Top 5 Reasons Counting Calories Won't Help You Lose Weight
ABSTRACT
Discover the top 5 reasons why counting calories may not lead to effective weight loss. Learn about the inaccuracies in calorie needs, food absorption, and nutrition labels, and how focusing solely on calories can make you ignore your hunger cues and fall into the misconception of exercising off excess food. Get insights from a Denver personal trainer on better weight loss strategies.
KEYWORDS
Counting calories
Weight loss myths
Calorie counting accuracy
Basal metabolic rate
Food absorption calories
Inaccurate calorie counts
Ignoring hunger cues
Misconceptions about exercise
Calorie counting drawbacks
Effective weight loss strategies
Counting calories for weight loss / Photo: Adrienn
Here is a great top 5 list of why counting calories may not entirely help you lose weight (from the MSN article “Here's Why Counting Calories Really Isn't Necessary for Weight Loss”).
1. YOU LIKELY HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY CALORIES YOU ACTUALLY NEED.
To accurately count calories for weight loss, you’d need to know your basal metabolic rate, or how many calories your body burns daily to stay alive and keep all your systems running. And unless you’ve done indirect calorimetry, which I can almost guarantee you haven’t—it involves lying with a mask on, hooked up to a costly piece of machinery for a prolonged period to measure your oxygen intake and carbon dioxide expulsion—you are playing with arbitrary numbers. Although it’s the “gold standard” of figuring out how many calories you use daily, like anything else, indirect calorimetry can have flaws.
Yes, you can approximate the number of calories you use daily via equations and apps, but that’s all you get: an approximation. If even the “gold standard” machine can be wrong, hen why let some app or equation determine how much you should eat?
Personal Trainer Wisdom: We can’t necessarily rely on the caloric approximations provided by our favorite tech tools. They are estimated guesses based on typically less-than-personal factors. Generally, most sedentary people (7000 steps per day or less) only require 1300-1700 calories per day (far less than typically consumed).
2. YOU DON’T KNOW HOW MANY CALORIES YOUR BODY IS ABSORBING FROM FOOD.
Let’s say that, by some miracle, you know exactly how many calories you need to eat per day to lose weight. That’s great, but thanks to the question of absorption, you’re not out of the woods.
We once thought that since 3,500 calories equal a pound, every time you eat 3,500 extra calories beyond what your body needs, you gain that weight. Now we know better: Not all calories are equal like we thought.
Everything from how your food is processed to how much fiber it contains determines how many calories you’re absorbing from it. Even the bacteria in your gut may play a part in how you digest food and how many calories you derive from it.
For example, you’ll absorb more calories from cooked meat versus raw and peanut butter versus whole peanuts. Due to size differences, one sweet potato varies in calories from another before you even take it off the shelf at the store. Calories absorbed is a complex business that’s light years beyond any calorie-counting app on the market.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: This is another reminder that not all calories are created equal. Do you really know how your body interacts with the foods you eat? You most likely never studied the differences, but now is the time.
3. CALORIE COUNTS ON PACKAGES AREN’T NECESSARILY ACCURATE.
But wait! Even if you know how many calories you need and how many you’re absorbing, you’re not done! In fact, the Food and Drug Administration allows up to a 20 percent margin of error in the numbers on those nutrition labels you likely rely on to count your calories. This means that the 250-calorie snack you’re eating might have 200 calories—or 300.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: If you’re calorie counting, you’re most likely living on the edge of too much. I recommend a large buffer zone in case the calorie count on the packages is as inaccurate as this article claims.
4. COUNTING CALORIES CAN ENCOURAGE YOU TO IGNORE YOUR HUNGER CUES.
Focusing entirely on calories, instead of the quality of the food you’re eating and how you actually feel before chowing down (hungry, bored, stressed, etc.), can wreak havoc on those precious hunger cues you’re born with. Whether you’re eating just because you “have calories left,” even though you’re not truly hungry, or you’re not eating because you’ve “gone over” your calorie allotment for the day, but you’re still hungry, you’re doing the same thing: ignoring what your body is trying to tell you.
Trust your body because it knows what it needs a lot more than some random number or tracker.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: Ultimately, your physical cues will determine the type of foods you should eat and how much. The more in tune you are with your body, the more optimally you can operate it.
5. CALORIE COUNTING ADDS TO THE MISCONCEPTION YOU CAN “WORK OFF” THE FOOD YOU EAT.
One of the things that anger me most about calorie-counting apps is the impression they give that you can exercise yourself “back into the green.” Going over your “calorie allowance” repeatedly because you think you can burn off the transgressions? Nope. Your body doesn’t burn off food calorie-for-calorie like that.
A 2014 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine emphasized that “it is where the calories come from that is crucial” in determining whether your body is tempted to store them as fat, use them for energy, or apply them to some other mechanism, the study authors explain.
If you routinely overindulge, try to work it off in the gym. You’ll be exercising for a very long time, depending on the size of the junky meals you’ve eaten. This, in turn, may cause you to become hungrier…and eat more. Vicious cycle? Definitely.
The good news is that when you only overeat occasionally, your body can handle those extra calories without making you gain weight. It’s when you overeat on a more frequent basis that you can get into weight-gain territory.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: The “calories in vs. out” theory has consistently failed my personal training clients for years. Too many factors affect how calories are consumed and expelled to deliver a convenient formula. Once again, err on caution by choosing the most nutrient-dense foods while remaining active daily. It doesn’t get more simple than this.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: MICHAEL MOODY, PERSONAL TRAINER
As an author, a personal trainer in Denver, and podcast host, Michael Moody has helped personal training clients achieve new fitness heights and incredible weight loss transformations since 2005. He also produces the wellness podcast "The Elements of Being" and has been featured on NBC, WGN Radio, and PBS.
Michael offers personal training to Denver residents who want to meet at the 2460 W 26th Ave studio….or in their homes throughout LoHi (80206), LoDo (80202), RiNo (80216), Washington Park (80209), Cherry Creek (80206, 80209, 80243, 80246, 80231), and Highlands (80202, 80211, 80212). Michael also offers experiences with a personal trainer in Jefferson Park (80211) and Sloan's Lake (80204, 80212).
If you’re looking for a personal trainer who can curate a sustainable (and adaptable) routine based on your needs and wants, Michael is the experienced practitioner you’ve been looking for. Try personal training for a month…your body will thank you!
