories you ingest, or it turns them into fat.

The goal is to eat fewer calories, while burning more calories than you ingest.  When you do this, you will lose weight.  Your burn calories by performing sustained, cardiovascular exercise.   Walking steadily for 60 minutes is better for you than sitting in front of the TV.

You burn calories by moving your body more each day.  Remember that your goal is to burn more calories than you take in!  When you do this consistently, you will lose weight.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

Food That Burns Fat

If you had to choose one food that burns fat, you should choose oatmeal. Oatmeal has so many wonderful nutritional benefits, and is a great food to include in your diet when trying to lose weight.

Oatmeal is full of fiber, which is one of the reasons why it is a food that burns fat. Oatmeal has both soluble and insoluble fiber which helps lower cholesterol and fight cancer. The fiber also helps slow the release of sugar into your system, which helps you feel fuller longer.

Do not make instant oatmeal, because that is typically full of sugar. It takes a few more minutes to make oatmeal from scratch, but the health benefits are well worth it. For an added calcium and protein boost, use milk instead of water when making your oatmeal.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

Burn Calories Running

When you are crafting your exercise program, consider how you can burn calories running.  Running is an excellent exercise that builds your cardiovascular health and endurance, that also burns a great number of calories.  You can burn around 350 calories by running at a moderate speed for 30 minutes.  You will burn that many calories running if you weigh around 150 pounds.  If you weigh more or less, you will burn more or fewer calories.

To effectively burn calories running, you should build sprints into your exercise plan.  When you vary your speed during the workout, it helps you burn even more calories.  When you plan to exercise, don’t forget to stretch and warm up before you begin running.  You want to continue burning calories running without being sidelined by an injury.

Copyright © 2008 Burnhowmanycalories.com

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