Importance of Calorie Counting

Calorie counting… it’s a love/hate relationship. Let’s look at why many people “hate” calorie counting.  When calories consumed are monitored, it forces people to take responsibility of their actions and habits, which can be a daunting awareness factor.

You wake up and immediately venture to the kitchen to brew your morning cup of coffee. The aroma, the taste, the warmth… ahhh, you love sipping this low-calorie, beverage – so you think. When you stare into your cup of joe, you notice that the once black coffee is now a milky concoction due to the spoonsful of sugar and creamer. You start adding up the calories: 40 calories of sugar, 100 calories of creamer. Now, you realize that your zero-calorie coffee habit has actually been setting you back 140 calories each morning. Yikes! What’s worse is that you’ve been creating and drinking the same milky concoction after lunch, too. By mid-day, you’re already 280 calories deeper than you had expected, that’s why so many people rather have juice and read centrifugal juicers reviews on the internet to know what’s the best for them.

Calorie counting is a great technique for watching what and how much you consume. Hidden calories in food and beverages can sneak in unwanted calories if you’re not paying attention, and without a watchful and careful eye, you could tack on the pounds over the years. Think of it this way, calorie counting is a way for the individual to save time and energy over the years. Rather than allowing the pounds to stack on, stay ahead of the game and watch what you take in.

Calorie Usage Technology

The latest and greatest technology out there are fitness trackers. The primary technology of these trackers includes accelerometers, which are small devices that track motion via specific technology. Many brands use heart rate and body weight as a way of detecting calorie burn, which is a valuable tool in body weight management. When looking for a tracker that tracks your calorie usage, you will want to make sure that it is accurate. Let’s take a good look at the Basis Peak watch versus a FitBit.

• Heart Rate Accuracy. If you are searching for something that tracks your fitness, you will want to make sure that it accurately represents your heart rate. If your heart rate is not accurate (as if it is actually measuring higher than it is), then you will not have accurate data. Since calorie burning is tied into heart rate monitoring, do your research on your gadget to ensure its accuracy. When compared to the FitBit Charge HR, the Basis Peak is far more accurate in heart rate accuracy, demonstrating a 3.6 percent better accuracy in monitoring. When all things are considered, a three percent difference in measurement is pretty significant in your fitness.

• Calorie Usage. The second aspect in fitness tracking needs to include calorie burning, or usage. When you monitor your body weight and are on a strict daily calorie load, you need something that can deliver accurate results. When compared to the FitBit Charge HR, the Basis Peak is 14 percent more accurate. When you look into this even more, if you are a 30-year old male, standing 5’9, who burns on average 2,400 calories daily, a 14 percent error is the difference of 336 calories daily! This is almost an entire meal for most people (or a slice of 4.5 ounce cheese pizza). Look at the error percentage in this way: If this same male weighs 180 pounds, he would need to run on a flat surface for 23 minutes at a 10 minute per mile pace in order to burn 336 calories.

Go For Accuracy

While calorie counting is a valuable tool in weight management, many fitness tracking devices do not allow for this functionality directly on the gadget itself. This is why finding a tracker that monitors calorie burning as accurately as possible is important. When you enter your entire calories consumed and used for a particular day, you want to ensure there is not a whopping 14 percent error in your measurements.  Of course, human error can result in inaccuracies when updating food logs, which would translate into even more error. The point is, go for accuracy when you are tracking your calories consumed and calories burned and go with a brand that is most reliable and accurate.

References