There are lots of programs advocating the use of counting the calories you consume – some even have point systems. Although I don’t agree with such programs, as I believe we should listen to our bodies to determine *true hunger* over cravings or boredom, I think it can be useful to begin with to see a rough estimate of how many calories you need to eat as opposed to what you are eating. It can also be helpful if you are choosing to eat a high fruit/greens diet because it can be hard to get enough calories.

In order to determine the calories you need to consume, first take your ideal weight (not your current weight but the weight you want to get to) in pounds and times this by ten. This is your base need. So if you want to weight 130lbs then your base need would be 1300 calories. Add to this roughly 200-300 calories or maybe more depending on how active you are through the day. If you just sit at a desk all day you may not need anymore over 200. Then if you exercise that day add another 300-500 depending on intensity.

So for someone who wanted to be 130lbs (1300), had a fairly active day (300 calories) and had an intense work out (500 calories), this person would need to consume around 2100 calories that day.

This is a rough estimate and it isn’t strict. If you feel like eating more than you probably need to, if you feel that this is too much it may very well be. The best way to know whether you are hungry, truly hungry, is to try the fruit test. If you don’t want to eat fruit then it is probably a craving/emotion/boredom.

Try not to be strict with the calories but try to be more intune with your body and what it NEEDS. This will help you maintain your success at losing weight and will be much better in terms of not only being able to listen to your body effectively, but not having to keep a diary of how many calories you have had and if a food goes over them!

However to begin with yes working out rough estimates can be helpful and you can see if you are doing well listening to your body or not. Useful sites to help you count calories are www.nutridiary.com and www.fitday.com. It is free to set up accounts with both.