Counting Calories

To reach your fitness goals, calorie counting is very important. If you can make time to go to a gym and choose to improve your health, you can take 5 minutes to write down the calories of the food you eat in a day.

Nutrition makes up 70% of fitness. For that 70% to work to your benefit, you have to take the time to track your goals, your food intake, and try to stay within your limits.

Proper ways to count Calories

Food is made up of Micros and Macros. Micros are the vitamins and minerals and are extremely hard to calculate. Usually these are overlooked because if you consume the right foods and take a multivitamin every day, these will be accounted for.

Macros are the sustenance and make up the calories in the food: Fat, Carbohydrates, and Protein. As it goes carbohydrates and protein are comprised of 4 calories/gram and fat is comprised of 9 calories/ gram. NOTE: Consuming too much of any of these will lead to fat. Fat itself doesn’t make you fat. Your body needs fat to function so don’t cut out fat! Rather instead, decrease the amount of everything when cutting calories. Ratios aren’t extremely precise but they can be used as a guideline.

A Maintenance profile sets ratios around 45% carbs, 30% protein, and 25% fat. Too lose some weight and to build these need to be adjusted according to your body.

Rule-of-thumb

Fats

Stay away from trans fats. This type of fat is often found in fried foods and can be harmful. Saturated fat is the fat solid at room temperature. It’s often in the form of animal fat and much of the fat in dairy. Keep saturated fats to no more than 7% of total calories (25% of total fat). The rest of the fat should come from mono and

poly unsaturated fats which are liquid at room temperature. Olive oil is a great example and has many health benefits as well.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are made up of soluble and insoluble fiber, sugars, and sugar alcohols. Fiber helps with absorption and movement of the food and is often not able to be absorbed. The average adult should consume around 30 grams of fiber/day. Sugars are usually the majority of calories consumed and are absorbed almost immediately. These should be spread throughout the day because if not, it could spike your blood sugar followed by a crash. Many times this also comes with that jittery feeling. Sugar alcohols are usually used in place of sugar because they contain fewer calories/gram (~2kcals/g) and are naturally found in fruit and some vegetables.

Protein

Protein is the building block of muscles. When it is consumed, it is broken down into amino acids that can either be used to repair muscle or used as energy. Protein can be found in animal tissue, nuts, grains, and dairy products.

Helpful tips

Some apps are helpful when counting calories like MyFitness Pal and Livestrong. They not only allow you to enter your own amounts but have databases with meals and items already entered. Just search and add them to your daily amount.

Remember, weight gain isn’t necessarily caused by fat. It’s caused by consuming too much of ANY of the Macros.

Strive to eat the colors of the rainbow. Vegetables and fruits with different colors often have different nutrients.

Most importantly: EAT BALANCED MEALS AND TRACK YOUR GOALS