How important is it to count calories to lose weight?  I’ve had countless discussions about this with some of my female friends and I’ve noticed that they’re divided; half of them say that counting calories is crucial, the other half says, not so much.  So which is it?

In my opinion, if you’re just starting out on your weight loss journey, then, yes, counting calories is a great idea.  It seems like a lot of work, doesn’t it?  Well, not really.  There are many online calculators that will calculate your calories and a whole lot more for you!  Two that I really like are Fitday and Sparkpeople for keeping track of your calories and the best part is they’re both free.  So that will take some of the work out of it for you.  All you will have to do is log your food and the rest is done for you.

I think once you get a good idea of how many calories certain foods have, what’s healthy, what’s not so healthy, then calorie counting becomes less important because you’ll have an idea of what you need to be eating to lose weight or maintain your weight once you reach your goal.  Calorie counting is not something I would do every day for the rest of my life, so how could I recommend that other people do it for the rest of their lives?  I’m not saying NOT to pay attention to what you eat because what you eat is very important to weight loss, but just count calories long enough that you’re aware of what you’re putting in your body.