Finding the Balance and Tracking Your Calories

So, it’s no secret around here that I love to watch The Biggest Loser. I probably tuned in for the first time around season 2 and haven’t looked back since. One of the reoccurring themes that I noticed on the show is that the contestants have often gone to one of two extremes with food: binging or starvation. The way that they explain it, after eating way too much at dinner or at a party, they lapse into severe calorie restriction to compensate. This is not only unhealthy, but additionally, it confuses your body. If it doesn’t know when the next meal is coming, your system will start to hoard calories (instead of burning them) to prepare for a possible caloric drought. Result – no weight loss and potentially, you could actually gain weight by going through the calorie yo-yo.

I have two important points to share about calories.

1) Not all calories are created equal. While an avocado and a Hershey’s chocolate bar may have virtually identical counts of fat and calories, the avocado is loaded with healthy fats while the chocolate bar, regardless of how tasty, is not. In other words, it isn’t all about the numbers. You can stick to an 1800 calorie a day diet by eating nothing but crap. This will not serve you well. Focus on consuming whole foods (apples vs. apple juice, whole nuts vs. sweetened peanut butter, etc…) and remember to eat every couple of hours to prevent you from getting ravenous. This also lets you body know to chill out and burn those calories because more are on the horizon.

2) G.I. Joe once shared a sage piece of advice – “Knowing is half the battle.” Now, while I’m pretty sure he wasn’t referring to calories, he is right – knowledge is power. A couple of weeks ago, I downloaded an application for my iPhone created by the folks over at SparkPeople.com. With this app, you can enter in your target weight, your goal date and it will tell you how many calories (and associated grams of fat, carbs and protein) that you should be consuming daily. I use it as a way to make sure that I’m getting my target protein. Being a vegetarian, it’s difficult to hit my personal goal of 75-100 grams a day, so this helps take some of the guess work out of that.

Well, over the last few weeks, I realized that I definitely consume more calories than I thought I did. I had no clue exactly how many calories were in most foods, so while I was hitting the right balance of fruits, veggies, protein, etc., I certainly was not an informed consumer about my calories. SparkPeople lets you put in exactly what you’re eating and then updates your total calorie intake for the date. Their database has literally thousands and thousands of food items already entered into the system, so all you have to do is type in the food (ex. bread) and then it will pull up a list of dozens of options for you to pick the type and quantity that you’re eating.

So, keep a food journal, write down every little bite you put in your mouth and get a good idea of exactly how many calories you’re consuming. The results may surprise you and help you understand how to better reach your target goals. Now, please excuse me while I enjoy my cup of peppermint tea, which weighs in at a whopping 4 calories a mug.