Tracking Calories

How ever your goal for weight loss is planned out it all comes down to this very important thing: managing your calories.

Our bodies are a very complex machine that requires fuel to drive your metabolism and perform all the necessary movements. Calories from food and beverages that we consume are the ones to provide these fuels. And if we burn all the fuel that we take in, our weight remains stable. This is one of the reasons why people recommend you to stay consistent with physical activity because your body begins to accumulate weight when excess fuel doesn't get burned---storing itself as body fat and therefore promoting weight gain. And if you begin to burn more fuel that is coming in than what is coming out, you'll be making progress in weight loss :) So, by managing the calories we consume and the calories we burn, we can successfully control our weight.

Related: 9 Best Morning Habits to Lose Weight

To add onto that, this is why majority of adults overweight or obese in modern decades. With the industrial revolution and its chain of effects (fast food restaurants, transportation, etc) our lifestyle changes have evolved in ways that are both healthy and unhealthy---machines and computers have become the biggest influence of lifestyle in mankind. Practically everywhere we go — shopping centers, sports stadiums, movie theaters — food is available anywhere.

Read: Your Chances of Depression Is Two Times Greater With This Diet Restriction

And because of these lifestyle changes we are now less active in physical activity. People are eating out more frequently and food is commonly sold in large quantities.

Humans have a natural tendency to preserve the most energy as possible (Most commonly during employment) and even eat when they're not hungry. These are huge factors for weight gain.

Lifestyle

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans are eating more calories on average than they did in the 1970s. This is bad news, right? However most people don't even realize that they're becoming overweight---its a process that happens fairly slowly.

Related: 10 Healthy Habits To Live A Healthier Life

Are you one of them? Lets not ask, lets just not be one of them.

Note: If you want to try a new method to approach weight loss, Liz Swann Miller invented a new Red Tea Detox program that was proven to improve weight loss and reduce weight by burning unneeded pounds from our bodies by switching from carbohydrate fat burning to high-octane burning. It is based on over a decade of medical research revolving around the cleansing of toxins and the benefits of African red tea. However, there is much more to it than that. The program is very thorough and divided into three parts that help each other: diet, exercise, and mindset. Go there now.

Start incorporating small changes to your overeating habits by skipping those last few opportunities of cake. Start taking frequent walks to keep yourself slim and stiff :).

As mentioned above it is really important to be aware of the calories you take in and how much or little you are burning so that you are keeping yourself in check.

Tracking Food

One of the most effective weight control strategies that I have learned is making use of apps that are openly available to everyone. I used the MyFitnessPal mobile app to keep track of my calorie count and manage my day to day tasks when it comes to physical activity and my diet plan. It really makes everything easier by allowing me to instantly pull out and navigate straight to my meal plans and allowing me to adjust my next meals accordingly.

Related: 14 Eating Mistakes That Make You Gain Weight

Here are the positive benefits I gained from doing this:

• History record: Tracking what I eat and additional notes I jot down throughout the day gives me the benefit of coming back to these records later.
• Analyzing anytime, anywhere: And to add onto that, i'm able to analyze and see which days I'm eating more, which days i'm eating less, how I gained half a pound, what made me lose weight, how frequent I exercise, and see areas that i'm lacking on.
• Productivity: Getting into the habit of tracking what I do and what I eat makes me feel productive and motivates me to succeed when I feel like i'm on a good start. This is crucial!

Those who are very serious about losing weight that track their calories and eating habits end up being most successful in losing weight.

You Eat With Your Eyes First

Have you ever eaten something that you don't really need or want, but you eat it any way? Were you thinking to grab just a cup of strawberries from your fridge but grabbed the cup of raspberries along with it because you simply saw it there? You're eating with your eyes first.

Related: Emotional Eating And Its Effects For Weight Loss

Did you know that humans commonly eat more than they normally would, influenced by the size of their plates? People who eat their food on larger plates eat more than they normally would. Researchers from the University of Cambridge reviewed 60 studies and confirmed this, revealing that serving food on smaller plates is interestingly a solution!

In the studies they also found that the more food people were given, the more they ate - regardless of self-control.

Physical Activity

Every calorie in your body can be burned through physical activity. If weight loss is what you are trying to achieve (If you've read this far then you most likely are) then managing physical activity should be one of your top 3 goals. You can take my advice and use the MyFitnessPal mobile app like I am (which is working great) or you can provide your own way of keeping yourself in check with physical activity.

Related: 14 Subtle but Powerful Health Benefits of Exercising Other Than Losing Weight

Forming the habit of waking up earlier in the morning to make use of the gym can be a terrifying plan to commit to if you haven't already been doing that.

I recommend an article shared by AJ Harbinger for tips on how to stick to your gym routine. Key points listed are:

1. Picking exercises that you enjoy into your gym routine
2. Making exercise a habit & not negotiatable.
3. Choosing a gym conveniently located near you
4. Finding a gym partner
5. Self-given punishments for skipping gym sessions
6. Love yourself (half-kidding. But actively taking pictures of your physical progress)

Monitoring Your Progress

Weighing in or taking your circumference measurements at least once a week is a good way to keep yourself in check. For best times of when, it’s best to check your weight at the same time of day(with the same clothing). Also, consider weighing in the middle of the week because your weight can sort of fluctuate; tending to occur after a weekend of food adventures or other eating habits.

Related: 15 Easy Ways to Live a Healthier Lifestyle

Setting Goals

Setting yourself goals to achieve is a great way to keep yourself in check. By doing so you make commitments to yourself which helps you to make immediate action.

A good way to start is setting a certain amount of weight you want to lose at a certain time of the year. Healthy weight loss for most people is losing about half a pound to two pounds per week. The more weight you have to lose, the faster you can lose it.

Related: These Top 9 Habits Will Help You Lose Weight

A pound of body fat contains approximately 3,500 calories.

Set a short term and long term goal and write them down. In doing so, you make a commitment to yourself which helps propel you into immediate action. Healthy weight loss for most people is half a pound to two pounds per week but the more weight you have to lose, the faster you can lose it. One pound of body fat contains approximately 3,500 calories. Use the table below to determine how many extra calories you’ll have to burn or cut out of your diet each day for different weight loss goals.