11 Ways to Control Calorie Intake

By Anonymous - November 11, 2012

No, I will not suggest counting calories because is a sure way to failure. Overeating, by far is the basic reason most people can't meet their fitness goals. And to deal with it, we resort to calorie counting.

Right from the evolution, humans suffered lack of enough food. Over the period of thousands of years human body evolved to be what it is today. It best works when it is fed less and worked more. Their daily calorie intake was less than what they actually needed.

Just picture the lifestyle of our ancestors. Get right out of the comforts of the house (cave) first thing in the morning in search of a food. No matter how dangerous circumstances are. No matter if it's too hot or too cold. No excuse if it's raining. They had to get out and fetch their food.

To make the matters worse, they had to be extra careful not to become prey of someone else. Doing all this, running all day around and still not having enough to eat. Few of them tried farming. But natural calamities and disasters wiped out everything they created. Just imagine the size of uncertainty they must have faced for more than 50,000 years.

And now look at what we do. We do the exact opposite. We feed ourselves as much as possible and life is full of the convenience. There is always more food available than we need. Refrigerators are stacked with delicacies. All we have to do is to reach for it and have whatever we want.

So what it is we can do to cut our daily calorie intake and not starve ourselves. Well, there are a few things.

Have a good breakfast: Most people in a hurry to rush to work during the morning time. As a consequence, most of us end up skipping the breakfast which supposed to be the most important meal of the day. This puts further pressure on the system which has already starved for more than 10-12 hours. Body reacts to it by slowing the metabolic rate. Eating a good break fast in the morning actually reduces your daily calorie intake.

Eat small but more frequent meals: Eating less gives you the instant energy without storing it as a fat. This way you will always have higher energy levels to cope up with your work.

Drink more water: Most of the time when we want to eat something, we are actually thirsty. Drinking about a glass of water will keep you well hydrated and will cut down on unnecessary calorie intake

Eat a seasonal fruit: Fruit is a magical way through which mother nature provides us the vital nutrients we need at specific time of the year. Make it a point to consume a seasonal fruit as part of at least one meal in a day.

Eat adequate fats: If it was possible to strip out fats from a healthy body, it would weigh about 25-30% of the total body fat. Do not remove fats altogether from your diet. Instead watch the quantity so that you don't deprive yourself of this vital ingredient. Adequate fats in the diet will also help reduce overall daily calorie intake helping you lose weight.

Eat everything: Do not deprive yourself of any food. Eat everything you like to eat, just keep check on the portion size. In short, eat every thing but don't overeat. If you want to eat 1 kg of sweets, eat 2 spoonfuls every two hours.

Eat slowly: It takes about 18-20 minutes for you feel full after you start eating. Deliberately try to eat slow to stretch your meal for about 25-30 minutes. This not only aids digestion but also satiates you with 15-20% less food. Most people are so quick in gulping down their meals that they ingest more than 1.5 times calories in 20 minutes

Eat sensibly: We tend to overeat when we are served with our favorite food. So it becomes imperative to control food intake at such occasions. You can begin by serving yourself with smaller portions and go absolutely slow. Focus on the taste of the food and give workout to your taste buds.

Don't starve yourself: Most people begin by skipping the breakfast in the morning. Eventually at lunch time they are so hungry that they gulp down anything they find and end up overeating. The other problem is, starving slows down your resting metabolic rate causing you to burn lesser calories throughout the day.

Go nuts: Include nuts like almonds, pistachio, walnuts and of course peanuts. Your best bet is to carry fistful of nuts wherever you go. Nuts provides you with essential fatty acids and most are a good source of protein. If you are out of time for an afternoon meal, nuts will help kill hunger pangs without starving you.

Eat more fiber: Unprocessed food and fruits-veggies are the best sources of fiber but it is not advisable to rely completely on them. We can, however, go for an oatmeal as one out of six meals that we must eat . For best results, include oats in your breakfast.