Well, I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I’m an expert, because I’m not. When it comes to weight loss, nutrition, fitness, etc., I’m kind of a greenhorn. Nonetheless, here’s what I’m learning…

Managing calories to lose weight is not much different than managing money. Each day you have so much to spend based on your age, weight, activity, etc. The foods that you eat, of course, have a specific value in calories. Each time you eat something, you are spending from your daily calorie budget.

I’ve used a couple of different weight loss calculators, but to be honest, I don’t totally understand them. Most of them are telling me that I should be taking in more calories than I am. Let me show you what I’m talking about…

The image above represents my current calculation based on my age, weight, height and activity level. Do you see how many calories it says I should be eating? Good grief, I’d explode! It could just be my lack of understanding (so any trainers out there, feel free to chime in on the comment board of this post) but that seems like an awful lot of food to me.

Then I looked at this information which popped up under my calorie calculations…

… which made more sense. Now the graphics says that if I reduce what I should be eating by 500 calories per day then I can drop one pound per week. So, in my estimation, I figured if I could cut my intake by 1000 or even 1500 calories I could drop even more weight. That’s what I did. I’ve been consuming no more than 2000 calories per day (usually 1500 to 1750).

I’ve been burning a minimum of 800 calories per workout daily. I spend a half an hour on the treadmill at 3.7 mph at an incline between 7 and 9. I also do a half an hour on the elliptical machine as well as some basic muscle fitness working the back and arms on one day, legs and chest on alternate days. I’ve even been throwing in some basic exercises to work my abs like crunches and toe touches and then wrapping up each session with some time in both the steam room and the whirlpool (helps the sore muscles!)

Following this routine I dropped seven pounds last week. I haven’t felt like I have deprived my body, I’ve had plenty of energy and feel great!

Now keep in mind this is just a recording of my progress. I’m not suggesting that you go out and do that same thing. Make sure you talk to your doctor or trainer before trying anything like this.

The most significant change that I’ve noticed is that the more I learn and program into my mind, the more passionate I become about what I’m doing. As the mind can only focus on one thing at a time, if I’m focusing on the “management” of my daily intake then I’m not focusing on just eating or food. Focusing on the right things brings about change in your mind and your body.

I’ve heard people say things like “life is to short to count calories” or “I get enough exercise at work” and so on. I’ve also heard the same people gripe about being overweight and how they “should” go on a diet, blah, blah, blah. If you are serious about making a change, take action. Take action in your mind and your body will follow.