Calorie Counting

Calorie counting can be a totally addictive practice. Call me exhibit A.

First of all, I use a website called caloriecount.about.com. It's a fairly extensive site -- lots of easy logging of foods, etc. They give you a daily analysis regarding your health choices, and this actually helped to put me on a path to healthier eating, which I consider definitely worth the cost of signing up (which happens to be free, by the way).

When I first began counting my calories, I estimated some. Then I bought a small kitchen scale and started measuring my food. Yes, yes... I know. I have already confessed, but I'll confess again. I have some issues.

But the food measuring actually turned out to be a very good thing for me. I can more easily know if I'm getting enough protein in my diet, for example. Or when I'm weighing my veggies, it amazed me just how much I had to stuff into my stomach in order for me to get a reasonable number of calories off of them.

Going onto a website and logging my food also helped me to see where my calorie weaknesses were. You know, what I was eating that was throwing me over all the time.

Then -- when you log your food, you have the opportunity to log your exercise as well. This was something that was significant for me, too. I mean, if I have to run a full hour at 6 mph in order to work off a piece of cheesecake, I'm going to think twice before eating it. This was a huge incentive for me to watch what I was eating... and, at times, a huge incentive for me to increase my activity level. Talk about a win/win situation.

If you're considering the possibility of getting on a website and logging your foods and your activities, I highly recommend you try it. There are a large number of websites out there to use - most of them free. I will caution you, however, that some of the "health" requirements on these websites can be ridiculous. (Prime example being that my CC website claims two eggs throw you into the unhealthy range.)

Anybody interested in getting started on something like this who would like some help and/or encouragement, feel free to send me a note!