How many of you end a day thinking... "I ate pretty well today, I can splurge at dinner?" and then you find yourself not losing any weight or even GAINING!  Well here's why.  Our brains remember the main meals, and even the snacks sometimes... but it doesn't remember the grazing!  How many times have you taken a hand full of this, bites of those or a sips of that? Let me tell ya, those are NOT Free Calories!  Once you start the habit of writing them down, you will be SHOCKED by the extra calories you intake.

  • Where do you start?  DO NOT CHANGE A THING IN YOUR DIET.  First, just write down everything you eat for 2-3 days.  I'm old fashion and like to put pen to paper, but there are TONS of APPs out there that you can load on your phones/tablets (I use my Fitbit app and MyFitnessPal).  You can also make a spreadsheet on your computer, write down on paper during the day then load it in for safe keeping and reference. Now this is going to be tedious in the beginning, but it will get easier and eventually become a habit.
  • What do you write down? EVERY INGREDIENT and the calories that follow.  If you had a salad at lunch, its not just a salad... You need to know all the ingredients (Lettuce, Tomato, onion, cheese, chicken, dressing...)  Now if you purchase a pre-made food item that has the calories that's easy enough, still write the ingredients for future reference.  Example:

Day/Time

Food Item

Calories

 Tuesday 3pm

 Almonds (10)  70

 Tuesday 3pm

 Apple (medium)

 80

Total

 150
  • How do I find the calories?  There are so many apps you can load on your phones/tablets or you can just google in.  "Calories in an apple." It will come up right at the top.  Again, may sound tedious, but eventually you will start to memorize main foods.  We are creatures of habit and eat about the same foods 75% of the time.
  • Why Calories and not fat/protein/sugar/etc?  At the end of the day, our bodies work on calories in and calories out.  Don't get me wrong, you can't maintain 1,500 calorie diet on chocolate and feel good and have energy, but you won't gain weight if that is your calorie goal. Please read my blog, "Before we get started" to learn more about the importance of calories.

Simple enough right? Don't change anything right away, just notice you eating habits, what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat.  Then, you can start to substitute better food habits and quality snacks.

From start 2 fitness!

xo Danni