4 Tips for Easy Calorie Management

Quarantine and work from home hit hard!

ON A USUAL DAY... You go out early in the morning, at the very last minute, and you're rushing to get your 7:53am train to make it to work at 9am. There's usually two trains you get, the "woo hoo on time" train or the "I'm getting fired today" train. But the rush of getting to work is a workout... And probably the only time you were getting any exercise during the week anyways.

Work from home got us good. Sedentary lifestyle, limitless food options, and snacks by the hour became a reality.

Okay. It's been 2 years, better now than never right? Let’s try to be better versions of ourselves and that means exercise knowing our food intake.

Dawn of time we keep records of things from business to marriage. Today we track progress, and in the field of weight loss, that means calorie counting.

Early on, diabetics used to have a log where they would write down what they ate and approximately how much sugar they were having throughout the day. This allowed for physicians to track trends in the diet and assess what is causing a patient's elevated glucose level.

What is Calorie and Calorie Quality?

Nutritionist Jennifer McDaniel once said, “Our brains, our muscles — every cell in our body — require energy to function in its optimal state," Seems obvious but calories, at its root, is energy. Energy needed to be at our best.

If we were Dragon Ball Z characters and raised our hands to the sky requesting Earth to give us energy we probably would, but that’s not how we work. Rather we eat, and if we want the energy without all the excess trans fats or carbs, we need to watch where we are getting our calories from. We can’t simply say that we are consuming 500 calories, one is easier on our body that won’t become cholesterol and fat, whereas the other is weighing us down…literally.

There are tons of Eat This NOT THAT online but the rule is simple: you want a filling meal that doesn’t make you feel disgusting, trust me if it leaks with grease or you would not want to be seen chowing it down then it’s probably not the best calories for you.

Calorie calculators are becoming easier and accessible everyday. Some apps have the brands of certain food and integrated nutrition facts. Generally, I think it's good to know how each group calculates to.

Here is a Nifty little tool to help calculate the calories:

Here are some ACTION TIPS to help you out with controlling the calories

1. Don’t get hung up on strict diets. Although yes there is some merit to keto and other diet plans (might be fun to talk about them in other blogs), it is much easier to think about calories in respect of calories taken and calories burned.

For example, you are going to have a heavy dinner tonight because your BFF is getting married, take a light lunch or plan to burn off some calories before going out. A friend of mine once said that days after a party he would go out to play basketball since he knew that he had extra calories this week.

2. Don’t undermine the small changes. If you are cutting something out of your diet, even if it's small, it is still beneficial in the long run. It makes a huge difference.

One of my mentors, Dr. Kazi Islam, saw that I was drinking a can of Pepsi almost everyday. He mentioned that if I just cut out the can of Pepsi everyday that is 150 calories not being consumed everyday. By the end of the week, that would equate to 1050 calories. Presuming all else remains the same that would mean about 2 pounds lost every month.

3. Take on Low Calorie Snacks to curb your Munchies. Easy enough, substituting the typical chips for unbuttered popcorn is a small change that can help your munch.

Oats, Popcorn, Watermelon, Berries, Greek yogurt, Apple Slices, Dates and Baby Carrots are all great crunch, munch, sugar yielding snacks that can satiate your urges.

4. Boost your metabolism by adding a few high protein and mineral rich foods. Boosting your metabolism will help you burn more calories and in a shorter time.

Lentils, beans, ginger, chili peppers, green tea, dark leafy vegetables are some easy foods to add to your daily intake.

Although you should never aim for physical fitness for anyone else other than yourself, it would be nice to receive appreciation from family and friends. As cliché as it sounds results do not happen overnight they can take months, stick it through for 3 months minimum and by then you should see your progress. You will like your new body and you will want to be at your dietary best.