Do I need to count calories to lose weight?
I don’t think all calories are created equally. Some of the foods that we eat cause us to retain excess water and others help us feel fuller longer. If you are eating processed foods the chemicals can have any number of effects on your health and weight that you may be unaware of.
When people switch to a whole foods diet, they generally can lose weight without counting calories. However, some people like to know that if they’ve gone to the trouble of trying a diet they want to be sure they are going to lose weight.
This 7 day diet is based on 1400 average calories per day. 1400 calories should be enough calories for most people to lose weight. However it may be too low (or high) for some people. You can use this tool to track calories in your food, and this tool to find out how many calories you need to lose weight. You can then adjust your food accordingly. However it may be better to increase your exercise rather than decrease the calories in this diet further.
I don’t want to restrict my calories. Can I still follow this diet?
If you are a man, do workouts, have a physical job, are breastfeeding or require more calories than the average person or simply don’t need to lose weight, then I would advise you to eat more food to add some more calories to your diet. You can make more green food or snack on any type of fruit until you are full. Record everything you eat and if after 1 week you haven’t lost any weight (and want to lose weight), cut down the amount you eat.
I prefer to advise people to eat to hunger levels rather than to calories and this is only possible when you are following a whole foods diet such as this one. If you are getting too hungry and are in danger of not being able to stick to the diet, eat enough fruit to keep you going until your next meal.
I’ve never been able to stick to calorie controlled diets as I get very hungry and have been either pregnant or nursing for the last couple of years so have needed extra calories in my diet anyway. I often eat well over my calories the first day on a new healthy diet until my body gets used to the food, but I always still lose weight as long as I’m eating healthy food.
Once you have been eating whole foods for a while your body will naturally regulate itself and you will be full when you’ve had enough and lose your cravings for unhealthy foods. You will naturally lose weight this way but this 7 day diet plan is a good starting point to kickstart your weight loss.
Avoiding refined sugar is the key to balancing your blood sugar levels, reducing cravings and reducing hunger.
Leave a Reply