Secondly, eat mindfully, paying attention to your body’s hunger and satiation cues. This is one of those cases when quality matters more than quantity. Our next question then is, if counting calories is not an optimum solution, what are the best recommendations for weight management?įirstly, consume a diet consisting mostly of whole foods and minimally processed foods. In conclusion, calorie counting can be helpful when we want to have a rough estimate of the calories and micronutrients we are consuming, but should not be relied upon solely for weight loss or on a day-to-day basis. This is where health coaching comes in – having the right progress monitoring tools and someone to be accountable to makes all the difference.If we could count calories and adhere to our health and fitness goals all on our own, a lot fewer people would be struggling with meeting their weight loss goals! Finally, we know from literature and experience that one of the key contributors to sustainable, long-term change is accountability.In order to have lasting results, it is important to tune in to one’s internal hunger and satiation cues.The process of counting calories is an external system, in which an individual is outsourcing their appetite awareness (often to an app!).Through experience and client testimonials, this can perpetuate a mindset of restriction and deprivation, feelings of guilt (when eating more than the recommended calorie limit) and eventually, an unhealthy relationship with food.Apart from your basal metabolic rate, it does not take into account activity or movement level during the day.Some apps give you an estimate of how many calories you should be consuming per day, based on the height and weight you input – but this is usually inaccurate or much too low.Remember, the equation ‘calories in versus calories out’ is oversimplified, especially when we are comparing whole foods with processed foods (PS: one study found that eating whole foods took 46.8% more energy to digest on average than processed foods!)1.This is known as the Thermic Effect of Food Our bodies burn 20-30 percent of protein calories, 5-10 percent of carbohydrate calories and 0-3 percent of fat calories in the digestion process. Calories can come from protein, carbohydrates or fat.Just think about it – 100 calories from ice cream will have a different effect in the body compared to 100 calories from kale.In addition, NOT ALL CALORIES ARE CREATED EQUALLY.Individuals also absorb calories differently and variably, depending on our gut bacteria.
This varies between different foods, and while scientists have tried to take this into account when reflecting calorie counts, there is still inaccuracy (especially for fiber- and protein-rich foods).We do not absorb all of the calories we consume.Some have estimated an error of up to 25 percent in calories reported!.For example, 100g of raw potato has 70 calories, while 100g of the same mashed potato has 108 calories Even if they are accurate, depending on how a food is prepared (cooked, chopped, or blended), the amount of energy available for digestion and absorption changes.Food companies may use any of 5 different methods to estimate calories The calorie and nutritional information found on food packaging is not always accurate.The process of counting calories is highly imprecise.While there is nothing inherently wrong with these apps (and they are certainly useful in some instances), here are some things to keep in mind when relying on a calorie counting app (or simply calorie counting for that matter!) for weight management. In theory, we are told to burn more calories than we take in and TA-DAH, weight loss, right? Simply input your food intake (and sometimes your exercise), and the app generates how many calories and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats, etc) you’ve consumed for the day. One of the popular ways to count calories is through the use of mobile applications or websites such as MyFitnessPal, Lose It! and Cron-o-meter. When trying to manage their weight, people often resort to a variety of methods – increasing their frequency of exercise, limiting their consumption of unhealthy foods – and, probably the most common approach, counting calories.
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