Stop Dieting – Start Deciding

There are so many reasons why people diet. It might be to get that summer body in time for vacation or just to lose some weight. Whatever it is, we all have our reasons. The only problem is that dieting is not meant to be a lifetime change – it is intended to be something that we do for a few months, and then once we achieve our goal we go back to our regular nutrition habits. That is the trap! There is nothing wrong with dieting, but the problem comes in when we are starving ourselves and end up falling for our cravings. Or even worse – picking up all the weight we have lost just because we went back to our old eating habits. There is nothing more heartbreaking than this so today it is time to put a stop to it. It is time to stop dieting and start deciding. Deciding what you may ask? Deciding to choose an option that is easier for you and will give you the best results you could hope for.

Before I tell you what the most life-changing method is, let me first tell you why dieting is not the way to go. Dieting is fantastic in principle – the only problem is that for all of the tremendous benefits it just doesn’t work out for me. Firstly, diets that are high in one thing and low or zero in something else can be problematic for many reasons. High-fat diets can cause long-term cholesterol issues, and low carb diets can cause blood pressure problems. I even know a few people who have had organ issues (people of different ages no less) because these diets that starve your body of one particular nutrients source can wreak havoc on different parts of your body.

Another issue that makes dieting a problem is that what happens when you reach your goal weight/body look or whatever you are trying to accomplish? You’ll go back to how you used to be (because diets are not designed to be permanent) and then you will put on all the weight that you just lost. This is the ultimate soul-crushing result because you have spent months avoiding all the food you love, starving your body and being so strong and now you have gone back to square one. You don’t deserve to have those kinds of problems and heart-aches so why submit yourself to that kind of trauma when there are better options? Let me enlighten you …

I decided that I wanted to lose weight about a year and a half ago, after trying and struggling with diet after diet. All that happened is I was getting more and more heartbroken and started to think that I would never get to my goal weight. Then I realised that I didn’t need to diet to lose weight. This is when I discovered the fantastic method of calorie counting and let me tell you that it changed everything I thought about dieting, eating and being healthy in general. For those who don’t know what calories are, calories are a unit of energy, and there are different amounts of calories in every kind of food. Some foods are low to almost zero calories, and some foods are so high in calories they will scare you. What calorie counting is is simple maths – you as a person need to eat a certain number of calories a day to function. Most people eat too many calories than we actually need. So if you simply decrease the number of calories you consume (while making sure that you give your body enough to function), then logically you will lose weight no matter what you eat. Now doesn’t that sound amazing?

Calorie-counting can be quite hard to get into at first only because it takes effort on your part to get your numbers right. However, once you get into it, you might find that it is the best thing that ever happened to you. My favourite part about it is that there is no such thing as not being allowed to eat something. If you feel like pizza, then eat pizza. If you feel like chocolate, then eat chocolate. Just know how many calories you are eating and compensate in other meals of the day to make sure that it fits with your daily total. It’s quite easy but here are a few tips in case you need them for starting this new journey:

Keep a journal

This is the easiest way to make sure that you aren’t going over your daily total of calories. Give yourself a limit, say 1200 calories or even 1500 calories. Next, every time you eat, write down how much of it you eat and how many calories are in it. That way, you are always aware of how many calories you have consumed and how many you have left. Now you will be able to see that since you haven’t had many calories in the first part of the day, for example, that you could have an extra helping of chicken at dinner or maybe even a slice of cake. I promise you, keeping a journal will be the easiest way to keep yourself on track

Google is your best friend

You don’t need to worry about guessing how many calories are in what. All you need to do is Google the food that you are eating, and you will be given how many calories that are in that food. Google is such an excellent tool so use it as much as you can do get as much information as possible and you’ll find that it is really easy to keep track of your calories.

Be specific

When it comes to jotting down the number of calories in a dish, rather overestimate than underestimate. This is because, that way, you won’t accidentally go over your allocated amount. It will be disheartening if you are so good with your calorie counting and you don’t make progress just because you aren’t specific with your portions and numbers. If you can, weigh your food and get the exact number of calories for that portion. I am exaggerating a little by saying that messing up by a few digits is going to make significant changes to your progress, but rather be safe than sorry.

Don’t make it hard for yourself

If you know that you are going out for dinner with your friends, then don’t make it hard for yourself by eating breakfast and lunch and snacks. Instead, have a few small things to eat and that way, you’ll be able to enjoy your dinner and not go over your daily limit. Also, don’t drink your calories. Instead of having a coke, have a diet coke or drink water. If you are feeling snackish then instead try having a glass of water or a cup of green tea, then if you are still hungry have something to eat. By doing these things, you make it easier on yourself, and then you will struggle less with changing to this way of eating.

Now though, don’t forget about exercise. Exercise is vital, not just because every health expert in the world tells you so, but because it can actually help on your journey to lose weight. Exercise helps to burn calories and increase your metabolism, all of which helps you lose weight. My dad has always told me that you need to think of input versus output. Basically what he meant is that you need to understand that you can only eat as much as you burn off. If you eat more than you exercise to burn off, then you are not going to manage to lose weight. However, you don’t have to all of a sudden start running 10km a day to compensate for what you eat. You can’t outrun your fork, after all, so the real trick to getting your new healthy lifestyle right is getting the right amount of exercise while watching what you eat (and the best and easiest way to do this without starving yourself and causing yourself stress is calorie counting).

So voila! Calorie counting is not only practical but is also quite an easy way to lose weight or achieve your health goal. It has been such an incredible help and change to me and has transformed both my eating and my health in general for the better more than I could have ever imagined. If you have any more questions about calorie counting or have your own stories that you would like to share, then please leave them in the comments section. Also, if you would like me to share any low-calorie recipes that I have found or created, (or if you have any specific questions or specific topics that you want me to answer/post about) then please either tell me in the comments section or contact me. I hope you all enjoyed this blog post – please click that like button if you truly enjoyed it and share it with your friends so that our little community can continue to grow.

Lots of Love

Blondey on a Mission xxx