When I was starting this private practice I really had to do some soul searching as to what was really going to be my “method.” To be honest, I didn’t really want to teach weight loss. I wanted to just teach “an overall healthy lifestyle.” But from a business standpoint this isn’t super clear for what I do. You have to market results, right? So I had to figure out what those results were going to be. I already had a lot of people asked me to help them to lose weight so I figured that I had an audience for that type of outcome. So weight loss it is! But how was I going to make this happen for people?

1.Provides Clarity for me as the Practitioner

I actually tried using the myplate model for a couple of people, but they weren’t seeing the results that they wanted. They were make great lifestyle changes, but for the amount of money they were paying me I wanted them to se the results they wanted. So I trialed calorie counting and they lost weight right away. I found that the main difference was I got a better picture of what my clients were eating. I didn’t realize that some of them were doing a bunch of chips before dinner or 3 beers in the evening, because those aren’t aspects of myplate. Calorie counting provided me with so much more information as to why my clients weren’t losing weight and allowed for quick adjustments so they could see fast results. If someone is super hungry throughout the day and are eating a lot of their calories from brownies, I can suggest a lower calorie dessert and bulking the day up with more fiber and protein. If someone is overeating on the weekends because they’re only eating 3/4 of their calorie needs on the weekdays, I can recommend to add more food to the week days. Calorie tracking allows me to know exactly what my clients are eating and recommend precise changes.

2. Allows the Client more Flexibility

Of course I want everyone to eat their 30g of fiber and 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. But when someone is just starting to lose weight, that can seem almost impossible to you. You know what’s not? Allowing you to pick whatever you want to fill your 1800 calories. And then learn through trial and error. But you are more likely to keep trying when your goals are doable. So if you only like 2 vegetables, you can still lose weight through calorie tracking! Your plate doesn’t have to be a salad every day. One of my clients really didn’t like vegetables and mostly ate fast food. She had a long way to go towards a better diet, but she lost weight by making changes to her current eating habit. And she was more willing to take my other recommendations when she saw that calorie counting really worked. Calorie counting makes losing weight more flexible because you get to pick what you want to eat!

3. Helps you Overcome Anxiety Towards “Bad Foods”

Most of my clients have dieted for a longgggg time. They have it drilled in their heads that they can’t lose weight eating dairy, carbs, fast food, candy, sugar. And no matter how much I say this isn’t true, it doesn’t click until they type those foods in and notice they are the same calories as some of the “good” food. They start to understand how to negotiate if they want the avocado on a salad or a cookie. They don’t feel like they’re going to gain 10 pounds from 1 burger. I was honestly surprised by the amount of clients that I have who tell me that calorie count has healed their relationship with food. One client I had was so afraid to eat almost anything because she thought it was causing her weight gain and then she would end up overeating on everything. Calorie counting helped her to realize that some of the foods she was eating really wasn’t that high in calories. She decreased her overeating because she didn’t deprive herself of the food anymore.

I honestly was afraid to teach people about calorie tracking or even promote it, because of how afraid I was to make my clients obsess about their calories. But this honestly hardly happens. I know that you just want a guide and to be told exactly what to do to lose weight, and calorie tracking does that. You get your calories and stick to the plan. Easy peasy! And if you need help, reach out to me ;)