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How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?

It would be an understatement to claim that people have become fanatic about the word “calorie”. You see women, and many men, obsess about the calories they are eating or drinking, dread the dessert, dread the extra cheese and basically worrying themselves over every food they consume. Health merchants, have created a fear psychosis by relating “calories” to “weight gain” in such a black and white fashion that people cannot help but calorie count every stitch of food that goes down their throat. But is it really true that calorie counting can help you lose weight?

What is the relation between calories in a food and weight gain?

Scientifically, it’s true that the amount of calories extracted from a food, via digestion, is used in two ways

1. As a fuel to perform day to day functions
2. As stored reserve for later use (like in case of starvation)

You gain weight when you body has plenty of “reserves” stored up, because the extra calories eventually get stored in the form of “fat”. So when you eat food in a quantity which exceeds the body’s need, then you are going to put on weight simply because the body is going to store the extra “calories” in the form of fat.

So it’s completely true that eating more that you need will lead to weight gain. But that does not mean that you start calorie counting. Why? Because each body is different and unique in its makeup. What’s true for one person is not true for the other. So we need to stop looking at calorie data and start understanding our body better, through self monitoring.

There are several factors that make a body unique in the way it processes food, a few factors are cited below

1. The natural metabolism rate of your body
2. Your stress levels and emotional make up
3. Your genes (genetics is an abstract term nowadays but it simply means your unique body programming)
4. Your lifestyle choices, including the type of work you do
5. Your outlook on life. Pessimistic people are known to have more health problems than optimistic people.
6. The climatic conditions in your region
7. Your lineage (your ancestors created a unique gene pool)

This is just a short list, but the bottom line is that “you are unique” in your make up. Most organizations who have vested interest in promoting their health products, always conduct researches that give of general information which they then project as the “ultimate truth”. No research or study can ever be considered as the “truth” in black and white, because each of us is unique even if we belong to the common denominator of being called “humans”.

So how many calories should I eat to lose weight?

Get over the “calories” deal and start getting more in tune with your body. Your body is not a “robot” which functions on mathematically entries. So if someone tells you that eating 1500 calories a day will ensure weight loss because according to a study an average human needs 2000 calories and so eating 500 calories less will lead to a loss of one pound in a week – that’s just ambiguous, it’s just a lot of “numbers” and nothing else. Chuck such information and stop being a calorie counter instead try to get to know your body better; it’s your body and you are the one who needs to understand it.

Develop a happy outlook towards life and stop living in fear. If you fear the calories then they will become your enemy. Make food your friend not your enemy. Don’t stress about the food you eat, if you see yourself gaining weight just try to go low on certain foods that you think might be causing the weight gain but don’t get so worked up about it. Be easy on yourself, there are no hard and fast rules to weight loss – it’s simply about balancing your food according to your body’s need each day.

If you live by numbers, your life will get pretty miserable simply because you need to calculate every food that you eat. But if you simply enjoy your food, while monitoring your body’s behavior you will be able to understand how your body reacts to your eating patterns.

If you fear gaining weight, you will gain weight

That’s the paradox of life. You always end up attracting what you fear. Once you stop being afraid, you will then be able to attract what you desire. So if you want to lose weight stop being afraid of “weight gain”. Try to relax more, and enjoy life while being appreciative of the excellent body that you are gifted with. Try to understand your body but not out of fear, but more out of love and care.

There are people who count their calories every day in an effort to lose weight, and they are the ones who seem to gain weight nevertheless. Then there are people who are carefree and look forward to relishing life, and they are the ones who have the body they want and the life they want. So it’s not calories but your outlook which determines whether you have your ideal body weight or not.

Original article source: Outofstress.com Article Directory