Oh, that poor little food calorie chart...

... there is yet another a discussion going on in the weight loss universe:

Should you count the calories in your food?

Both sides certainly have experts and studies to rely on... It shows again that there are several ways to achieve weight loss. But we of course want to ask what’s the best way to lose weight...

...well, you know our recommendation; we think measuring your diet is the sixth success key to weight loss!
But let’s have a closer look; let’s find out how counting calories can help you to achieve your weight loss goal. And let’s have a look at the arguments against using a food calorie chart.

How counting calories helps you to achieve your weight loss goal:

Your food calorie chart can be an important weapon in your war against those extra pounds. And here are our top 4 reasons why:

1.) Watch out for the two calorie borders!

There are two borderlines to the calorie game.

a.) If you eat too many calories during our diet, you simply won’t lose any weight.

You can only lose weight if you eat less calories than you burn. Of course that’s not very popular, but that is unfortunately our reality.
Even the Atkins Diet Plan relies on this as people end up unconsciously eating less calories and therefore lose weight. Not because of some magic effect due to eating just fat and proteins.

b.) And if you eat too few calories, your body will go straight into starvation mode and shut down your metabolism.

That means the body will require only very few calories to continue working. It will not lose weight anymore, even if you eat very few calories. It will try to defend itself in order to survive! The effects on our weight loss motivation will most likely be devastating and we will probably go off-diet and gain back the lost weight. It is simply very important that you stay in the middle of these two borders if you want to achieve your weight loss goal.

Consulting your food calorie chart will guarantee this. Not measuring at all or just going around trying to estimate the calories on the run is a dangerous game. Studies have shown that people are rather poor in making good estimates in this area.

Counting calories is simply one of the most effective weight loss tools out there.

2.) Learn about food as you go along! The good thing is, you shouldn’t and don’t have to count calories for the rest of your life! We recommend it only during your fast weight loss phase.

Consulting your food calorie chart during this phase is a wonderful opportunity to learn about food. By counting calories for a while you will learn to make better estimates after your diet.

You will also learn what bad, calorie-rich foods to avoid later. Just eating a hidden calorie bomb once a day can wipe out all your diet efforts! There are certain foods that you simply should never eat.

And you will of course learn about the healthy and tasty foods with a low calorie count. Include these foods in your transition phase for permanent weight loss and during your healthy lifestyle transition phase!

Use the knowledge you get by counting calories for a short while for the rest of your life. This will lead you straight to a permanent weight loss effect!

3.) Counting calories can help you to stay focused and on diet!

Using your food calorie chart everyday will make you think about your diet every day.

And that is great!

Because during the months of your fast weight loss phase you really should. Don’t become obsessed but become focused!

Losing weight needs to be one of the top priorities in your life during this time. Thinking and learning about food, avoiding the wrong foods and measuring your progress can help you to stay focused, stay motivated and to stay on diet.

4.) Counting calories can inspire you to create better diet plans for yourself!

Explore your calorie chart every day and plan your next week’s meals or follow a preset diet plan. You will discover some great meals that are tasty, fill you up and have a low calorie count. Put them on your favorite meals list and use them several times during your diet. This will simplify your diet and make it less painful. Use this approach to improve your diet plans!

The Arguments Against Using That Food Calorie Chart

Well, o.k., let’s see why some people say that you should not use a food calorie chart to count your calories. This will show us where the pitfalls are and how to avoid them...

Basically, there are three major arguments against counting calories:

1.) Counting calories makes a diet time-consuming and complicated.

And well, time consuming and complicated diets are of course harder to follow.

Good point. If you feel that this might be a problem for you can overcome this by using two powerful tools:

-- Use existing, ready-to-go diet plans that give you the calorie count of each meal. Then follow them to the letter. You can even get diet meals delivered to your front door these days! Either way, you will exactly know that you don’t eat too many or too few calories. It’s simple!

-- If you find counting calories difficult and time consuming, use a great and comprehensive calorie counter software . This way you can simplify and speed up the process. Again, it’s simple to get a good clue!

2.) Using that food calorie chart every day can lead to a dangerous obsession with food.

Food obsession can make you crave food and lose motivation as you permanently focus on your "bad" situation. This can lead to a yo-yo effect after your diet. Well, again, a pretty good point, although it can be good for you if you focus on your weight loss success (see above).

O.k., if you feel that you indeed become negatively obsessed with food by counting calories, focus strongly on your weight loss motivation. Use the tools of that section to overcome negative feelings during your diet.

3.) Counting calories in an exact way is very difficult. For example during restaurant visits and for those huge holiday meals...

...well, we can’t agree here...

...a good food calorie counter includes restaurant meals. So, you can at least get a good clue. And just try asking in the restaurant how many calories their meals have. In case they don’t shown anyway...

...with regards to holiday meals... well, first of all, it might be a good idea to limit those to a minimum during the few month of your fast weight loss phase. You should go through this phase only once in your life anyway as you should definitely aim for a permanent weight loss effect.

In any event, the number of meals that qualify as holiday meals is limited. So, just because you might not really be able to measure a few meals during your weight loss phase, you should not discard getting a clue about your calories for the other 99.9% of your meals!

Well, let’s sum it up:

Ultimately, you need to decide how often to consult that food calorie chart. Remember, your situation is unique. Listen to your feelings! We think that the evidence is strongly in favor of counting calories. That’s why we recommend it. It will certainly help your weight loss. However, if you feel that it will have a strong negative effect on your weight loss motivation or if you really have zero time and that counting calories is the reason why you fail, then maybe a food calorie chart is not for you.

Don’t take this lightly though, try first to strengthen your weight loss motivation and use the tools that make calorie counting fast and easy (a software tool and diet plans ). Only then even consider trying to achieve your weight loss goal without fully using the sixth success factor to weight loss success!