Calorie Goals

As we move into the next month with a focus on watching our calories, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts on the issue.

Tracking Calories

Sometimes it can be excessively difficult to track all of your calories. Especially if you're a snacker. Having little bits between meal times can even be healthy. There are two main ways I can think of to manage calories. One is to actually track every single calorie. This is going to be the best in terms of making sure you actually capture everything. The other way is to choose to be reasonable. If you know how many calories you should be getting every day (more on that later), you can be approximate. Basically answer the question, are you eating balanced meals with reasonable portions and small healthy snacks? While it may take a lot of experience of tracking every calorie to actually have a feel for using the method, it can help to not be constantly thinking about the numbers and instead just enjoy good healthy flavors.

Here are some suggested number calorie tracking methods:

My Fitness Pal--I use this app on my phone because it's really nice being able to just scan a bar code instead of physically entering it in

Weight Watchers--They track the calories for you and simplify things into a point system. Right now they have a "Loose 10 lbs" on us promotion where if you lose 10 lbs in two months, they refund your purchase

Livestrong MyPlate--Really since I use My Fitness Pal, these are just google results.

Setting Calorie Goals

Not a lot to say on this issue. Essentially, use a app or website to determine how many calories a day will enable you to lose about 1 pound a week until you reach your goal. More than an average of 1 pound a week is not healthy to maintain for long and can be hard to keep permanent.

Here are some sites to help with calorie goals:

Weight Loss Calculator

Web MD

And just to help us maintain a perspective on our motivation for healthy living, here's a video for us to enjoy.