Simple Weight Loss Formula and How to Track It Easily

It is as simple as that.  Monitor your calories for food intake and monitor your calories burned during daily exercise activity.  Just make sure that the calories burned are greater than the calories eaten!

Tracking Calories

How can I do this you say?  Well, there are a number of FREE websites/apps out there that allow you to accomplish this rather easily.  

There are many calorie counting web sites/apps out there such as caloriecount.com.  Some track only calories and not exercise.  Some do track them, but not very well.  I have yet to find one that tracks both perfectly.  However, there are some that make a valiant attempt.

I personally don't like the name of the site, but fatsecret.com offers a way to log your daily food intake via web or a free app Calorie Counter, that actually will allow you to scan a bar code with your phone and instantly give you the nutritional breakdown of the item.  Simply modify your potions and enter it into your daily log.  The app also allows you to track daily exercise by adding an activity and choosing the amount of time spent.

Fat Secret's Calorie Counter app

MapMyFitness.com offers daily food consumption tracking, but lacks a barcode scanner to make it more precise.  It also maintains a daily target calorie budget which seems a little high to me if you want to be losing weight. What it does have though, is the ability to track outdoor exercise relatively precisely via GPS through the phone app.  That is, if you go for a 4 mile walk and track it with the app, it will closely calculate the calories you consumed and log it for you.  It also has a very extensive list of exercises to choose from.  Including sex! Afterall, you can burn almost 80 calories per hour depending on your sexual prowess.

MapMyFitness exercise and food consumption tracking app

MyFitnessPal.com is another good food consumption tracker in that it allows you use a scanner to quickly calculate calories consumed and the nutritional breakdown.  It also accurately calculates your daily target calories which is important for losing weight. Where is lacks is tracking exercise. However, when you sign up you are given the option to link your account with various other exercise tracking accounts/apps such as Endomondo.com which also features GPS tracking ability of many exercises.  Although the list of exercises offered are not detailed, which, if you like to keep it simple, is a good thing.  I personally use Endomondo and I find that it more accurately calculates calories compared to others.

MyFitnessPal calorie tracking app

Endomondo exercise tracking app which can be linked with MyFitnessPal which tracks calories consumed

There are many others out there, you just have to find the one that suits your needs the best which may differ from someone else's!

Eating Tips to Help Lose Weight

Eat less, more often

Yes, that's right!  Eat smaller meals more often.  This will help increase your metabolism and after a while your stomach will feel fuller sooner because it is used to less food.  Eat a large breakfast then plan a small, healthy snack mid morning.  Eat a medium sized meal for lunch such as a salad and a piece of fruit.  Followed by a healthy mid afternoon snack.  Then, your evening dinner should be your smallest of the three main meals with little or no carbs.   Watch you don't consume too many or too less calories though.  A typical person requires 1800 to 2000 calories per day depending on age, gender, and daily activities.

Drink a glass of water between meals and snacks to help boost your metabolism.  If you are hungry in the evening, make it a very small snack and it should not be less than a few hours before bedtime.  Take a multi-vitamin daily to help supplement your nutrients.  If you are working out heavily, taking a super B complex in addition to your multi-vitamins can help turn the food you eat into energy.

Don't eat before bedtime

Eating snacks less than 3 hours before bedtime can cause you to gain weight.  Any food consumed during this time results in calories being stored as fat vs being consumed by the body.  After you have your last snack, try washing your mouth out with water to remove any salts or flavors that remain.  These can give you urges to eat more.  Instead of a late night snack, try drinking a glass of water or a cup of green tea.

Low Carbohydrates and fats, more protein

Cut down on the amount of carbohydrates and fats you consume and increase the amount of protein.  This is tough because carbs are in basically everything, especially breads.  You can try eating that burger or lite hot dog without a bun.  Eat a salad instead of a sandwich.  Lettuce basically has very few calories and fills you up.  Be careful however, you don't want to eliminate carbs totally, you need them to get energy especially if you are working out daily.  Just cut them back, not out of your diet!


Drink plenty of water

Water is the body's best friend. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water daily to increase your metabolism.  An increase in metabolism helps burn fat faster. There are also other benefits to drinking water in addition to filling your stomach and increasing your metabolism.  If you get tired of drinking water, try substituting with a cup of green tea on occasion.  Green tea in addition to being an anti-oxidant, has properties that help increase metabolism and burn fat.  If you are not crazy about the caffeine, there are plenty of decaffeinated varieties of green tea available.

Drink less alcohol

Have you ever noticed that you have gained weight during a time you were drinking alcohol more than usual?  Not a coincidence.  Alcohol is metabolized by the body as acetic acid and a portion of that is stored as fat if your body does not burn it off immediately.  So if you are drinking lots of wine, liquor, or beer, especially non-lite beer and are not working out heavily, you most likely will discover a weight gain.  Alcohol also helps your body retain water, which will contribute to weight gain. 

Work Out

Having trouble eating healthy? Starting a work out program will actually help you stick to a healthy diet.  Overall, you feel healthier when you work out and subconsciously you do not want to "waste" your work out, so you tend to eat healthier.  It is much easier to pass up those goodies when you stop and think of how hard you work out and you don't want to be doing it for nothing. The bottom line is burning more calories than you consume will burn that weight away.