The importance of counting calories

Unfortunately, when trying to get healthy, exercising is only half the battle. The other half, of course, is making healthier food choices. For some of you out there, this is the easy part. You're okay with watching what you eat, as long as you don't have to set foot near a treadmill. Others of you have no problem being active, but you have a hard time giving up the fried, greasy goodness or that 20-oz bottle of Mountain Dew. I bet some of you even reward yourself for working out by eating something that's bad for you. What sense does that make? Talk about self-sabotage. Then, of course, there's the rest of you who have a hard time eating better and exercising. If that's you, then you're definitely in the right place!

Regardless of what you eat, studies have shown that the key to weight loss success, short and long term, lies in keeping track of what you put in your body. That requires keeping a food journal, but don't worry, it sounds worse than it really is. There are a bunch of places online where you can do this. My favorite is at www.sparkpeople.com, and it also happens to be free. It takes a couple extra minutes when you first start out because you have to enter or import all your foods, but once you're up and running, it's a piece of (low fat) cake. They even have apps for your phone now so you don't have to wait until you're in front of a computer to keep track.

Keeping an online food journal allows you to track protein, carbs, fat, etc., but most importantly, it gives you a way of keeping track of calories. Weight loss really is as simple as calories in versus calories out, so not having any idea how many calories you put in, puts you at a disadvantage right off the bat. (Sometimes you may not be eating enough!) Also, it allows you to detect patterns in the foods you eat that you may not have otherwise recognized because it forces you to pay attention to what you eat, even if it's after the fact.

So my question is this: If you have the ability and the tools to keep track of your calories, why aren't you? Stop guesstimating and start being precise, and the results will come.

How do you eat an elephant?

What's the point of taking the initiative to get healthy if I know I won't keep it up long term anyway?

That's a question I asked a few days ago when I talked about fear. What worked for me was not any extra drive or determination. There was no extra incentive. But rather, to put it simply, I forgot about the long term.

In the past, when I would think about all the work I had in front of me, at the first sign of trouble I'd get discouraged, and inevitably, quit. So how did I stop worrying about what I had to do tomorrow? I stopped caring about it.

The goals became smaller. Thoughts like, "I'm going to eat healthy from here on out," turned into, "I'm going to make a healthy choice for this meal." Who cares about tomorrow? Who even cares about later today? For me, the only choice that mattered was the one right there in front of me.

Before I knew it, I had completely tricked myself. I strung together 10, maybe 12 of these one-time good decisions in a row without even realizing it. It became a good week, then a good month, then a good 18 months. I've often compared it to the challenge of reading a really long book. It seems daunting when it's put in front of you, but it isn't if you're not concerned about the entire book. Instead, read a page a day. Some days you'll feel good and read a little more. Some days you'll read less. Either way, if you eliminate your focus on the big picture, you will finish.

Stop worrying about the "what ifs" and focus only on the decision that is right in front of you. When you pay attention to the present, it keeps those negative, self-defeating thoughts out of your head. Just remember, one bite at a time...