Counting Calories Part 2: Tips to Make it Easier

In last week's post, we discussed whether it was necessary or not to count calories for weight loss success. The choice becomes a very personal matter. Some of you can thrive without it. Others will need to be held more accountable.

Many people often feel very overwhelmed with the concept of counting calories and this ends up throwing them off their plan altogether. If you are someone whoe feels you would benefit from calorie counting, your task can be made to be less daunting.

Fortunately, with a few quick tips you can make calorie counting much easier on yourself. Let’s take a look at what you need to know.

Come Up With Standard Meals And Snacks

The very first thing that you should be doing to help make your calorie counting mission easier is to come up with some standard meals and snacks that you will turn to when times get busy.

If you generally eat the same foods each day with some variation, then calorie counting is going to be much easier since you’ll already know the calorie values of those foods.

It's no secret that I am a big advocate of eating smaller, more frequent meals each day. Some form of feeding every 3 hours. It doesn't have to be a full sit down meal. A healthy snack or protein shake placed in between breakfast, lunch, and dinner is a very doable thing. With this kind of schedule, if you eat the same meals for four out of five or five out of six of them, then that last meal you can have more flexibility without too much worry.

Generally speaking as long as you’re within a 100 calorie or so range with your intake, you’ll be seeing good progress.

Use A Calorie Counting App

The second way to help make calorie counting easier on yourself is to utilize a calorie counting application. My wife turned me on to this one and has had tremedous success with it. These apps allow you to easily look up the calorie values for any food that you may desire and instantly know exactly what’s in it. And some will allow you to track your daily intake for an easily visual of accountability.

Form A ‘Base’ Diet Plan

Finally, the last thing to make calorie counting much easier on yourself is to form a ‘base’ diet plan. With this you’ll come up with a set schedule of foods that you eat each day that satisfy your bare minimum nutrient needs.

Then, you can have the remainder of the calories you are to consume as ‘free’ calories, that will allow you to place them wherever you desire that day. This is my least favorite way, but if you’re someone who does like a little dietary freedom as you go about your plan, this can be an excellent way to see higher success.

So there you have a few quick tips to remember about how to make calorie counting easier. While it may feel like a bit of a nuisance at the beginning when you first start out, if you keep at it, it’ll get much easier as time goes on.

Till next week!

Jim Cipriani