Cutting calories to lose weight

Wow, what an amazing concept! Cutting calories to lose weight. Could it actually work? Should it actually work? Let's talk about it...

There are three effective tools to help you lose weight [and surprise, there are no pills or shakes involved...]

1. A good strength training program - lifting weights, girls!
2. An effective cardio program - it's about more than the stairmaster or running. 
3. A good nutrition program

So, let's go deeper into #3 - a good nutrition program. What does that include?

1. Eating healthy foods
2. Staying away from unhealthy foods
3. Eating in moderation

Now let's add a fourth onto that - cutting calories. Usually, when you talk about losing weight or starting a new nutrition program [we don't say "diet" around here because "diet" means you are going to "die" doing "it"] - the thing that comes to most people's minds is cutting calories. Cutting calories does help. But it's not the only thing. Along with cutting calories, you should be concerned with:

• Nutritional value of food
• Nutritional breakdown of foods; what percentage protein, carb, fat
• Total calories according to what you are doing that day

Cutting calories does help when you are:

• Eating too much food or
• Stuck on a plateau

The only way you can know if you are eating too much food is to write it down and find out. You can go to FitDay.com and enter in the food you eat each day. You will see a chart at end of day showing your nutritional breakdown for the day. However, there are times when - even if you are eating healthy foods - you can still be overeating. Stuck on a plateau is a good indicator.

During my weight loss battle, I got stuck a few times. In one of the times, I was doing everything I should be doing - exercising, eating right - and I still couldn't lose the weight. I was stuck. My coach at the time told me to cut what I eat in half. What? "I'll starve" was my response. "You won't" was his response. For example, for a snack [my favorite snack] during the day was a protein bar and an apple. I could eat this on the run or during carpool. Cut the protein bar in half, cut the apple in half. What? I don't think so. Again, I'll starve. But, I was desperate and so I tried it. When I scooped out my cereal in the morning, I only did 1/2. When I made a sandwich for lunch, I made it open-faced and only used one slice of bread instead of two. I did this for two days.

It worked! 

Please read on...

Was my weight-loss success due solely to cutting all my food in half?
NO!
It was much more than that. However, it did help me see that I was still overeating, even when I thought I was being good. It did help me acknowledge the power that food had in my life. The dependence. The habits we get into. I did not have to do this forever. Really. In fact, I only had to do this for a short time, until I met my weight goal.

When you are in weight loss mode, you have to do things differently. You cannot just keep everything the same and think you can make progress.

You can cut calories to lose weight. You just need to do it the right way.

Will you?