Whether you watch your carbohydrate intake or your fat intake, one thing remains true for all of us. If the number of calories we take in are less than the number of calories we use then we’ll lose weight. Carbohydrate watchers may choose to eat higher fat foods that fill them up quickly and allow them to feel satisfied and eat less while others who don’t have any trouble with starch may choose to eat foods lower in fat or completely fat free and just eat more of them.
If you are trying to lose weight, one good way to look at the whole effort is by considering it a caloric bank account. Unlike your personal bank account, the goal with this account is to put it deep into the red! When balancing (or unbalancing) your dietary bank account, you should take into consideration the necessities and the luxuries and how you’ll pay for them.
For the sake of argument, let’s balance this account a bit backwards. We’ll consider calories burned as deposits and calories consumed as expenses. If your deposits are more than your expenses, well, you’re on the right track no matter how you look at it!
First, we’ll address the deposits.
Take a look at some of the ways you can earn through everyday activities. See the chart and find the weight column closest to your own weight and then take a look at some of the things you can do, or maybe already do, at home that can earn you some burned calories. Each value represents one hour of the activity.
We all know that taking care of kids is hard work. Instead of looking at it as work, try looking at it as exercise. Anybody with a toddler knows that chasing those buggers just to get their socks on is a workout in itself!
Now take a look at those chores like housekeeping, gardening and cooking. Those burn calories too. If after all of that, you’re the kind of person who gets enough sleep and has enough energy to dance around a bit, that too is considered exercise!
But what about the expenses?
If you start your day with a bagel and cream cheese, you’re looking at a minimum of 300 calories. For a 155 pound person, that is just under an hour of jumping jacks. Is it worth it? A bran muffin and a cup of raspberries would probably satisfy just as much and you could pay for it with just one hour of sitting with your kids! By the same token, one slice of devil’s food cake will cost you an hour of housecleaning.
Now you could look at all of this as paying for pie, cake and other creamy treats but another, more positive way of looking at it is by comparing the expenses on the left with the expenses on the right. For the same amount of calories, you could eat five apples or one slice of pumpkin pie. How about four chocolate chip cookies or six peaches? Or how about one slice of lemon meringue pie or five heads of lettuce? Here is another option: one ounce of fudge (a small square) or two cups of raspberries?
The moral of this story?
Spend your calories wisely.
Related Blogs:
Are you subscribed to the Families.com Weight Loss Blog? With the click of a button, you can receive an email notification anytime a new blog is posted in the Families.com Weight Loss Blog! Just look to the right of this blog and find the subscription center (it looks just like this picture). Click on “Subscribe via Email”. You’ll be instantly subscribed and the email address that you registered at Families.com with will receive an instant notification whenever we post a new Weight Loss Blog! Don’t miss a thing – subscribe now!