Weight Loss By Self-Monitoring
You may be fed up with gaining more weight during this long quarantine. Sitting at home all day, no enough effort is done equal to the huge quantity we are eating daily to enjoy our time or just fight boredom. If you already take a decision to lose some kilograms or talking yourself to do so, this story can help you.
Let’s put aside different diet types and discuss the simple idea of weight loss. You lose weight when your intake of calories is less than what your body burns, eat fewer than your body burns’. Accordingly, there are two ways. Through an appointment with a dietitian to calculate the equation of your calories in vs calories out to give you a weekly plan which is a narrow variety of foods. You have to stick to this list rather than things go worse. I will call it “weight loss by dietitian plan”. The other way I call it “ weight loss by self-monitoring”.
Weight loss by dietist plan
- No needed time to think about what you are going to eat, how much quantity you need. Your meals have been written with specific quantities. Therefore, all you have to do is to follow the instructions and commit.
- Deprivation would be hard and clear in this choice. You restrict to a limited range of food. You have to tempt your appetite for any delicious food out of this narrow variety of food list. You can’t follow your mood to eat something out of the list even it has the same calorie but properly you don’t know.
Weight loss by self-monitoring
- ٍٍSelf-monitoring includes weigh-ins and tracking foods. Simply, you are the master of your self, you decide what you are going to eat, what the quantity. You can follow your mood at once, and pick what you are interested in eating right now.
- A little extra time is needed here. You need to know how many calories in the food you consume and are they fit the number of calories needed to lose some kilograms?
Calorie calculating may seem hard to apply from the brief paragraph above. Not at all, let the math to these smart calorie counter apps. You need one of these many calorie counter apps with a little bit of knowledge to make this thing a piece of cake. Firstly, the application asks for your weight, height, age, what weight loss goal, and your weight loss rate per week. Depending on all this information, the app makes the equation giving you a personalized recommendation for calorie intake.
Notes about calories counter applications
- Record every bite you ate or on its way to your stomach to know how many calories you consume. And how much you still have to the rest of the day.
- You may need some basics about cups and spoons to grams and ounces conversion /use food converter/use measuring cups and spoons/use a kitchen scale to estimate the serving size to log it into the app.
- The database of applications contains a large number of foods with the number of calories. You may be skeptical about the correct number of calories in specific food as most foods are uploaded by users. So some maybe not entirely accurate. Multiple entries may exist for the same product, so you can go to google to find the exact number of calories in this food.
Of course, every app has distinguished features than the other one, but this is the overall idea of these applications.
A short hint about weighing daily
It may be encouraging to step on the scale morning every day to check your progress and watch new numbers less 100, 200 grams daily than the day before( kilogram loss in a week plan). It may turn out to be a happy moment every morning day. And this is exactly what we need much in this quarantine. Research shows that people who weighed themselves daily lose more weight more than people who weighed themselves once or twice a week. Of course, weighing daily isn’t a good option for all people. It can have a negative impact in terms of outlook, self-esteem. Find what works for you and do it.
Why do I think self-monitoring is more useful?
As time passes, you learn the calories count for food types you eat most often, and then you can rely less on using the calorie tracking app. Moreover, you learn how to control your cravings in the best quantities. This experience will help you keep your weight as healthy as possible, and helps you to lose weight later if you gain any ( which we don’t hope for). You’re now on the right track.
From a psychological point of view, one tends to refuse what is imposed on him to do (dietitian plan) rather than his own free choice even was a limited though(self-monitoring). Tracking your behaviors gives some accountability, natural feedback, and motivation. It serves as a mindful look to your body.
Self-monitoring which includes weigh-in and tracking food is a most likely an effective way to reach your weight loss goal. Daily weigh-in gives you a little joy to complete or a warning message to cut some calories depending on the data on the scale. Calories calculating serves as much internal motivation as a smart tool pushing you to make your own and decision in your next meal.
