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 by: Marc David

Frankly, Im puzzled whenever I hear this from somebody whos frustrated with their lack of gains:

Me: So what are you eating? How many calories per day and how many do you need?

Them: I dont know. I just eat.

Huh?

Yes, its true. People dont track their diets, dont calculate their calories and just guess at what they need. They have no idea where they are going, very little facts on how to get there and yet are frustrated and mad when 6 weeks later they dont see the results.

Imagine, for a moment, thats its 6-months from today. And youve made no progress. Wouldnt you be frustrated?! I sure would.

But heres the deal, theres a real simple method to make sure you dont end up like so many people youll hear about. Please dont be the person who just eats or does whatever without a plan. If you arent tracking your diet you are wasting your time!

Let me explain

In order for your body to change, you must do something different. Lets suppose that you want to burn as much fat as possible. Whats the first thing you should do now that you have a long-term goal in mind?

Heres a h-i-n-t!

Make a plan!

A quick plan for losing fat:

1. Determine how many calories a day you need based on your situation

2. Track your daily food intake (yes you should count calories

Bodybuilding manuals go into great detail about how to calculate your caloric intake, giving formulas and such.

Anyway, a typical conversation might go like this:

"Excuse me? My wife made spaghetti bolognaise yesterday, I cant be asked to weigh my meals in order to count the calories, can I? (What would she think about me (not to mention what I would think about myself ;-) ?)

I tried to go to fitday.com and calculate the calories, but it totally eluded me how many grams they were and looking for pasta and meat in different categories is a hassle anyway, so the site was no use for me with that.

Good heavens, there must be a way to go without the calorie counting, mustnt it?"

Despite what you may have heard

Tracking your diet (counting calories) is important and Ill tell you why and how you can get around the whole calorie counting ordeal.

You see, in order to lose fat or gain muscle you need to know what you are eating in order to do such.

Lets say you need 3000 calories a day to maintain your current weight at your current activity levels.

Now you decide you want to lose fat.

Training more and more, more cardio, longer sessions will just tire you out. You can bump up the cardio and do certain fat loss tips and techniques but overall keep in mind:

Where do I burn the fat:

80% of fat loss comes from diet and 20% from cardio.

As you can see, the area you want to manipulate is the diet.

Back to the example.

You decide to lose the fat. You know you need 3000 a day to maintain. You do some calorie calculations and find that you want to be aggressive and cut your calories by 20%. Its aggressive but its just enough to get fast results without making your body go into a starvation mode and hold onto everything its got.

Except you dont want to count calories.

Thats sort of like saying...

I want to start in New York and get to California but I dont want a map or directions. I just want to drive West.

It just wont work. You might zig zag here and there. Maybe one week youll eat less and lose a pound. The next on vacation youll overdo it and gain 5 pounds. Who knows. You wont.

But do you have to count each calorie? And especially when you look at homemade items that have some many ingredients? What do you do?

While this isnt the most accurate method, I just basically get a good estimate by looking up the general food item, quantity I consumed and input that.

Over time, because I eat a lot of the same things for breakfast, I already know the calories and I dont need to track it anymore. I know via portions that a bowl of oats is such and such calories and how it adds into my total daily allowance.

I personally do not weight each piece of food. I will go to lunch, look at what Im eating and know generally what portions of what I ate.

At the end of the day, I know roughly that Im 20% below my maintenance for fat loss and 20% above for weight gain.

The problem that most people have is exactly what you describe.

They DO NOT want to track what they eat.

The bottom line is, if you dont know where you are, and where you are going, you really dont know how youll get there and its no wonder so many people are frustrated.

Look, you dont have to track every single piece of food you put into your mouth. And I know that when theres a home cooked meal, you arent likely to know whats in it. But you can and should generally get an idea.

Eventually you can track your portions if you tend to eat a lot of the same things every day.

If you dont track your diet, you are wasting your time.

About The Author

Marc David is a bodybuilder, writer, and author of the the e-book "The Beginners Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding" (BGFB): What Every Beginner Should Know but Probably Doesnt. The Beginners Guide is oriented towards fitness minded men and women who are just starting or have worked out for years without results. To learn more about the Beginners Guide, visit Beginning-Bodybuilding at: http://www.beginning-bodybuilding-com.

mrcd@freedomfly.net