5 Calorie-Counting Strategies

We all know that the best ways to shed those unwanted pounds are to ensure that you don’t take in more calories than you burn. Now, one of the biggest issues I see all the time is people not properly tracking their calories. This leads to not properly tracking calories and therefore, weight gain! Follow these strategies for properly tracking your calories in and calories out so you can get closer to reaching your weight loss goals.

1. Determine Your Caloric Needs
Use this Caloric Needs Calculator http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm from Free Dieting to determine how many calories you should be eating per day. Always remember NOT to starve yourself of foods to lose weight. This causes binge eating, eating disorders, and in most cases it actually causes weight gain because it slows your metabolism.

2. Use a Calorie Tracking Program
I personally use My Fitness Pal on my iPhone (I’ve never used it online before, I just use the application), and I LOVE it! You can use all sorts of different programs though such as My Fitness Pal, Calorie Counter, Lose It!, My Net Diary, or Daily Burn. These allow you not only to track what you eat, but your activity as well.

3. Watch Your Portion Sizes
My family thinks I’m “obsessed” with measuring my food, but that’s not it at all. I know myself, and I have to watch my portion sizes or I’ll overeat and feel horrible. So I measure all my sizes when I can and then I’m able to successfully track my meals and avoid over-eating, which is not only bad for weight loss, but hard on our digestive system as well.

4. Always Read Labels
Although you should be doing most of your grocery shopping in the produce, dairy, and meat aisles, there are going to be times where you need to purchase from the “processed” aisles. When you do this, ENSURE you read the label of everything. Just because a product says “Low Calorie”, “Low Fat”, or “Zero Trans Fat”, doesn’t mean anything. Look at the amount of sugar is has, the number of calories per serving, as well as the fat and saturated fat content. Sugar is something you need to be careful of when you are trying to lose weight and keep the weight off, so ensure the product doesn’t contain a high amount of sugar.

5. Don’t Waste Calories on Drinks
I see so many people who easily blow 300-500 calories of their available daily calories on a drink from McDonalds, Starbucks, or Dunkin Donuts. Try not to do this! It’s SUCH a waste of calories! You can have an orange, an apple, grapes, and some yogurt for that amount of calories!

For more great articles and tips on fitness, nutrition and Weight Loss check out http://www.Calorie-Smart.com. Here you’ll find healthy yet simple recipes, effective workouts, and supportive information on how to achieve your target weight.

5 Ways HIIT Workouts Burn More Fat

Ever heard of HIIT? It’s a new workout strategy that’s all the rage these days because of it’s great ability to not only kill calories, but melt body fat. What do you usually do for your workouts now? Jog for 40 minutes? Do the elliptical for 30 minutes? Well HIIT workouts are usually 15-20 minutes long and involve 20 – 60 second intervals with a 10 second rest.

These workouts are also becoming very popular because they are quick, which are perfect for the hectic lives we all live today. Check out these five facts that show that HIIT training can burn more fat than traditional workouts:

1. Heart Rate:
As you probably know, it’s when your heart rate is pumping that your body is burning the most calories. HIIT workouts consist of high intensity training, rest, high intensity training, rest…..etc. This gets your heart rate pumping, then brings it back down, and it continually repeats. Great for burning calories and fat.

2. Cardio AND Muscle:
Another fantastic aspect of HIIT training is the fact that you are working out both your muscles for strength training AND getting in your cardio.

3. Release of Fatty Acids:
HIIT workouts actually signal the release of fatty acids into your bloodstream, therefore, burning more fat.

4. Burn Calories From Your Calorie CounterAfter Your Workout:
HIIT Workouts are specifically designed so that even after you stop working out, your muscles continue burning calories for hours after your workout.

5. Increase of HGH:
HGH is a hormone that actually burns fat while preserving your muscle, and HIIT training has been proven to increase this hormone.

I hope these tips have helped you in your fitness journey. If you have some other facts and information about HIIT training that we’ve left out, please feel free to comment below.

For more great articles and tips on fitness, nutrition and Weight Loss check out http://www.Calorie-Smart.com

5 Tips for a Healthier Lifestyle

One thing people need to stop doing is referring to “their diet”. In order to get into good shape and get healthy, you aren’t doing a diet, you are changing your lifestyle. It’s unfortunate that some people actually try some diets” because the truth is that diet plans will shed the pounds, but as soon as that diet is finished you are going to gain those pounds back on. So here are five proven tips that will help you shed the pounds and keep those pounds off.

Use Smaller Plates
I know it sounds cheesy, but it works! If you use smaller plates for your meals, you WILL eat less. It’s a psychological thing. If you want to eat smaller meals but use the same plates, you’re going to think you are starving yourself. So what you want to do is use smaller plates so the food portion will appear larger.

Don’t Rush Your Meals
When you rush your meals, it doesn’t give your body the chance to feel full so you end up eating a lot more than you actually need. However, when you take the proper amount of time to eat (You don’t have to eat slowly, just a normal pace), it gives your body time to adjust to having food in your stomach and you’ll feel fuller much quicker which allows you to eat less.

Don’t Overdo The Alcohol
Alcohol is a great treat in moderation. However, if you drink too much alcohol it not only packs on a ton of extra calories but it also causes you to crave more and give into those cravings easily. So drink in moderation and try to have a glass of water in between each drink.

Fruit For Dessert
Although you shouldn’t really need dessert, we all know a little dessert is very nice every once in a while. But instead of having a piece of cake, cookies, or brownies, opt for naturals dessert! Have a bowl of strawberries, or kiwi, or an orange.

Ask Yourself: Are You Hungry?
So many people eat because they are bored! What I do – and trust me, it’s not easy! – I ask myself “Are you really hungry or are you just bored?”. Most of the time if I have to ask myself the question, I’m actually not hungry so I find something to keep myself preoccupied or I grab something to drink like a coffee, water, or tea.

For more great articles and tips on fitness, nutrition, weight loss and recipes check out http://www.Calorie-Smart.com