Calories - The Count Goes On

Sometimes you just have to go back to the basics and it doesn't get more basic than counting calories.  I have had the most success dieting by counting calories, exercising and limiting my exposure to refined sugar and flour.  I lost over 75 pounds just doing those 4 things. No fancy diet book or speciality foods needed.

Most diet protocols today do not advise counting calories, stating it is more complicated than calories in, calories out.  I'm not so sure about that.  Every time I lose weight, it by counting calories or at the very least, being mindful of them.  So I am back at it.  The good news is that I have counted calories so much throughout the years, I can pretty easily calculate a meal just by looking at it.  I am tracking the my numbers via myfitnesspal and my diary is open if you ever want to see what I am eating. Look for my ID happy2hikeak.

My plan is to limit calories to under 2000 a day except my fasting days which will be limited to 500. You can eat a lot of satisfying food for 2000 calories.  I don't count my exercise toward the calories like a lot of people.  Even if I burn 500 calories during exercise, I don't want to let myself eat those calories back but rather keep it in a deficit.  It is important to eat enough, you got to keep your body balanced and happy when you are fasting.

What about Trim Healthy Mama and counting calories?  I will need to be careful of their recipes, a lot of them are calorie dense.  The more important question is: How much pizza can I eat?

Days I am planning on eating pizza, I will try to eat lower calories meals leading up to it.  I like to eat 2 slices so that is 622 calories, which is more than an average meal, but totally doable!

So now we have a mix of Trim Healthy Mama, fasting and counting calories.  Still one more component to go!  Can you guess it?