It might surprise you to hear that I, a Dietitian, am not a huge fan of calorie counting. It’s not one of my recommended techniques for managing weight.
It might also relieve you to hear this, if you’ve had a bad experience with counting calories, or you’ve been thinking about doing it!
Don’t get me wrong… some people enjoy the process of logging and calculating everything they eat and do. New technology is making this easier and more enjoyable, too. If you enjoy it, and it works for you, go ahead and do it.
But most people simply don’t have the time or patience for it. The good news is that this is totally fine… because most people will not benefit long term from counting calories. In fact, dieting behaviours like calorie counting are associated with factors like stress and lowered metabolism, which contribute to long term weight gain.
You can manage your weight successfully without counting calories. In fact, most people’s long term health and weight outcomes will improve by adopting different strategies instead.
Counting calories is a tricky technique, because it works… IF you do it accurately and IF you stick to it. Those are two big “IFs,” and the numbers show that most people don’t meet them.
Calorie Counting Can’t Be Counted On
Calorie-counters will tell you that it’s the only surefire way to lose weight, because “calories in = calories out.” They like the mathematical and concrete nature of it. They can tell when they’re doing what they need to do, and when they aren’t.
But there’s no evidence that counting calories helps people lose weight AND KEEP IT OFF. At best, it’s a short-term solution that might help people take weight off and educate them on the caloric density found in different foods.
At worst, it sabotages your relationship with food, and is associated with binge eating, yoyo dieting, a higher BMI, and lowered health indicators.
6 Problems Inherent To Calorie Counting
Here are some specific problems inherent to counting calories:
- The counts aren’t accurate. There are all sorts of things that can throw off your count. When eating out at a restaurant, how do you know the calories there? Most problematically, people tend to underestimate the calories they’ve consumed, and overestimate their exercise.
- It’s not sustainable. Constantly monitoring everything you eat takes a certain amount of effort. When life gets busy and stress levels rise, then other things take priority. And once you’re no longer counting calories, you have nothing to keep your eating under control. This is related to the following problem…
- It can trigger binge eating and lead to a food obsession. Some health professionals consider calorie counting an eating disorder in itself.
- It can’t account for your body’s natural fluctuations in caloric needs. Ladies know what I’m talking about. There are times in your month when your body is working harder, burning calories that will never show up on a calorie count. You’re extra hungry this time of the month? Too bad, the chart says you’ve eaten enough. You can either go hungry and limit your body’s ability to power and heal itself, or break your diet, which could very likely end in a binge.
- It’s a restrictive lifestyle and not good for your mental health. Can you go travelling and eat the local cuisine without knowing the calorie counts? Or worse, will you end up suffering severe psychological stress from the lifestyle, like the men from this caloric restriction study?
- It doesn’t respect your body’s signals of hunger and fullness. This is critical. Your body is an amazing, self-regulatory system that should be allowed to work as designed.
Your kidneys, for example, are constantly filtering your blood. When you eat too much salt, they dump it into your urine. They’re working every second of every day to keep your body balanced.
If your kidneys stop working, you go on dialysis. An incredible machine keeps you alive by filtering your blood for you, but it can’t live up to the precision of the kidneys. Health and quality of life suffers. You have to regularly spend time hooked up to a machine that does a mediocre job of what your body used to do perfectly.
Counting calories is like hooking yourself up to a dialysis machine even though your kidneys work fine. It takes time out of your day and it does a poor job of managing weight. Unless you have a very rare disorder, you have the same hunger and fullness cues that everyone else has. Why put yourself through an ineffective and inconvenient lifestyle change, when you don’t have to?
What’s the Alternative to Calorie Counting?
Intuitive eating is one of the techniques that I guide my clients through for weight management, because it’s associated with lower BMI scores, and higher health and self-esteem indicators. It involves listening to your body’s cues, just like you did when you were an infant. Of course, by now you’re probably not used to listening to your body’s cues, but you can learn to do it again.
There’s a whole process to learning how to do this, but you can start by paying careful attention to how your body feels as you eat. Note that different foods affect you in different ways. Some keep you feeling fuller for longer. Can you identify which ones those are?
Over the next little while I’ll be talking more about how to do intuitive eating, as well as some other techniques you can use to quit overeating. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, I’d be interested in hearing from those of you who have tried calorie counting. Did you have success? I’d love to hear your story and thoughts in the comments!
Additional References
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=2007-04834-008
http://www.bodylovewellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/medicares-search-for-effective-obesity-treatments-mann-et-al.pdf
http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/docs/calorie%20counting.pdf
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-reveals-why-calorie-counts-are-all-wrong/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201103/dieting-can-make-you-lose-your-mind
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002822305003226
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19325037.2006.10598892
http://heb.sagepub.com/content/25/4/464.short
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19325037.2005.10608206
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019566631200400X
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2895000/
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/48/16399.full.pdf
sarah says
Why, I just joined a calorie counting program!I’ve joined and quit the same program probably 10 times over the past few years. I keep quitting because it’s a pain in the butt and doesn’t seem to work, anyway. I’m just desperate for SOMETHING to work, I guess.
I find it annoying because things that I think are bad and don’t want to eat, such as fake sugars and low-fat foods are rewarded because they don’t count as much. I DO find, however, that it keeps me more mindful of how much I’m eating and my portion sizes. I also like it because I can account for “regular” foods – I have a family to feed and it is a right pain in the tush to make a separate meal for myself (I low carbed for 2 years. I know from experience)
Jessica Penner says
Hi Sarah, I understand your frustrating of just wanting SOMETHING to work! I highly recommend looking into mindful eating practices. These help you to become aware of portion sizes and how much food your body needs at one time. The human body is actually really amazing at knowing how much food it needs! The problem is that we have been trained out of listening to it 🙂
Jolene says
After Brody was born I found myself with some extra weight to shed. I used My Fitness Pal to track my calories and a heart rate monitor to track my calories burned during workouts. I realize there are many factors involved in the over simplified “calories in calories out” approach to weight loss, however, it helped me be mindful of everything I put in my mouth, helping me focus on high protein and high fibre foods to keep me feeling full. It also taught me to realize I didn’t need as much food as I thought I did. If I ate nutrient dense foods I felt more satisfied than high calorie and highly processed food. It also helped me push harder in my workouts to get my heart rate up higher, hence burning more calories. I have logged back into to My Fitness Pal now after Rachel was born to lose the baby weight again. I’m well on my way!!
I absolutely agree with you, Jess, that it is NOT sustainable and takes a fair bit of time. It is not a lifetime approach to weight MANAGEMENT. But I do like it for weight LOSS by keeping me constantly accountable for my intake. Does that make sense??
Stephanie says
Love this! Calorie counting is just a big headache and what do you get? Not much. I love you blog. Thanks for all the great advice.
Jessica Penner says
Thanks! I love that summary: Calorie counting is just a big headache and what do you get? Not much.
Cortney says
I’m currently working on my diet and calorie counting for the past 4 months. I’ve lost 15 pounds so far. It is A LOT of work. I’ve cooked this nice meal I believe to be low calorie and now I HAVE to create my recipe and log my food and can only eat THIS little amount??The month of December has been especially hard and I don’t know if it’s the holidays or winter or what? But one thing I’ve definitely been working on is to stop eating when I’m satisfied. I’ve learned a lot about the different types of food and those that make you feel full longer in my quest for my weight loss solution. All in all I know it’s a lifestyle change and portion control that will be the key to keep it off long term.
Jessica Penner says
Love the self-reflection! A lifestyle change is the more sustainable approach. What change did you have in mind?