No matter what several fad diets out there are preaching, the basis of weight management still boils down to the interplay between calorie consumption and the number of calories burn by the body – keep in mind that excessive calorie intake is the major cause of weight gain.
Now, if calorie intake is all it takes for proper weight management, how then can I cut back on calorie consumption? I’m sure this must be the question hovering on your mind right now.
In a nutshell, this article has been written to answer that question. It intends to familiarize you with different calorie reduction strategies so that you’d be able to maintain the perfect weight needed for living a healthy life.
However, before going on to answer this question; let’s dive into what calorie is and why its reduction is important.
Calorie Briefly Explained
The energy you use to go about your day-to-day activities is supplied by the calorie you take into your body – calories which enter into your body through the food that you ingest. The body because of the numerous processes going on in it, is always in constant demand for energy. Largely, this energy is provided by the calorie you eat. They fuel the body with energy and are present in carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Regardless of where you get the form, they are either converted into energy or stored up in the body as fat.
These fats remain in the body unless they are burned by subjecting your body to rigorous exercises. If they are not burned, they could pose a serious problem to your health. Also, you could become obese in the long run if they continue to store up.
Now you must understand the simple logic beneath the mystery of calorie intake and it is explained as such; if you eat more calories and burn less, you gain weight; on the flip side, if you eat fewer calories and burn more, you lose weight. It’s as simple as that.
3500 calories equal 1 pound of fat; so for you to burn 1 pound of fat, you would have to burn 3500 calories. This is a nice way of saying, if you cut about 500 to 1000 calories from your diet, you’d lose up to 1 or 2 pounds in a week.
How Then Do You Cut Back On The Calories?
Start by skipping high calorie and low nutritional items
A calorie is present in everything sweet from a bowl of a protein shake to spicy doughnuts and pizza which are usually processed and are of low nutritional value to the body. This is a good starting point if you’d like to cut back on your calorie intake. You just have to skip high calories meals and every other low nutritional snack or meal on your diet. For instance, you can decide not to gulp down your latte in the morning, can of beverage after lunch, or that bowl of ice cream at dinner.
Swap high-calorie foods for low-calorie one
This is also a very effective strategy for calorie reduction. There are several healthier alternatives you can ingest. For instead of a slice of pizza, you could take a slice of fruit; you could snack on popcorns instead of chips and fries. These are just some of the little things you can do to swap high-calorie intake for low ones.
Some other healthier options include; instead of drinking a flavored latte that contains about 250 calories in the morning, you could go for black coffee with just a calorie value of 4. Also, you can replace chocolate ice cream which contains about 285 calories with strawberries which contain 69 calories. You can also replace lemon or lime soda which contains about 201 calories with just water which has 0 calorie value.
Reduce the size of your portion
The whole quantity of what enters into your mouth also determines the number of calories you ingest too. That is why cutting back on the amount of food you eat is important. By controlling the portions you take into your body, you limit your calorie intake too. You can cut back on your food portion by:
- Taking small portions when you begin to eat. If you still feel hungry after eating, then you can eat more fruits and vegetables
- Checking food labels will help you to know the nutritional composition of the meal you want to eat. So, if you have to eat more or less of that food, let the label guide you.
- Use smaller bowls to serve a meal
- Use a calorie counter to track the calorie amount present in food.
