Do I Have To Count Calories?

Let's take a look at the first principle of The Small Step Diet.

Counting Calories.
There is one reasons why you need to know your caloric intake for each day.
*So you can know you're eating the right amount of calories.*

Some people make such a big deal out of this, but it's really a simple principle. The less calories you eat, the less weight you'll maintain.

How many calories do I need to eat to lose weight?
There are many places online to figure this out, but let me give you the basic, simple, general rule for figuring out how many calories your body needs to maintain a weight. (I've listed some online calculators and websites that will tweak and give you a more precise figure on the bottom of this post)

Here's the simple formula to generally figure out your daily calorie needs:
*Multiply your desired weight by*
(15 ) for men
(14) for women

Example:
I weighed 205 lbs when I started. My target weight was 170 lbs.

170 (pounds) x 15 = 2550

This formula is general. It's definately not exact, but it will give you a target weight of an average man and woman which is good enough to use if you quickly want to know what to shoot for.

The Small Step Diet is all about taking small comfortable steps towards your goals. The thing to remember is you'll get to your ultimate goal by stepping forward. It doesn't matter how small those steps are, time is not the factor. It's taking those small steps and advancing forward that count. This is what will give you success.

The Small Step Diet concept here is to take this desired weight figure and determine for yourself how much to reduce it by.

If you weigh 200 lbs and want to weigh 170 you need to reduce your calorie intake by 450 calories a day to get down to this desired weight.

200lbs (3000cal) - 170lbs (2550cal) = 30lbs (450cal)

This means you need to eat 2550 calories a day to maintain the weight of 170lbs.

Let's say you want to reduce your weight to 165 lbs in three months. Thats 1 - 2 lbs a week. This is optimal weight loss to perserve muscle and correct body fat. Faster weight loss than this may cause reducions in these two areas. So when you hear or see those advertizements to lose weight faster than this, consider the factors.

Calorie Calculator
FitWatch

Free Diet & Weigh Loss Journal
FitDay

The Small Step Diet Of Life

NOTE: I am currently right in the middle of writing a small book with the same title. Obviously, a more condensed version of intricacies and elaboration will be in the book.

The Small Step Diet Of Life is not complex, nor is it something so regimented as to make the concept too difficult. It's simple. Take small steps to succeed. I've listed sort of a table of contents on how this diet is made up.

1: Find out what your current average calorie intake is and reduce it by 20%.
Yes, you have to count calories!! Calories are what make you gain weight. It's important to know not only know how many calories go into your body, but also the type of calories.

2: Eat foods from three basic food groups as meals every three hours.
A: Protiens
B: Fiberous Carbs
C: Starchy Carbs

3: Create a calastenic routine and do it on a regular basis.
This routine should be something consisting of, but not limited to any physical activity which increase your heart rate. Walking, Running, Jumping, Marching, Push Ups, Sit Ups, Lite Weight Lifting.

These are the three basic principles which make this diet work. However, what will make you successful at this diet, is the understanding of taking small steps and improving on those steps as time moves forward. Losing weight should be done as a gradual process. 1 to 2 pounds a week is about right.

In my next post I will go into all the details of each of the 3 principles. If you have questions please post them, and I will answer them as soon as possible.

Innovation can be a great and wonderous thing. Taking giants leaps to gain success is ideal for the ultimate over acheiver. There are people who do accomplish success by great innovation, but in my experience most do not succeed in their overall goals by trying to take giant leaps to move ahead. However, many do succeed by taking small, easy, steps. It's almost impossible to fail by using this method of taking one step at a time to proceed toward a bigger goal.

You might not be able to move the whole mountain of rocks at once, but what you can do is move one rock at a time, or maybe just a pebble.

The Small Step Diet revolves around this easy step concept. If you are overeating, and engaging in a completely unbalanced diet, then it is unrealistic to think you can break a cycle of a dependence 'cold turkey.' I'm not in any way saying you can't change your eating habits empatically, but your body expects a certain fulfillment, and a drastic alteration from the feeling of comfort takes unwavering will power to achieve.

Here is a little secret to know about any weight loss program. 1 to 2 pounds a week is optimal weight loss. Why not more? Because we want to lose fat, not muscle. Fat is what is harmful. When most talk about wanting to lose weight, it's not really weight they want to lose, it's fat. Body fat is what needs to be measured in a good weight loss plan. Losing more than 1 or 2 pounds a week might be an indication of losing muscle. Keeping this muscle is a goal of the Small Step Diet.

I'm a big beliver in simple and learning the secret. This diet is simple, although there really is no secret. If you desire is to lose weight and keep it off you have to eat less...calories.

I know there are some of you who might have a weight problem which is not based on calorie intake but rather thyroid gland, or some other obscure health difficulty. I have no medical background so I can not write about to those problems concerning your weight. What I can write about is learning how to take small steps to complete a larger goal, and this is a diet not just for manipulating the weight of body, but for better managing the weight of life.

Who's hungry? Let's eat!

Eating is what this diet is all about. Infact you have to eat more times a day for this diet to actually work correctly. "Sure," you say. Just remember this: A car needs gas to run the engine. Your body needs food to feed metabolism.

This blog is going to be more about a lifestyle change than just dieting, but the concept of this diet is enormous to everything you do in life.

Come to this site often and learn about, what I have coined, 'The Small Step Diet Of life.'