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Tracking Your Calorie Burn

When you are tracking calories, it’s not only important to know how many you are taking in, but to also have an idea of how many you are burning each day. For myself, I have always just used my FitDay software to kind of guesstimate my daily calorie burn. With FitDay, and other software like it, you enter your weight, and your daily activities and it calculates how many calories you burn. It requires some guesswork. You have to estimate how many hours per day you spend sitting at a desk, walking, preparing meals, exercising, etc. You really only have to do this once to get a decent guess at how much you are burning.

I have always believed that it’s not really crucial to be perfectly accurate, but more important to be consistent. If you think you are burning 2500 calories per day, and your weight loss is stalled, you can increase your activity until you think you are burning 3000 calories per day. Whether those numbers are perfectly accurate or not isn’t really too relevant (as long as they are reasonable). However, if you want to be more accurate, then there are ways you can do so.

I have been looking into various armbands that are supposed to track your daily calorie burn for you. One that many of us have seen on the Biggest Loser is the BodyBugg. One of the biggest drawbacks of this particular system is the cost. As of right now, you pay $250 upfront, and $9.95 per month for a subscription to access and analyze your data. I don’t think there’s any way to use it without paying that monthly fee. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Another one I have looked at is the dotFit exerspy. Again, you pay upfront and also have to pay a monthly fee, although in the long run it looks to be a better deal than BodyBugg. I do like a lot of the features of this one though.

I want to hear from you! If anyone has had any experience with these or any other calorie counting arm bands, please post in the comments. Let us know what you like or dislike about them.

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Tags: Calories, Weight Loss

Why it is important to count calories

When you are trying to lose weight, it is very important to have a caloric deficit each day, but not such a huge deficit that your metabolism slows down. Many people will say they know how much they are eating and don’t have to track calories. For some people that may be true but for the majority of people, it isn’t.

How do you really know how many calories you are putting into your body unless you are keeping track? It is important to have a good idea so that you know whether you need to decrease, or even increase your caloric intake. It also helps you to keep track of your macros and make sure you are getting the right ratio of protein, carbs, and healthy fats.

When I first started counting my calories I was shocked at how many I was actually taking in. I was able to adjust and the weight started coming off again. Some people might find it necessary to start eating more in order to lose weight. If you starve yourself your body fights back and slows your metabolism way down, making it really difficult to lose weight.

It’s not important to be 100% accurate. What is important is to have a good idea, and to be consistent with how you track. Then, you can make adjustments if necessary.

I’ll be the first to admit that tracking calories can be a pain in the butt. I usually do it for a few weeks to make sure I’m on the right track, then stop for a while. You’ll find that after you’ve tracked for a period of time, you’ll have a good idea of how much you’re taking in. Every so often you should track again for a week to make sure you are still in the right range.

Stay tuned for another post on how I track calories and how to make it as easy and painless as possible.

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Tags: Calories, Eating, Weight Loss