Get Accurate And Get Results!

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What’s your goal?

Last week we talked about checking in on and refreshing our goals and plans. But a plan is only any good if you do what it says – much like a map is only any good if you can read it and follow it. 

So if you are really focused on a plan to hit a certain weight, by a certain date, by eating a certain number of calories each day, it is so important that you are sticking to them like glue. There will be things that come up, that you need to adjust and adapt to, and adapt you must, if you want to hit those weekly goals.

Is it time to get serious?

We encourage making simple changes to affect lifestyle change, in the honest held belief that you make enough changes, and build the right habit, you will hit your long term weight loss goals. However if you want to guarantee weight loss and you have a specific goal in mind for a specific date, then you need to up your game.

If you want to absolutely 100% guarantee that you will lose weight week on week, you must track your calories, and most importantly track them accurately.

If we are the sort of people that have always had a problem with overeating, to the point where we gain weight, it might be a safe assumption to make that we aren’t very good at guessing what might be the right portion size and therefore the right calories for us.

Some people are really lucky and just seem to be able to reduce their portion sizes, eat ‘healthy’ foods, cut out the junk and succeed at this game – but then there are a lot of people that can’t do that too. If this is you, then read on.

If you are one of those people, then there is only one thing to do – that is to stop guessing and get accurate. It might seem boring but if you want success, you are going to have to do it, at least for a short time, until your eyes get used to what your new portions look like or until you develop a quick way of measuring things out.

Where can it go wrong?

It can go wrong in lots of places, miscalculating portion sizes, misreading labels and misjudging what we have ‘earned’ in exercise, to name just three.

We are all guilty of this, I know I am at times, but if we are on track for a specific goal, we have to get honest and most importantly accurate with our calorie tracking.  This makes us truly accountable to ourselves and gives us the best chance at succeeding at weight loss.

We have done a little research into where we might make mistakes when we miscalculate our portion sizes, and of course the damage that can then do.

Pasta (60g standard portion)213 caloriesPasta (free poured – 100g?)356 calories
Nuts (25g portion pack)156 caloriesNuts (a good handful from a bigger bag – 100g?)640 calories
Medium baked potato (173g)161 caloriesLarge baked potato (300g)279 calories
Orange Juice (150ml recommended portion)64 caloriesOrange Juice (half a pint)121 calories
Cereal (30g standard portion)107 caloriesCereal (free poured – 60g?)214 calories
Doritos (30g standard bag)149 caloriesDoritos (Quarter of a share bag)223 calories
Cheese (30g portion)125 caloriesCheese (couple of extra grates of the block for luck! (50g?)208 calories
Mince beef (125g – standard ‘per person’ portion)155 caloriesMince beef (166g- if you make a recipe for 4 people but then split it between 3)206 calories

It’s easy to make those little slips, when we are free pouring pasta into the pan, the cereal into the bowl, or when we suddenly have one less at a mealtime (because we can’t waste it!). But all those little slips will add up… so we need to find a way of controlling them.

The best way to control your portion sizes is obviously to get the kitchen scales out and weigh things. It might seem like a chore at first, but you will soon get used to what your new portion sizes looks like, or find an easier way to measure. Maybe using a small tea cup to measure cereal, or just a sprinkle on the bottom of the bowl.

Using pre-packed portions of things like dried fruit and nuts or other snacks is a great way to stop the endless dipping into the bigger share bag. We have even had members using pre-packaged small pots of jam, to make sure they know what they are eating.

Under reporting and over estimating

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) actually carried out a study in 2018, to look into how people report the amount of calories that they consume, and whether it accurately reflects true calorie consumption.

The reason for this study was to understand why generally reports of calorie consumption were reducing, but the population’s weight, and incidences of overweight and obesity, was increasing. So there had to be a reason why. And it couldn’t just be that we were less active as a nation, because the drop in energy expenditure, did not equate to the rate of weight gain in the general population.

This study found that on average British people under estimate the amount of calories consumed, and actually take in 50% more than they think they do. In the ONS study 4000 people reported calorie consumption as part of a diet survey and it revealed some interesting findings.

  • Men reported consuming 2065 calories a day on average, but actual consumption was 3119 – They ate 51% more calories than they reported consuming.
  • Women reported consuming 1570 calories a day on average, but actual consumption was 2393 – They ate 52% more calories than they reported consuming.
  • Obese and overweight people under estimated their calorie consumption by a greater proportion than those who were a healthy weight, although there was still under-reporting in this sector. Which kind of agrees with our assertion that if we are big, we perhaps aren’t that good at guessing our calories.


We also often over-estimate how many calories our exercise buys us. We regularly hear people saying they have been for a 5k or 10k run, or they have been to the gym for an hour, so they reward themselves with food.

Below, we have put together a list of exercises and their equivalent in calories for a 13 stone person, and the food equivalent of those calories.

EXERCISECALORIES BURNEDFOOD EQUIVALENT
5k Run350 CaloriesTin of soup and a slice of bread and butter
30 minute HIIT Session311 Calories1/3 of a 9″ Dominos Margarita pizza
30 minutes swimming breast stroke222 CaloriesPorridge pot and a banana
1 hour yoga356 caloriesPrepacked feta and tomato pasta salad
1 hour walk356 caloriesTuna mayo and cucumber sandwich on wholemeal bread
30 minutes bike ride355 Calories1/2 a chicken korma and rice ready meal, and one poppadom
1 hour strength/weights session266 CaloriesGreggs hot chocolate

So as you can see, we must be mindful that we don’t overestimate our exercise because that run you just did or the workout session in the gym, really doesn’t equal the Indian takeaway complete with starters and sundries, and a bottle or two of Cobra.  And that swim you just did really doesn’t equal the chocolate muffin and latte that you had afterwards.

That is why we encourage you to keep exercise separate to weight loss, and treat exercise as a method to get you fit, and concentrate solely on your nutrition to lose weight.

We also ask you to never eat your exercise calories, because we have already accounted for them. When we calculate your calorie allowance, we ask you what your activity levels are. In doing this it averages out your calorie needs including enough to fuel your activity. So your calories are your calories, stick to them!

Oops I forgot!

Then there’s the things that we ‘forgot’ we ate! That biscuit as we passed the treat desk at work, the piece of ham we picked at in the fridge, the chips we pinched off the kids tea when we were serving up.

The things we eat absent-mindedly and without thought or control can really get in the way of our success. And when we added up all the potential calories from a standard day of picking and nibbling at foods without thought, we calculated we could be having an extra 700 calories a day without even realising. It is so easy to do – so it is vital that if you are tracking calories, you record absolutely everything that passes your lips, because it all adds up.

This week!

Get accurate – it’s the only way to guarantee your weight loss success, so get those kitchen scales out and starting weighing your way to weight loss!

Record every single thing that passes your lips and see what a difference it makes to the scales next week. You probably won’t realise how much extra your eating, and by recording it all, you will think twice before you put something in your mouth.

Be precise and you will be onto a winner! Good luck and get tracking!

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