Mistake 1: Not measuring everything
You should never eyeball portion sizes when counting calories. Because it’s easy to downplay estimated calorie intake, so you can eat more food. Measuring everything on a food scale keeps you honest.

Mistake 2: Not counting every day
You must log everything you eat, even on bad days so you can maintain accuracy. The more accurate you are, the more predictable your rate of fat loss.

Mistake 3: Not counting liquid calories
Every calorie you put in your mouth needs to be counted. Liquid calories can be dangerous as they still count towards your total calories but don’t fill you up like eating regular meals.

Mistake 4: Not tracking meals out
Not tracking meals out can blow your progress especially because most meals you eat out are going to be high in calories.

Mistake 5: Not adjusting logged portions
This is most common in people who are new to calorie counting. They might make a meal, and do a decent job of logging all the ingredients but haven’t adjusted the portions to what they actually ate.

Mistake 6: Not pre-planning your meals in advance
You need to log what you intend to eat the day before. If you pre-log your food you’ll know if you’re going to hit your calorie target or not and can adjust your meals beforehand.

Mistake 7: Dropping calories too quickly
1. This is common in beginners. The scale doesn’t drop for a week so they drop their calories by 500. If you’re not progressing, it’s likely because…
2. You’re not measuring accurately
3. You’re not consistently hitting your calorie target
4. You’re training or steps are less than you planned
5. Your stress is high and you’re not sleeping enough
6. Your body isn’t a perfect math equation and even “perfect” calorie counting doesn’t always give weekly progress