Count Those Calories

 

              I’m in the process of losing weight. It’s not easy for me. I'm about 40 pounds lighter and am learning how to manage things. For anyone trying to lose weight, I think it’s important to count calories.

Weighing the Options

              The first benefit of counting calories is that it provides a tool to consider options. Let’s take a real-world example. I love Chipotle. My go-to meal is the burrito bowl. It’s a glorious trough of food! They have a nutrition calculator online where I can build a bowl and see my calories. I can also see which ingredients really add up calories quickly. I’ve been able to build my "diet" bowl with a side drink that is 780 calories. While certainly not low calorie, it’s an extremely satisfying, filling meal that I’m able to fit into my weight loss goals.

              What if I went hog wild and ordered the most fattening bowl and drink I could? Even for someone with my voracious appetite, it’s a meal that would leave me feeling sick and sluggish afterward. But, how many calories do you think it would add up to? It would be 2,400 calories! For me, trying to lose weight, that means I could only have that one meal for an entire day.

              What if I went the other extreme? What if I tried to build a super low-calorie bowl? I could skip some of the higher calorie components I love like the rice, guac, and roasted chili-corn salsa. It is possible to build a 260-calorie bowl based around beans, salsa, and veggies. That would be a complete waste of 260 calories. I would be a hungry, surly bear roaming the kitchen within a half hour. Bleh!

              By counting calories, I know the cost. The cost of eating a satisfying meal at Chipotle is 780 calories. It takes some effort to hunt down and figure out calories, but I’m fat and I don’t want to stay fat. I’ve also put together a 650-calorie meal at Denny’s. Sure, I could probably order a side salad with no dressing and have less calories, but 650 calories is my cost to eat something satisfying at Denny’s.

Learning Your Budget

              As I’m tracking calories and monitoring my weight, I’m learning my budget. By budget, I mean how many calories I can afford. I know it will take several months to really nail down a realistic number, but right now it looks like I’ll maintain weight at around 2800 calories and can lose weight efficiently if I keep things around 2000 calories or less.

              How do I know that? Let’s say I track calories and find for a given week I average 2,000 calories a day. Let’s say I lost 1.6 pounds for that week. To get solid numbers, you need to track for several weeks. I recommend your official weigh in is at the same time each week and under the same conditions. For example, if you weigh yourself after using the restroom one week, you should do that every week. You should also weigh yourself at approximately the same time and day of the week. In general, I do my official weigh in on Monday morning before I’ve eaten or drank anything. I wouldn’t recommend weighing yourself after breakfast—unless you’re precisely weighing each meal. Also, be aware that one week really doesn’t count to figure out your calorie budget. My weight can fluctuate five pounds or more throughout the course of a day. So, it’s going to take several months of tracking to get consistent numbers and find my calorie budget.

              So, my calories were 2,000 per day (2,000 X 7 = 14,000) and my weight loss was 1.6 pounds. A pound of fat is about 3,500 calories. So, that’s a 5,600-calorie deficit (1.6 X 3,500) or 800 calories a day (5,600 ÷ 7 = 800). If I take my 2,000 calories per day and add in the 800 calories per day I lost, I can estimate I would maintain weight at about 2,800 calories a day. Obviously, this isn’t perfect. I could have lost some water weight. I could have put on some muscle from working out. So, it’s only an estimate, but at least it gives me some numbers to base things around.

              Also, be aware as you lose weight that your calorie budget goes down. A smaller car burns less fuel than a bigger car. The same is true with your body. As you lose weight, you need less calories to move around. So, your calorie budget at your ideal weight is going to be less than your calorie budget at your chubby weight—unless you move around more with that newer, fitter body to make up the difference!

              What if I add in exercise? I am exercising intensely, and it does increase calories burned. You can go online and find calculators that estimate how many calories a given activity will burn. Realize, those calculators are estimates. So, you still need to track your calories and weight.

              Let’s say I want to eat that super fattening 2,400 Chipotle burrito bowl? How long would I have to run at a quick pace (10-minute mile) at my current weight to burn it off? I would have to run a little over 2 ½ hours. That means I would be running over 15 miles.

Ugh! Here’s the truth about exercise and calories. If you’re able to spend 30-60 minutes a day doing something of moderate to high intensity, you’re likely not adding much more than 300-500 calories burned (maybe less for a smaller person). That activity is subtracting at most about a pound of fat burned per week. I’m not saying you shouldn’t exercise. The benefits of exercise are tremendous and is part of a healthy plan to lose weight. However, don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “I worked out hard this morning. I can enjoy a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke!” No, no, no. You can’t! If you’re like me, you’re taking their offer to biggie size. Suddenly that 300-calorie workout is dwarfed by that 1,320-calorie meal! Do I spend 2/3 of my weight-loss calories for the day on McD’s? Or, do I go for my 780-calorie bowl at Chipotles? Or, my 650-calorie burger at Denny’s? Or, do I use McDonald’s nutrition calculator to see where I can shave some calories? Or, do I decide I’ll run for over an hour tonight? Okay, I already worked out this morning, so who am I kidding? I’m not going running tonight. I have a new episode of The Orville to watch!

Establishing Lifetime Changes

              One of the biggest benefits of counting calories is one begins to get a sense of what to eat and what not to eat. Am I opening that bag of chips? Or, am I breaking out the hot air popper and having some popcorn—with some yummy seasoning! Do I want that buttermilk-based ranch dressing? Or, is a low-calorie mustard-based dressing just as satisfying? Obviously, I better read some labels, because that mustard-based dressing may have a lot of hidden calories and may not be as low-calorie as it should be. Plus, I better keep an eye on portion sizes.

              Calorie counting allows one to develop more of a sense of what to eat and what to avoid. It also helps one to figure out those lower-calorie alternatives that may be just as satisfying as the higher-calorie alternatives.

              I’m going through the process of figuring out what works for me—in terms of eating and exercising. Calorie counting is a tool to help do that. It helps me to figure out my calorie budget for the day and to spend those calories wisely. I think it's an important component of a weight loss journey.