Can you
get away with just “eating healthy” or do counting calories really make a
difference in losing fat? Is calorie counting better than counting “portions”
Should you be relying on a food journal? Is calorie counting the price
you must pay to get the body you always wanted? Here’s what
you must understand about calorie counting and the good news is that you won’t need to
become a number-crunching food fanatic in your quest for a useful womens fitness
plan!
Calorie
counting had been around for as long as we can all remember. Today a lot
of diet programs recommend “portions” because counting every single calorie in
the literal sense will drive you insane and it’s not a
long-term lifestyle solution.
I have no
problem with people counting portions because it recognizes the importance of
portion control and affirms that calories do matter. On the other hand,
be careful of anybody who tells you that “calories don’t
matter” and you can “eat whatever you want as long it’s healthy”
and still lose fat.
I’m living
proof that this logic is flawed. Marketers will continue to tell you what
you wish to hear in hopes that you pull out your credit card and buy their new
gimmick.
The
Reasons Why Calorie Counting Doesn’t Work Are
Quite
Detailed So Lets Look At It As Simple As Possible…
A Calorie
is defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one
kg of water by one degree.
The only
way to truly test this measurement is by measuring the combustion of food. How
many food products are in the grocery store? And how many of them do you
believe determine the exact Caloric count? Not many.
Therefore
it can be assumed the food labels on products are a mereestimates.
Bottom line: calorie counting and meal plans are simply an educated
guess. They are simply a starting point to assess what changes must
take place next.
Let’s add in the
factors of digestion and absorption lose with food ingestion and you have a
very difficult caloric equation to figure out.
On the
other end of things, determining how many calories the body needs is also a
difficult task. Sure there are estimated equations but those do not take into account basal metabolic rate,
resting metabolic rate, thermogenesis effect, purposeful exercise and our daily
exercise expenditure from activities of daily living (ADL).
Although
I do believe calorie counting is useful, it is an estimate and focusing on
calories, instead of quality of our food is usually the problem. Learning to
replace old habits with better ones should be our focus.
– Flavia Del Monte
P.S. Let
me know if “calorie counting” has helped or hurt your progress. I would
love to know your experience below.
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