Counting Calories Sucks

I hate counting calories and I am the worst when it comes to logging food. It is time consuming and I am just not that dedicated or organized. Instead of logging my food every day, I have several meals and daily eating combinations that I have established in the past that helps me to judge the number of calories I am getting each day. If you do the work in the beginning, you will not have to count your calories every day, you will just know. I have made it simple for you by counting the calories and establishing daily meal plans to give you a head start. You will have to work to cater your tastes to the meal plan. I have also composed a list of foods below that you can eat unlimited amounts of and they will actually help you to burn fat, they are called negative calorie foods.

NEGATIVE CALORIE FOODS

Negative calorie foods are typically whole foods that require more energy for your body to digest than calories that are in them. So by eating these foods, your body is actually burning calories instead of gaining them. Keep these foods on hand and every time you eat them, think to yourself, "I am exercising my digestive system" because you are actually burning calories just by eating them, and they will fill you up.

Here are some of those negative calorie foods:

Asparagus, Beet Root, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower, Celery, Chicory, Cucumbers, Garden Cress, Garlic, Green Beans, Lettuce, Onions, Radishes, Spinach, Turnips and Zucchini, Apples, Blueberries, Cantaloupe, Cranberry, Grapefruit, Honeydew, Lemons, Limes, Mango, Oranges, Papaya, Peach, Pineapple, Raspberry, Strawberry, Tomato, Tangerine, turnip, and Watermelon.

Negative calorie foods incorporated into your daily meals will fill you up and keep your calorie count down. You will never feel hungry if you fill up on these tasty foods.

Also, some tasty snacks with very little or no calories include: Dill Pickle Spears, Sauer Kraut, Sweet Peppers, Pepperoncinis, Banana Peppers, A slice of fat free ham or turkey breast (I like to roll a think slice of meat and eat it like a snack with no bread or condiments, it's very filling).

Want a treat? Keep some sugar free Hershey mini's around that have 30 calories each and when you feel the need to cheat, take very little nibbles off the candy bar and savor the melting chocolate. Be sure you can control yourself from eating the entire bag though, or put someone else in charge of the bag and tell them to only give you a piece if you achieve your calorie count for the day.

Okay, now as I promised, here are some sample daily meals for women with a BMR around 1500 (SEE BMR CALCULATOR http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator to determine yours). These meals are set up to keep you in the 900 calories per day area so you can burn 600 calories each day without ever exercising. If you add some moderate exercise to this meal program you could lose as much as 3 lbs a week without starving yourself.

SAMPLE DAY 1 - 860 Calories

250 Cal -1 cup of Cereal with Skim Milk

25 Cal - 1 cup of coffee with fat free creamer

300 Cal -Frozen Dinner

(pick one that is filling, my favorite is Healthy Choice Beef Tips with Mushrooms)

55 Cal - A whole Large Apple (known for being a zero calorie food)

30 Cal - 1 Sugar Free Hershey Mini Caramel & Chocolate bar 30 calorie

200 Cal: Salad of Mixed Greens (2 cups) with Catalina Light Dressing 4 tbsp.

When you make your salad put the lettuce mix in a large bowl and toss with dressing to coat your lettuce, this will give you more flavor with less dressing which has all the calories. Throw some carrots, cucumbers and celery on top if you want to fill you up on negative calorie foods.

SAMPLE DAY 2

32 Cal - Whole Grapefruit

250 Cal - Cascadian Farm Organic Cinnamon Raisin Granola so yummy

(2/3 Cup - watch portion size) with ½ cup skim milk

55 Cal - Whole Large Apple

175 Cal - Whole Can of Popeye Spinach with 2 tbsp. of butter

140 Cal - Whole can of stewed Italian Tomatoes, salt & Peppered

160 Cal - Full boneless Chicken Breast (about 4 oz) with all fat cut off and no skin seared in skillet with vegetable oil and lemon pepper seasoning, or simmered in water then salted and peppered, you could also brush with mustard or hot sauce for flavoring.

If you focus your effort on eating 3 primary meals, under 250 calories each, you will have great success. You will leave yourself a buffer of 150 calories for coffee, other beverages, and a few small snacks in between. Once again, if you try to snack on the negative calorie foods, you will help to burn more while filling up and curbing your appetite.

For more samples of meals under 300 calories each read BEST 300 CALORIE MEAL by Kari Livingston.