Calorie Counting – Tara Bernardin

I have always been great to excellent with exercise but after my 30’s and 3 kids, it wasn’t so easy and I couldn’t get the scale budge towards the lower numbers at all. So one day it finally hit me that I had to do something about it and get back to my exercise routines or any for that matter that I use to do before my life got so hectic. I really didn’t like the pre make meals from diet companies so I just used the did an analysis on the foods my family and I were already eating and checked for carbs, sodium, fats, etc. 

My close knit friends and family kept me honest and my favorite part was that I could see how many calories was left off my daily intake when I did this. It became very easy to decide to eat a plate of raw vegetables as a snack in the afternoon rather than something high calorie and not and unhealthy that filled me up before dinner. 

In 6 weeks I lost about 14 pounds and better yet kept the weight off for a very long time. I was amazed at how incredibly fast and easy it was. I incorporated my running and ran 2-3 miles about 2-3 times a week and also some gym class. I also rode my bicycle twice a week.  I was doing that for several years before my hectic life and unhealthy eating habits caused me to gain weight and I believe this caused me to maintain my weight at that time. 

I found back then, that simply counting my calories was a huge benefit to me in my journey. I didn’t count the calories to a point that I deprived myself of good fun food but I was a bit hungry sometimes.  After a couple of weeks though, your body gets used to not having the heavy carbs and sugars though. Calorie counting also helped me realize I usually ate seconds at dinner.  My husband realized the same thing for himself and made changes as well.  His schedule has him on the go and usually getting takeout but he made better choices as well.