Sometimes life comes in the way and there’s simply no way you can prepare your meals and stick to your diet.
When that happens, I have a step-by-step solution for you.
1) Install A Calorie Tracking App
Your total daily calories are the single most important factor of your diet, therefore we will start by installing a calorie tracking app on your smart phone.
Besides that, actively tracking your food intake will prevent you from making bad food choices because the act of writing down what you put in your body makes you more accountable.
My favorite calorie tracking app is VirtuaGym Food because it loads fast and has all foods stated in grams rather than vague measures like cups.
You can download the app on the links below:
And don’t worry about spending all day measuring, weighing and inputting your foods.
After the initial week of getting used to it, it takes no more than 10 minutes per day to input your foods.
2) Hit Your Daily Caloric Goals
Once you have your calorie tracking app, simply input every meal you eat and make sure that you don’t exceed the amount of calories stated in your diet plan.
In the case you eat out (most likely), the best strategy you can follow is listed below:
- Choose restaurants that provide healthy food options.
- Choose dishes that resemble those in your diet plan the most. Lean meat, fish and salmon for protein. Potatoes, rice and quinoa for carbs. Don’t be afraid to ask for customised dishes that aren’t on the menu, e.g. grilled chicken breast, rice and steamed vegetables.
- Ask the waiter exactly how many grams of each food there are in the dish. (In the case you frequent the restaurant a lot, it’s good to write this down so you know it in the future). If they don’t know, you will have to estimate the portion sizes by yourself and put them into your calorie tracking app. When in doubt, always OVERESTIMATE rather than UNDERESTIMATE.
- Ask them to use maximum 1 tbsp. of oil (preferably extra virgin olive oil) when cooking your food. This can make a huge difference because each tablespoon of oil has 135 calories so using 3 tablespoons in the cooking is 405 calories (an extra 270 calories from the additional 2 tablespoons). This can literally be the difference between staying at the same weight and losing weight, so it’s crucial that you ask for this.
- If you order any kind of smoothie, juice or iced tea, make sure it’s made from purely fresh fruit and ask them to make it without any sugar. Again, restaurants often dump a bunch of refined sugar to add flavor in their smoothies and juices and that in combination with a lot of oil in your dishes causes a lot of unwanted fat gains.
Bonus Tips
- When counting calories, you will quickly find that you have to make the right food choices to stay satiated, so a good rule of thumb is to avoid foods that are fried, high in sugar or heavy in wheat. These foods are extremely high calorie while providing minimal satiety!
- When you eat out, it’s OK to: 1) Ask about the ingredients in a meal and 2) Ask for custom meals that aren’t on the menu. Most restaurants can serve a lean cut of chicken breast and rice with some vegetables on the side, so go for that kind of meal when possible.
- Most major cities have a healthy food delivery for fitness people. You can look up such food deliveries in your area and then order food for the day there if you’re too busy to cook.