the failure to count calories for people who are willing to lose fat and gain muscles may well be what is stopping many people from reaching their goals. That’s not exactly what you want to hear – counting calories can be a real hassle. So, let me explain why you simply must count calories in order to succeed in losing fat and gaining muscle.
A calorie is a measure of heat energy. So, the fat stored on your body is a reserve store of energy. It’s just like money in the bank. We deposit money (consume calories) to build up our balance. We withdraw funds (burn calories) and deplete our balance. If our calories consumed are equal to the calories expended, there is no change in our caloric balance. Now, how long do you go without checking your bank balance? Not very long, right? So, if we aren’t keeping a close eye on our caloric bank account, we’re not going to know if our balance is increasing, decreasing or staying the same. We’ll be operating blindly and our results will reflect that.
The bank account analogy helps us to appreciate the fundamental law of fat loss, which tells us that weight loss will occur if we burn more calories than we consume each day. That weight loss will come from stored calories. You probably already knew that. The point is, though, that you cannot stay on the right side of the ledger with guesswork. You need to have precise figures to deal with. To accomplish this you should keep a nutrition journal. Every top-level bodybuilder in the world does this (or has done for so long that they know what the break-downs of their foods are). Keep this journal religiously for three months and then you will have the ability to estimate the total caloric content as well as the protein, carbohydrate and fat breakdowns of the foods you eat.
Calorie counting is actually not that difficult. That’s because you should be planning out what you’re eating in advance and your meal plan should be basically the same from day to day. So spend some time on the computer setting out a spreadsheet that lists the items on your menu. Then find some sites that provide caloric and nutrient values (for example Mike’s Calorie And Fat Gram Chart For 1000 Foods) and fill these in on your spreadsheet. Of course you don’t want to eat the same thing every day, so have three or four different menus worked out along with their breakdowns and you’ve already done 90% of the work.
The biggest mistake that most people make in counting calories is that they try to guess at their portions. To avoid this pitfall get into the habit of measuring your portions. You’ll need a good food measuring scale (ideally an electronic one) and measuring spoons and cups. This will be annoying at first, but it will show that you’re serious about achieving that lean, muscular look. After all, is it any harder than getting under that plate loaded squat bar? Of course not. So take that same discipline that you use in the gym and bring it into the kitchen. After a while it will become automatic – and so will your ability to manipulate the look of your body by controlling your caloric bank balance
So the next time you see yourself in the mirror and say to yourself " what else do i have to do to get the physique i want " .. try counting your calories and start pumping iron in your muscles.