Add Calories!

Calorie is a word people does not want to hear these days!  They think it as a monster.  I've heard a few girls saying "Oh that's hell a lotta calories.  I don't want them".  Calories are not monsters or demons!


Calories aren't bad for anyone.  They're like fuel.  They are like oxygen and water.  Everyone must intake certain calories.  You need them to charge and energize yourself.  But too much of calories are not good.   Being underweight or overweight is not good!

So, if you want to reduce few gms/kgs of weight or add weight, first thing you need to do is understand your BMI(Body Mass Index) which tells you if you are fit or you need to reduce weight or gain weight) and keep track of daily calories you are taking in.

You can use this link to check how you want to work out your plan.  
http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

Entering the details will give you a result of how much calorie you need to maintain your weight, or reduce your weight or to increase them.  Then you have to keep track of daily calorie intake.
Before cautiously reducing your food intake, try to add the details of food you are having everyday for a couple of days (at-least for about a week).  Once you recognise the calorie intake per day, start to work out.  It's simple math, not rocket science.

In this ipad and iphone world, it is not difficult to track these.  There's calorie calculator applications available which you can download in your phone.  Alternatively, there's online journal too.  I used MyfitnessPal (both online and app versions are available).

This app will ask you to create profile with personal information like what's your current weight, Goal Weight, Height, Gender, Level of Activities.  And you have to set a target for Calorie Intake.  You can't choose a random number here. The targeted calorie intake should be sensible one.

While keeping targets for reducing weight, be cautious to choose enough time for it.  Reducing 10kgs in a month or 5 kgs in 2 weeks is insane!  Take your time!  It's like adding weight - it can't happen overnight!

Note 1:  For women the minimum calorie intake should be atleast 1200 and for men it should be 1500.

Instead of choosing low calorie intake, you can actually keep a good amount of calorie intake and burn some of them by doing certain exercises like climbing stairs, walking, cleaning or by doing simple stretch exercises.  That is always healthier option.  For eg instead of keeping the target as 1200, keep 1700 and burn 400 or so. You got it? 

There's a tab to check the progress you are making.If you are worrying how to identify calories in every food.  Don't worry.  You can identify them as KCal in every product.  If that's a food that you prepare at home, you can google or if you are using the above said application, it has every food details from rice, to biriyani to gobi aloo to butter chicken.  Similarly, you have to key in the activities that you are doing everyday like washing, cooking, cleaning vessels, walking, running, climbing stairs etc. 

But you have to religious follow them, update the tracker everytime you eat, and look out for Kcal details in every food product.  If you could follow these, I'm sure this app is helpful and you will start reaching your target of gaining or reducing weight.

I've written so much because I did all these, used the app, and saw a good change.  So happy calorie counting and diet tracking!