Is it really necessary to count calories to lose weight?

Not exactly: the important thing is to create an energy deficit. We can do it with a low-calorie diet with an already written menu and dosed foods, or by doing physical activity or by combining the two.
Without a doubt, having an idea of ​​the calories we consume allows us to maintain a good body weight.

HOW TO COUNT CALORIES IF YOU WANT TO LOSE weight

One of the risks of counting calories for weight loss is to consider foods only for their caloric value.

With the consequence of preferring only very low-calorie foods, such as salads, to others that have more calories but definitely also provide more nutrients or different nutrients.

Our goal must always be healthy weight loss.
And for it to be healthy, a balanced diet is the best solution.

Therefore, we avoid eliminating entire categories of foods just because they are caloric. Especially if these foods are natural or minimally processed and non-industrial or heavily processed (for example a freeze-dried food).

That said, let’s see how you need to count calories without running the risk of going crazy with calculations and remembering numbers by heart. Clearly, if we use a calorie counter app, like Myfitnesspal, we don’t need this trick.

First of all, to understand how to count calories, let’s start by dividing the main foods into categories.
You can simply copy this diagram onto a piece of paper or a slate and stick it to the fridge.
Obviously, but specific all the same, calories are calculated on average.
So, for example, rice from pasta can have a variation of 10 calories per hundred grams.

But you don’t have to be so obsessive, otherwise we would have to be living computers.

via GIPHY

Especially if I have a balanced diet, because if I eat salad at one meal and then side artichokes with another or carrots, in the end in the weekly average I will have exactly the same count. Likewise, if I eat chicken and another lamb one day but count these calories, the caloric average will be similar over the course of the week.

In short, the important thing is to have a basic idea that even if you are a beginner you can remember and you can easily write down both on your mobile and at home.

In this way, even when you go outside you know how to regulate yourself. Not only that: this clever scheme also allows you to understand that, for example, a light homemade tart, if you replace the oil with butter, is not light in calories. Only the composition of fats changes.

But also that you can get an excellent cake or donut or shortcrust pastry by replacing the butter with fresh cream, if you only want to reduce calories.

FURBISH SCHEME OF CALORIES FOR FOOD

• A. Pasta, rice, grains, polenta, dry egg pasta, dried legumes and cereal and legume flours = 360 calories per 100 grams weighed from raw.
• B. _ Vegetables and vegetables = 30 calories per 100 grams of raw vegetables or vegetables.
• C. Fruit and fruit juice = 50 calories per 100 grams of raw fruit or 100 ml of juice, except coconut, avocado, plantain, banana and grapes.
• D. _ Cheese and fresh cream = 380 calories per 100 grams.
• E. Normal cut fresh or smoked meat and fish, skimmed dairy products = 150 calories per 100 grams.
• F. _ Oils and butters or fatty sauces = 800 calories per 100 ml.
• G. _ Nuts and oil seeds and related butters or spreads = 600 calories per 100 grams.
• H. Crackers, breadsticks, biscuits = 400 calories per 100 grams. But bread: 270 calories maximum. 
• I. _ Biscuits, snacks, chocolate and sweet snacks, chips and pretzels = 550 calories per 100 grams.
  Keep in mind that these are the same calories as bacon and bacon!
• L. Low-fat white yogurt, semi-skimmed milk, egg white: 50 calories per 100 ml.
• M. Cold cuts and salami: 300 calories per 100 grams.
• N. Brown sugar, honey, bitter cocoa, jams, white sugar, powdered sugar, sweets: generally considered between 300 and 400 calories.
• O. One medium egg = 65 calories.
• P. _ Non-skimmed dairy products, ice cream: 270 calories per 100 grams.

Finally, I refer you to some articles on how and how much calorie counting works.
Calories are not all the same.
A low calorie diet extends life.
A calorie is not a calorie