Controlling your weight

Calorie counting is a great way to control your diet and thus your weight. To lose weight your calorie, or energy, intake from food and drink needs to be less than your energy output, that is the number of calories you burn up through physical activity.

 

An average man uses about 2500 calories a day while a woman uses about 1900 calories. This difference is partly due to the difference in size and partly because women tend to have slower metabolic rates which means they don’t use up calories as quickly. The more active your lifestyle is and the more exercise you undertake, the more calories you will use up.

 

If you only want to lose a small amount of weight but want to do it fairly quickly, you should aim for a low daily calorie intake e.g. 1500 calories for men and 1000 for women. If however you are planning long term, substantial weight loss then it is much more effective to take it slowly, say 1900 calories for men and 1500 for women. If you are underweight then you will have to do the opposite and consume more calories than you burn so that you put weight on.

 

It is crucial that you are realistic about the weight you want to be. Having established the weight that you are aiming for, you need to plan for a slow steady weight loss, or gain, and work towards maintaining a healthy and balanced diet as part of your normal routine.

 

You should weigh yourself once a week on the same set of scales and at the same time of day. Try to avoid the temptation of jumping on and off the scales because weight naturally fluctuates throughout the day and from day to day and you may become disheartened if you see you have put weight on at some point. There is usually a quick burst of weight loss in the first few days of a slimming diet then the rate of loss will level off. Weighing yourself once a week will give you a much clearer picture of your progress.

 

If you don’t see any significant changes in the first few weeks don’t give up. Providing you are following a healthy and sensible balanced diet, you will be rewarded in the end.

 

In order to keep a strict note of your calorie intake, you need to plan your day’s menu, including drinks. There are a number of books available which give the calorific values of all foods and by using one of these you can look up the food items you want to eat and add the calorie totals together. The total needs to be equal to or less than your limit to lose weight and if it is well below the limit you can add a snack or have a slightly bigger portion than planned. Alternatively you can add another type of vegetable or have a slice of bread.

 

If however you go over your limit then you need to look for a low-calorie alternative or a different way to cook your food e.g. grilling instead of frying. You should never leave food groups out of your diet in order to reduce the amount of calories as this can do more harm than good in the long run. Sticking to a sensible well balanced diet will work however you shouldn’t expect miracles within a week – those diets simply don’t work.