How the cron-o-meter works.
The CRON-O-METER is an open source program (free) designed to help people count calories and keep track of their daily intake by the foods and recipes they eat on a daily basis. Its easy to use and the key reason to why I personally managed to loose all the weight. These days I don't use it as religiously as its given me a good feel for the amount if calories I need each day, what foods are best to eat and what portion size, but I highly recommend the use of this program for anyone reading this blog and trying to loose weight through the calorie counting method.
"A pound of body fat equates to approximately 3500 calories. So if you have a calorie deficit of 500 calories (meaning that you burn 500 calories more than you eat each day) you would lose approximately one pound per week: 500 x 7 = 3,500
It's easy to see that a calorie deficit of 1000 calories would mean that you'd lose approximately two pounds per week. And that's a good number to remember, because two pounds a week is commonly accepted as the maximum rate of weight loss that is healthy." from www.caloriesperhour.com.
I have personally found that it is less efficient to try and loose weight just through exercise, and its a pain. According to this online exercise calorie calculator.. for someone 150 pounds, it would take them 45 minutes running 5 mph (12 min mile) to burn approximately 407.22 calories. Its easier to burn that by simply not eating it. Of course there is nothing wrong with exercise in addition to a calorie deficit, and its good for your heart and circulation.
Discovering low calories foods and what made me fat.
I found the Cron-O-Meter helped me adapt quite a bit and it was much easier when I started to realize what foods were causing me to gain weight and keep it on. You might be surprised to learn that I considered myself having a healthy diet while I was keeping on that weight. My husband and I hardly ate out because it was usually to expensive for our life style. So my husband and I bought allot of fresh ingredients from the grocery stores, from our local farmers market, generally staying away from things that were to processed or had to much preservatives. Almost all our meals were home cooked, and my hubby made some of the BEST foods. He was all about fresh, so he frequently made fresh bread and pasta noodles from scratch. Some of my very favorites dishes consisted of tomatoes, basil, Balsamic vinegar, olive oil and mozzarella cheese or feta cheese! Little did I know how much calories were in cheese and olive oil!!
For example, according to my cron-o-meter 1 a cup of shredded cheddar cheese is 455 calories! I could easily shred half a cup of cheese over nachos in the past. 1 slice of cheese- about 1 ounce is equal to 112 calories! this was devastating news to me because I LOVE cheese! But I was eating so much of it, it was making me fat!
Just 1 tbs of olive oil is 119 calories! shocking isn't it? All of these things add up and they are common enough foods, even seemed innocent.
So after finding out most the "healthy" food I was eating was making me fat I had to cut allot of it out, which I wont lie, was hard! But I knew it had to be done and that if I was going to eat my beloved food, cheese, it would have to be in some extreme moderation. I swapped cheddar cheese for processed american cheese slices for my grilled cheese sandwiches or omelette's, reducing the calorie intake where I could.
My husband Tom also decided he was tired of cooking meals every night and just stopped, which made me have to fend for myself, and I started to arrange low calorie meals that were easy for me to make, because I'm a pretty lazy girl sometimes! I don't get the gourmet meals my husband Tom use to make, but if I wanted to badly enough I could design my own fresh and delicious meals. Most of the recipes you'll see on my blog are easily put together.
So after finding out most the "healthy" food I was eating was making me fat I had to cut allot of it out, which I wont lie, was hard! But I knew it had to be done and that if I was going to eat my beloved food, cheese, it would have to be in some extreme moderation. I swapped cheddar cheese for processed american cheese slices for my grilled cheese sandwiches or omelette's, reducing the calorie intake where I could.
My husband Tom also decided he was tired of cooking meals every night and just stopped, which made me have to fend for myself, and I started to arrange low calorie meals that were easy for me to make, because I'm a pretty lazy girl sometimes! I don't get the gourmet meals my husband Tom use to make, but if I wanted to badly enough I could design my own fresh and delicious meals. Most of the recipes you'll see on my blog are easily put together.
Learning to NOT over eat.
Leaning not to over eat was also another very important step to loosing weight. Another fault of my old ways was constantly going back for seconds. I didn't just eat until I was full, I ate until I was stuffed and even uncomfortable. I wish I could blame my husband solely for the fact he made such yummy meals for me! But the truth is, I made the choice.
When your loosing weight I believe its important only to eat until you not hungry. Small portions I believe are better, and if you do get hungry later, just have a low calorie snack to hold you over. I suggest people try eating six small meals a day rather then three large ones. This is especially effective I found in training myself to feel satisfied on smaller portions. This was hard at first as I never felt satisfied, my stomach could handle more food in one sitting, but trust me... in time your body will adjust, your stomach will shrink to accommodate what you typically eat, and soon it will just be natural to eat smaller portions. I personal felt to have a better more cheerful attitude eating this way, and felt more healthy and more energetic after a meal.
Leaning not to over eat was also another very important step to loosing weight. Another fault of my old ways was constantly going back for seconds. I didn't just eat until I was full, I ate until I was stuffed and even uncomfortable. I wish I could blame my husband solely for the fact he made such yummy meals for me! But the truth is, I made the choice.
When your loosing weight I believe its important only to eat until you not hungry. Small portions I believe are better, and if you do get hungry later, just have a low calorie snack to hold you over. I suggest people try eating six small meals a day rather then three large ones. This is especially effective I found in training myself to feel satisfied on smaller portions. This was hard at first as I never felt satisfied, my stomach could handle more food in one sitting, but trust me... in time your body will adjust, your stomach will shrink to accommodate what you typically eat, and soon it will just be natural to eat smaller portions. I personal felt to have a better more cheerful attitude eating this way, and felt more healthy and more energetic after a meal.
I LOVE food, and I took this method of six small meals a day as being an opportunity to try a bunch of different foods a day, which meant I didn't get board with my diet. Food became a fun project, what yummy concoctions could I come up with to snack on all day? It was just a matter of thinking of foods I knew I liked, that had a calorie range I could deal with for my cron-o-meter daily calorie threshold.
I started to make sure I drank allot more water, and drinking lots of tea was a great warm treat with insignificant calories. It helped keep me full, and aided in me not over eating during my small meals.
Treat yourself for a job well done, eat bad food once a week!
Diets suck because your often made to feel you need to cut certain things out of your diet. Counting calories doesn't work like that specifically, though when you have a limited amount of calories your body can eat in one day, obviously a trip to Mc Donald's is really going to take a HUGE chunk out of that, if not make you go over your limit for a day. In order to loose one pound a week, you MUST be within your allowed calorie intake with your 500 calorie deficit.
I have found that treating myself to take out, or my usual favorite treats one meal on the weekended didn't hamper my wight loss, and it was something to look forward to, and it curbed my cravings for things salty, sweet and greasy! This isn't suppose to be torture, it should be good for you, and rewarding! Some of my favorite weekended treats were Chinese take out, pizza, fish and chips, cheetos, mozzarella sticks, Mexican food and the list goes on I'm sure. On Saturdays it was anything goes! eat as much as I wanted! (thankfully portion control meant I got fuller faster in time!) Often it was take out for lunch, and then my husband and our friend would venture down to an ice cream place for more ice cream then we honestly needed to eat. But because I was good all week and ONLY treated myself on Saturday I still did loose one pound a week.
I have found that treating myself to take out, or my usual favorite treats one meal on the weekended didn't hamper my wight loss, and it was something to look forward to, and it curbed my cravings for things salty, sweet and greasy! This isn't suppose to be torture, it should be good for you, and rewarding! Some of my favorite weekended treats were Chinese take out, pizza, fish and chips, cheetos, mozzarella sticks, Mexican food and the list goes on I'm sure. On Saturdays it was anything goes! eat as much as I wanted! (thankfully portion control meant I got fuller faster in time!) Often it was take out for lunch, and then my husband and our friend would venture down to an ice cream place for more ice cream then we honestly needed to eat. But because I was good all week and ONLY treated myself on Saturday I still did loose one pound a week.
For myself personally, I tried to keep below my max calorie target each day, trying to arrange meals that were below 300calories each. As I lost weight I had to adjust my cron-o-meter information to my new weights (less weight yay!) to adapt to what would be normal for me. Unfortunately as you get thinner you get even less calories each day to loose weight. It melts away very easily at first, at least to my findings, the first ten pounds just melted, when I got around 135 I started to find myself maintaining more then loosing. But once you reach your target, all you need to do is maintain, and you may find you can eat a bit more "badly" and get away with it :) Just remember, this is NOT a quick fix, its a life style.. there is no quick fix for a diet that wont have you gain weight again if you slack off.
Checking food for calories in the grocery store.
While the cron-o-meter has many foods and brand names already in it, you will still come across some that are not in there. Not to worry! you can add them into the cron-o-meter as a new food or recipe, and you do this simply by punching in the calorie information per serving on the products packaging. When shopping I now check to see what sort of calories are in the products I'm interested in. And make sure you understand what the calories are PER serving. Ive been fooled now and then by not looking closely enough. This give you perspective while you shop and sometimes the findings are surprising! See the picture as an example of this cream cheese spread.
Mini treats in your week!
Don't fret, if your creative you can find allot of low calorie treats to eat during the week if you happened to get a craving. Here are some of the things I have come up with (eaten in moderation!)
Salty- Popcorn..( 1/3) cups kernels worth at most. I pop it on my own in a pot with maybe a tsp of vegetable oil, shaking the popcorn in the pot continuously over the element until its done popping. Melt about 1 tsp of butter over it, and add salt to taste.
Sweet- Yogurt, Fruit, Single cup of instant hot chocolate. Also "Quaker rice snacks" are great. Caramel corn is nice and sweet and only 60 calories per serving which equals 7 mini cakes. Sounds small but curbs the craving. Or try a banana chopped up and press a few chocolate chips into it.
Have a positive outlook.
It helps me not to call this a "diet" as I have this idea in my head that a diet is something where you have to unreasonably sacrifice something. I like carbs, I like my toast in the morning, I like my grilled cheese sandwiches.(grilled cheese is a staple for me!) Counting calories is great because I can eat what I want with reason and portion control. Counting calories is just eating smarter.
I still recommend activity, some form of recreation, its good for the soul and good for the mind and it helps you feel healthy and more positive of mind, but don't let yourself worry over loosing weight from over working yourself, the fat can melt off just by eating carefully. Id say honestly my activity was minimal in my weight loss adventures, anyone can do it :) Just remember, this IS a life style, to stay thin you'll always need to keep an eye on your calorie intake, but by the time you reach your target weight, you'll probably be trained into the life style already and will come easily and naturally.
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