Are you wondering if it is a good idea to count calories to lose weight?

Thinking about it is natural as we all know that the old idea of calories in and calories out is still true to a certain extent. Counting calories is difficult though, and there are easier ways to reduce them other than counting them. 

Get A Plan And Stick To it!

Getting a good eating plan is the best way to get rid of those extra pounds without having to start counting. A good eating plan, with proper portion control, will have you well on the road to getting your ideal weight the easy way. 

Losing fat does not have to be difficult. There are many diets out there but you need to choose the one that suits your lifestyle the best. The only danger you have to watch out for is that you do not go onto one of the many fad diets out there. 

Now you may wonder what a fad diet is. How are you going to be sure you are not choosing a fad diet? You may also be wondering why I keep warning you against fad diets. 

Well, let us start with recognizing a fad diet. It is very easy as fad diets have certain characteristics that are very easy to recognize: 

* Very often you have to eat mainly one kind of food all the time 
* You are only allowed to eat very little 
* The diet forbids exercise while you are on it 
* Some fad diets are so restricted that you are only allowed to stay on them for a few days at a time 

If a diet has one or more of the above characteristics, you can be pretty sure it is a fad diet. 

So why are fad diets so bad?

The main three reasons are: 

1. If you eat too little, your metabolism will slow down, and you will find it very difficult to lose more weight in the long run. As soon as you start eating normally again, you will gain back all that weight and, in all probability, some extra pounds as well. 

2. If you eat mainly one kind of food all day, you can be sure that it is not healthy and you may develop malnutrition and become very ill. 

3. Any good slimming routine includes moderate exercise. If you are eating too little to exercise with safety, you will not be able to speed up your metabolism and increase your muscle mass, which will make the weight loss less effective. 

So, have I convinced you of the dangers of a fad diet?

 You WILL pay the price in future if you go on a fad diet as there are no short cuts in life, only hard graft. You may lose a few pounds initially, but as it is mostly water and muscle, there is no real fat loss. As soon as you re hydrate all the pounds come right back. 

As far as the muscle loss is concerned, there are a few important things to keep in mind. 

* Because muscle weighs more than fat, it will make you lose more pounds than fat, but you do not want to lose muscle you want to lose fat! 
* Muscle uses more energy than fat and when you lose muscle, your metabolism slows down, and that makes the process slower in the long run. 
* Your body can become very weak if you lose too much muscle. With a weaker body, and muscles that do not support your skeleton in the correct way, you can do a lot of damage to your body. With the weakened muscles you may very easily injure yourself while going about your normal daily life. It is simply not worth it. 

Admit it. If you have been struggling to lose weight in the past, you must have tried to control your calorie intake by counting calories. This method is easy to understand and was all the craze in the 80’s. (along with aerobics and spandex tights)

Up to this day, why something so scientifically sound, yet never works, has been a great mystery to people across the country.

Well here’s some personal experience of mine from the past. In the morning I would eat a bowl of small oatmeal with an orange. Okay, no problem. Calories are about 400 for breakfast. However, when lunchtime comes. I panic. 200 grams of lean sirloin steak? One small portion of salmon? One small whole wheat muffin made of vegetable oil?

How am I supposed to know how much is 200 grams, or the exact ingredients in a muffin?

Then, what I did was measure my food portions according to my individual needs I would eat the whole sirloin and pretend that I followed the little booklet. And you can imagine that counting calories to lose weight did practically nothing for me.

Most of us lead busy lives nowadays, with different roles and responsibilities to juggle. That is the main reason why counting calories do not work for most people in the weight loss department. It’s simply too much trouble and too confusing.

With my lifestyle, I don’t see how I am supposed to measure everything that I’m going to put in my mouth; only for the sake of controlling my calorie intake below 1500 every day. I much prefer a diet that is simple and easy to understand. 

Unless you are a nutritionist, counting calories to lose weight is quite difficult to implement correctly. 
So, if you are still wondering whether it is a good idea to count calories to lose weight, I would say there are far easier ways to get rid of those extra pounds.

Eat what your body is mean’t to consume and focus on quality not quantity. You’ll soon see the difference when it comes to your waistline.