Not Tracking Calories Could Be Why Your Results Suffer
How many diets have you tried in your lifetime? Probably more than you care to share, right? One reason why so many people give up on various diets is that they don’t get the results they claim. Is it the fault of the diet? No, not entirely. In fact, most of the blame can be put on the individual implementing the diet. Now, before you look up my address to put a steamy pile of cow poop on my doorstep, hear me out. If you’re not tracking calories, that’s probably the reason why you don’t see the results you desire.
Tracking calories seems to be one of the most overlooked aspects when failing to see any type of weight loss results. It boils down to the old saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
How Many Calories Are You Consuming Each Day?
Think about that question for a minute. Do you know the answer? Seriously, be honest. Do you know EXACTLY how many calories you are consuming? If not, how do you know if you are in a caloric deficit to help promote weight loss? Here’s the answer — you don’t. That’s not meant as a jab toward you, it’s just the facts. That’s where tracking your calories really matters.
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If (for example) your maintenance calories where you neither gain nor lose weight is 2,000, where do you fall each day with your total calories? Far too many people follow various diets (that, in theory, will work) but fail to see the results because they are actually consuming more calories than they think each day, which is why tracking calories is helpful. Eyeballing your portions is not a good weight loss plan.
Even if you ate something incredibly small, but it put you over your maintenance by 250 calories each day, after a week, that would lead to 1,750 extra calories. Those added calories would equate to around a half-pound increase in your body weight weekly. Double that number to 500 without knowing it, and your scale will show you an increase of a pound. Has that happened to you? You’re probably shaking your head, and you’re not alone. Start tracking calories to help prevent this from happening.
Related Article: Can You Lose Weight Without Counting Macros?
You can follow a specific diet by the book, eat only what is recommended, and still not see any results. You can remove carbohydrates and sugars and go straight keto if you wish, but if your net calories at the end of the day are greater than your maintenance, yes, you guessed it, you’d gain weight. Weight loss is truly a numbers game more than anything. Any diet can work for you so long as you are tracking calories.
All Diets “Work”
You don’t have to jump on the latest diet trend to lose weight and see your body fat melt off your body. You merely need to be conscious of what you’re putting in your mouth and in what quantity. And the only way for you to know this is by tracking calories.
In order to start tracking calories, you could do it the old-fashioned way with pen and paper, but there is a much easier method — using an app like MyFitnessPal. This app can be downloaded (for free) and used on any smartphone rather than carrying around a pen and notepad everywhere you go. While you could pay for the upgraded version of MyFitnessPal with all the bells and whistles, it’s unnecessary for most. If you want the ability to tweak your numbers and get some new settings, by all means, get it. But for the majority of the people reading this, the free version is more than enough to assist you with tracking calories and helping you lose weight.
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Once you have downloaded MyFitnessPal onto your smartphone, the next thing you want to do is figure out the type of diet you plan on implementing. This is entirely a personal preference. You can go with keto, Mediterranean, low-carb, meat-only, IIFYM, or plant-based — you choose whatever suits your wants and needs. The key is to make sure it’s something that fits your lifestyle. If you enjoy carbs, doing keto will be painful, and you’ll hate every minute of it. You’ll have massive cravings, salivate every time you see someone eating a donut or pizza, and will more than likely give up.
By tracking calories, you have a little more flexibility with your macros and can even fit in some treats to maintain your sanity while attempting to lose weight. With the app on your phone, all you need to do is set up your account, input all your information, and the app will do the rest to help you find the ideal number of calories you should consume each day.
From there, all you need to do is plug in the food you eat at each meal. This also includes any snacks you may eat throughout the day. If you nibble on something, take a bite of this, a sip of that, everything counts. Again, it goes back to the 250-calorie example above. Not counting all those things when tracking calories could lead to weight gain and stall your weight loss progress. So, be honest with yourself if you want to get the best results.
MyFitnessPal makes tracking calories extremely easy as it has just about every food under the sun in its database that you can pull from — including meals you would find at restaurants across the nation. With the app, you can check how many calories you’ve consumed, the macro breakdown, and how many calories you have left to hit your daily caloric goal.
Related Article: 20 Important MyFitnessPal Tips to Help You Lose Weight
Tracking calories helps create a fool-proof plan that allows you to quickly and easily watch the number on the scale decrease and help improve your overall body composition. Stop falling for the trap that many diets promote with a bunch of hype. Tracking calories and staying accountable is nearly a surefire way to get the results you desire.
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