How Accurate Is Your Calorie Counting?

Typical Calorie and Nutrition Label

Many dieters use the trusted old method of counting calories to help lose weight. We know that a combination of regular exercise and restricting calories helps us lose weight, but many people fail to count correctly according to a recent study.

The statistics are shocking.

• 92% of people that go on a diet fail to lose weight.
• 18% of dieters end up weighing more afterwards
• Only 32% of dieters also exercise more when trying to lose weight – even though we know that diet without exercise leads to failure.
• Only 23% of dieters check food nutrition labels before buying / eating
• 91% of dieters never weigh their food to help control portion size

It is no wonder that so many people fail to lose weight. Many doctors feel that due to a lack of basic knowledge about exercise and nutrition many dieters will never lose weight. For some people losing weight is as difficult as quitting smoking.

To help lose weight you must do the following:

• Get more active – exercise more frequently at a higher intensity
• Eat less calories than you need to maintain your weight
• Read these 10 tips to faster weight loss

The second factor is the most important. How many calories do you need? The key is to experiment, but to start with, more successful weight loss comes by losing weight quickly to start with.

One of the biggest dietary problems is that people eat too much sugar. Sugar gets everywhere, especially in packaged foods. Sugar is essentially a food with masses of energy and no nutritional value. Checking food labels for sugar contents, including “carbohydrates (of which sugars)” is essential. The easiest way to cut sugar though is to cut all junk food and packaged food out of your diet. This includes breakfast cereals, ready meals, chips, some ready made soups, bread and certainly pizza and pasta meals.

Keeping a food diary really helps you spot problems in our diet, but you have to be honest with yourself for it to work. Write down everything you eat and drink. If you want to lose weight and you are keeping a food diary, there is one simply rule: if it goes in your mouth, you write it down! After a week look at your diary with a critical eye and ask yourself if you really needed each item, does it contain sugar, is it healthy?

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