When it comes to weight loss, pretty much everyone gives this same piece of advice.
You can’t outwork a bad diet.
And unfortunately for those of us who love to eat—this is absolutely true.
Even if you work out really hard and stay consistent with your workouts, you’re not going to lose the weight if you keep eating yourself into a caloric surplus on a consistent basis.
But here’s where it gets tricky.
What if you’ve really cut back on your eating, but are STILL not losing the weight?
If this sounds like you, then it’s probably true that your calorie intake hasn’t quite tipped the scales into a caloric deficit yet.
In other words—you probably still need to cut some calories.
And in this post, you’re going to learn about three possible problem areas that you might not have checked on before.
Once you read the labels on these products, you may quickly realize where those ‘unaccounted-for calories’ might be coming from!
Let’s dive into it.
1. Olive Oil
You may not realize this. But as good as olive oil is for you, it’s actually pretty calorie dense.
For example:
1 tablespoon of olive oil contains 119 calories.
Now, that may not sound like that big of a deal.
Add 119 calories to each meal because you’re using olive oil. No problem. Right?
Well, it’s not that simple.
See, a tablespoon of olive oil is a pretty small amount.
If you’re pouring it from the bottle, odds are good that you’re using 2 to 3 times that much.
That can add up to as much as 300 extra calories per meal, which adds up to 900 calories per day!
2. Butter
Ah. Butter.
It’s delicious, right?
Plus, there’s no harm in adding a bit of it to the skillet before frying your eggs, right?
Well, as it turns out, butter is also pretty calorie dense.
It packs in 102 calories per tablespoon.
Now, butter is usually easier to measure by sight than olive oil, due to the packaging.
But still—this is often a pretty major source of extra calories that just doesn’t need to exist in such plentiful amounts with your meals.
Use it 3 times, and you’ve added 300 extra calories to your daily amount that you probably didn’t even count!
3. Steak
A lot of people equate steak with a zero-carb diet. And thus, they think to themselves…
Steak isn’t really that many calories. I can eat a bunch of it. Also, beef is good for you!
Well, beef is really good for you. But did you know that a single patio steak from the supermarket can pack in up to a whopping 700 calories (or sometimes more)?
That may not seem like much—but if you’re trying to keep your calories to a minimum, cutting it in half and splitting it between two meals as a protein source may help you to manage those calories a lot better.
In Conclusion
Counting your calories is important if you want to lose weight.
But in order to do that effectively, just remember—you need to track all of your calories!
Even those that come from cooking oil, butter, and your protein sources.
