One of my subscribers recently emailed me requesting the Excel spreadsheet that I use to keep track of my daily calories.  Even though it has been a while since I’ve had to use one, I quickly made one up for her and you can download it here.  It has sample numbers in it that you can use to get an idea of how many calories I consumed at each meal and snack.

As you know if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, I fully believe in the counting calories concept of losing weight. Not from the perspective of depriving yourself and holding you to a rigid schedule of “dieting,” but from the actuality that it is the only proven, scientific method of losing weight.  Every other diet plan or gimmick, is just a variation of this concept.  I also like it because it works.  Assuming that you are an average, healthy individual, it works for everyone, every time, regardless of circumstances, as long as you stick to the plan.

Another issue has come to my attention that I haven’t shared with you before, and that is the concept of how counting your calories and actually keeping them on a spreadsheet makes you so much more aware of what you’re taking in.  For example, few of us realize that a 12-oz. can of Mt. Dew contains 170 calories.  Or even if we look at that number on the can, we dismiss it by thinking, “Oh, well.  It’s under 200 calories.  200 calories aren’t much.  No big deal.”  But when you’re keeping a spreadsheet (or notebook), and you start to see that you’re consuming three of those Mt. Dew’s per day, totaling 510 calories, or a third of you daily allowance, you begin to realize how you became overweight to begin with.

What I learned on my diet, was that there were lots of “little things” that I ate every day that added to my weight problem that individually seemed like no big deal.  In reality, after evaluating my food consumption via the spreadsheet, those little things that really didn’t matter to me all that much were actually my downfall.  Mt. Dew was one of them.  Those 170 calories give you nothing in the way of substance to help curb your hunger.  By becoming knowledgeable about that, I became a pickier eater, choosing foods that would sustain me for a longer period of time, for the least number of calories.  In other words, I was able to weigh the costs.

What’s more is that I learned a greater appreciation for the food I did eat.  My standards became higher for those 1425 calories, so much so, that I developed the mantra, “Is this worth the calories.”  My husband and I to this day use the expression, “Not worth the calories,” when we taste something and are trying to kindly describe it to the other.

Now, don’t get me wrong here.  There are times when the pleasure of consumption is well worth the calories.  I was going to list some very specific examples here of fabulous desserts that would get your mouth watering, but I decided that would just be mean in a weight-loss article!  So I’ll stick with my Mt. Dew analogy and you can substitute whatever you like.  If it’s 2:30 in the afternoon and I’m having a challenging day and really craving a Mt. Dew, I’ll have it.  Sometimes, it’s worth the calories.

If you’re at a special restaurant with that special someone on a special occasion and that special dessert you know must have at least 500 calories, per special bite, but it’s really decadent – it’s probably worth the calories.

What I’m trying to get you to realize here is that it’s all about making choices.  Conscious choices about what you’re feeding your body in return for what you’re expecting your body to weigh and, in many cases, what you’re expecting your body to do for you.

I could consume 8 Mt. Dews in one day, using up my entire calorie allowance, and lose the weight, but I would starve to death!  I could likewise consume 1425 calories’ worth of broccoli, lose the weight, but I would hate my life!  (Not to mention the fact that I would be pretty miserable to be around!)  What you have to do, what your real work is, is to find that middle ground of foods you like to eat that are also good for you, and foods that you’re willing to take out of your diet except for special occasions, while loving your diet, your eating lifestyle, your choice of foods, your healthy food consumption, whatever you like to call it.  (I call it a diet from the purely scientific and noun form of the word.)

I see so many people get upset and declare that there must be something wrong with them because they cannot lose weight, and yet, in spending just a few hours with them, I could tell them in an instant why they’re not losing weight.  I don’t though.  They’re usually not ready to hear it.  My mother will say, “Oh, but I don’t eat like this every day.”

What I’d like to say is, “That’s funny, Mom.  I was just with you yesterday and you ate like this, and the day before that, and the entire time I was growing up and . . . “  But I don’t.  She’s my Mom.  You know how that goes.  I figure, when she’s ready, and that might not happen in this lifetime, but when she is ready, she’ll lose the weight.  I did, because I understood the basic scientific principle behind losing weight.  You can too, if/when you’re ready.

Today I challenge you to take more notice of everything you eat.  Is it worth the calories?

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Posted under Education, Inspiration, Motivation, Success, Weight Loss