Do you need to count calories when trying ro lose body fat or can I just stick to eating normally but cut out all junk food and fizzy drinks like soda and do cardio exercise 5 times a week?
Do you need to count calories?
- Thread starter Nightfall95
- Start date
Plenty of people lose weight without counting calories, but ultimately it's the calories that make the difference (for the overwhelming majority of people). I used to really struggle with my weight- not eating any junk food at all and indeed making myself go hungry because I thought that would help me lose weight- until I realised how high in calories some of my healthy food really was (particularly bread).
Your strategy sounds like a good way to start, and definitely an excellent way to have a healthier lifestyle. Do it for a couple of weeks, see how you go. If it doesn't work, have a look at some of your foods, how many calories are in them, and make subsitutions that are lower calorie. You should lose weight that way without counting calories. (Counting calories is the most accurate way of doing it- and you can allow yourself junk if the numbers add up that way- but if you really don't want to do it then there are ways around it)
Your strategy sounds like a good way to start, and definitely an excellent way to have a healthier lifestyle. Do it for a couple of weeks, see how you go. If it doesn't work, have a look at some of your foods, how many calories are in them, and make subsitutions that are lower calorie. You should lose weight that way without counting calories. (Counting calories is the most accurate way of doing it- and you can allow yourself junk if the numbers add up that way- but if you really don't want to do it then there are ways around it)
Well i used to eat junk food everyday in large quantities. I also used to drink pints of soda but I have now completly cut the pair or them out.
Is a punching bag a good way to lose body fat? along with cutting out bad foods?
Is a punching bag a good way to lose body fat? along with cutting out bad foods?
Any exercise is a good way to lose weight. You want to make sure you do some weight bearing exercises to lose a greater proportion of fat, but apart from that I don't know- not really something I know a lot about.
You may find it difficult, if you had a large junk food habit, to cut it out entirely. I would advise caution- cut down slowly rather than quit entirely, risk the chance of binging because you miss it too much. You have to make this kind of diet sustainable over the longer term- and completely gutting your diet of key components isn't the way to do it. Any change is better than no change, and making a 20% improvement over 6 weeks (say, cutting from 5 sodas to 4) is better than a 100% improvement for one week (cutting all soda and then giving up because it's not worth it). I'm not saying you have such little willpower- it's not personal, just that changing a diet so radically is difficult to maintain for most people, so you might want to take it slower.
You may find it difficult, if you had a large junk food habit, to cut it out entirely. I would advise caution- cut down slowly rather than quit entirely, risk the chance of binging because you miss it too much. You have to make this kind of diet sustainable over the longer term- and completely gutting your diet of key components isn't the way to do it. Any change is better than no change, and making a 20% improvement over 6 weeks (say, cutting from 5 sodas to 4) is better than a 100% improvement for one week (cutting all soda and then giving up because it's not worth it). I'm not saying you have such little willpower- it's not personal, just that changing a diet so radically is difficult to maintain for most people, so you might want to take it slower.
^ Exactly.
I think I've counted my calories fewer than a dozen X's, in 20 months I've been on my back-to-good-health journey, and that was just to get a rough idea, of where I was at.
Then, when it comes to body building, the big thing is, counting your macro balance (carbs, fats, and protein %'s) so I've done that a few X's too.
Of course in reality, it doesn't really make a difference if you are eating 1000 cals, or 10,000 cals > as long as your body is doing what it should be (for many here, losing weight) or, with body building, gaining lean muscle.
If your not losing weight (or, your actually gaining) you need to take in fewer cals, or burn more. Those are your only two options.
The one thing I do religiously, every day though, is weigh myself and record my daily weight. I don't really trip on daily fluctuations, in fact, I expect them, but once a week (every Friday) I add up all the days for that week, and divide by 7. This way of averaging, smooths out all the daily fluctuations, and gives me a much better idea of where I'm actually at... and where I'm headed.
Right now I'm at the end of a cut cycle (just about 2 more lbs to go
) but again, whether I'm eating 2000, or 9000 cals a day, doesn't really matter. If I'm still slowly losing (on a cut cycle) it's all good. If not, I need to tighten up on the cals, when planning my daily intake.When I start bulking again, I'll bump up my cals as much as needed, and while watching the scale like a hawk, start gaining 1 to 1 1/2 lbs a week, while continuing to work out like a mad-man the whole time, of course
Peace,
Fish
PS, From the outside, someone might look at this whole process and think, "Wow ! What a PITA all that sounds like" ! But actually, once you figure out how to make your body do what you want it to do, it's very liberating, and can really become a lot of fun
