Anorexia took control of my life. I restricted calories to the point of starvation. It was an obsession. I fully believe listening to your body is essential for your health. I hope to see more people advocating against counting calories because of the damage it can cause for people who already struggle with their eating. Thank you for sharing your story and helping to inspire others. I struggle with counting calories because other than what I deem to be simple aerobic activity, I am unable to partake in heavy gym workouts or running etc.
Other than other health issues, I get hungry some days and really want food but do not want to eat it for fear that I will gain weight or not feel well.
At about 50kg, my organs started to shut down, and I was diagnosed with anorexia. When my weight reached such a low level, I began a cycle of bingeing and restricting during recovery till eventually my weight stabilised at 62kg.
I have always struggled with my weight and body image. At about 15 I started eating a completely clean diet and exercising daily and got down to my ideal body weight. I ate until I was full and felt amazing.
However, I was obsessive and would not touch a piece of white bread or something with added sugar etc and I realized while my body was very healthy, an obsession like that is not.
During the summer before college, I somehow put on 15 pounds by partying and not eating right. I got up to which was quite heavy for me.
I eat very healthy and workout at least 3 times a week. However, I take everything to extremes and I can already feel myself wanting to completely restrict myself from food just because of the calories, or not wanting to touch carbs, etc. I was hungry all. And during the weekends I would lose my mind and eat absolute garbage so it was combating any losses during the week.
I have to say, this article is kind of sad. So you spent 4 minutes calculating some numbers before you eat? Just weight yourself a couple times a month and make the necessary adjustments.
The bottom line is CICO works — if your honest. I really find it rather insulting that you tell people that counting calories is just too much time and it takes the joy out of eating.
Anytime I have needed to lose weight, I simply start counting calories. I eat whatever I want, and enjoy the food just the same. Listen to your body you say?
Yea, yea yea. Keep on listening. Either way is perfectly valid. A lot of overweight people literally eat these kinds of articles up because it gives them an excuse not to be mindful of the caloric intake they consume on a daily basis. I am a dietetics student and have been keeping track of my calories since early high school. I feel like it has gotten to the point where it has taken control of my life which lead me to this article.
Reading this has made me delete my calorie app on my phone and I am going to try and listen to my body. Wish me luck. I love this post. Counting calories since I was 17 until now over 50! Will be more than happy to get more of your posts. I have been calorie counting for about a month now on a desperate journey on trying to loose weight. I am 14 and 70kg and naturally burn about cals a day. I now eat less that This has really helped me start trying to give up calorie counting.
I know its bad but i cant stop xx. Eating intuitively has been much better for me. I looked leaner and my face slimmed down. Hey Lily, I absolutely love this article! I do suffer from anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder and a slight eating disorder and also a set of parents mostly my mom that feel a need to monitor and comment on my food choices and my weight constantly. This article really just gave me life lol. I can not agree more. When I started to count calories using an app on my phone, I was pretty happy with myself.
I always ate a little less than the calories suggested by the app, so I feel I have accomplished something. The problem is, adding those numbers to my phone made eating less enjoyable, and sometimes stressful. And I binged during the weekends and ate like crazy due to the stress that counting calories caused. I then felt super guilty plus my stomach was exploding. I finally decided to delete that app yesterday.
And I hope things will get better. Drink more water, eat healthy food, and try to avoid junk food. Instead you should buy fresh fruits and vegetables that you need to take time to cook. Eat more calories than you burn and you gain fat. Eat less calories than you burn and you will lose fat. I needed this article! I have been a habitual calorie for 5 years and earlier today I made a comment about not knowing how to eat normal anymore.
I am deleting my calorie counting app today and never looking back! Thank you:. I like this a lot. I wanted that hamburger and fries last nigt snd a beer and enjoyed it all. Cutting the creamer and suger kut, drinking diet pop, diet energy drinks I love them and will still have a full suger one once a week. I have only recently heard of advice on NOT counting calories. At the end of Week 8 of my calorie counting journey week 15 of turning my life around degrees I am finding the results to be exactly what I was looking for.
There is no issue of choosing less tasty, lower calorie meals over delicious, high calorie meals because I eat tasty, nutritious and fulfilling meals. Cutting fat to lose weight myth is very out dated. Fat is essential to a healthy diet, adds flavour to our foods, and helps you feel full for longer.
It is in fact high in calories. This would suggest that by getting these healthy macro-nutrients in your diet you would need need to lower the intake of some of the actual problematic foods: Bread, Pasta, Sugar. These are high in calorie, lacking in nutrients, and very often eaten well over the recommended portion sizes.
Focusing solely on calorie intake is not the way to go, and neither is completely ignoring it. Eating whole foods, hitting your recommended intake of fat and protein macro-nutrients whilst sticking to your calorie needs TDEE and observing how your weight is being affected, is a much healthier and more accurate way to manage your weight.
I feel your one sided argument could lead many people away from finding the solution they need. I just spend about minutes a day planning my meals for the next day so that I hit my macro-nutrient targets with a variety of foods for each meal. I have been aiming to lose just half a pound of fat a week with calorie deficit per week and so far the results have proven that I am doing just that.
What we eat makes up who we are and how we are feeling. I suggest you and your readers free up a small chunk of your time into planning what fuel you are putting into your body. This way you might even find that energy you are lacking that deters you so much away from doing this. If anybody would like to take more control over their diet without reading overly one sided articles such as this, look into the terms Basal Metabolic Rate BMR , Total Daily Energy Expenditure TDEE and find out how much grams of fat and protein you require to eat at your body weight.
Long story short: been dieting for weight loss a few times in my life. It seems that whenever I was counting calories to or so , my weight magically stayed unchanged, even if I was holding on for 4 weeks. If I just listened to my body, weight loss happened. Very interesting. Yeah, it seems that tracking calories or even macronutrients can be problematic for some people. Perhaps because it shifts the focus from trusting our inner cues to trusting data? Who knows…. I remember back to before these apps existed — I always listened to my body, only ate when I was hungry, and indulged when I wanted to.
When I started counting calories, I started obsessing over ever meal. This led to weight gain, further obsession with calories, and excessive exercising post-pig-out. Counting calories can be a helpful tool for weight loss, but for my lifestyle and body, it just does not work. This is not to undermine the science that eating less calories than you burn will result in weight loss. I spent almost a year calorie counting. In that time, I went from down to in 3 months, then down to the following month and a half, and finally Calorie counting works.
I have counted calories before, it was horrible! After a while I became weak because I was starving my body. I did the recommended calorie count for my age, weight, gender, and height! It sounded fool proof because it had all my information! However it did not take into consideration me personally. Like how my body would react to cutting that many calories. I became so exhausted and I finally had to bumped my calories back up.
I ended up right back where I startrd. But im going to try it Now! This article has really inspired me, thank you! This is amazing! I think this is how i will eat going forward! I do the same. Exercise and enjoy healthy foods is my moto now. Recently researching about how much diets are worthless I have stopped counting calories. I feel so much better and less guilty. Dieting has really harmed me mentally and physically. Slowing down my metabolism and making me develop rituals such as pinching my sides and cheeks when I eat something I deem unhealthy.
I am very, very grateful for your post! If one of my coworkers treats us to lunch, I forgo the gift and eat my boring sandwich because I have no clue how many calories are in the lunch they provided! At any rate, I am SO done! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am obsessed that I will put weight on again so I am always trying to burn as much calories as I can. On the days when I am not going to the gym I am eating less. This became very tiring and most of the time I am hungry.
I an 40 years old and starting a family which is the additional pressure on me- what if I gain weight during the pregnancy. This article was very nice. I just got sick of it. This sounds nice, but a lot of people myself included would be obese if we followed this. I try, but it seems that the binging always comes back. My diet consisted of bun and cheese, bread and peanutbutter and jamaican food. Hi there, I have been counting calories for years. Not so much to restrict myself, but to have an idea of how much I am eating everyday.
Do you think stopping counting is a good idea for me? If I focus my diet on vegetables, fruits, and vegetarian proteins? Hey that was really satisfying…just like food…u did justice to make a person not feel guilty about food…. Counting calories can really hurt you, I would never recommend some one to do it. Just eat, be happy.
This article is fairly accurate. So in the past, I would go on diets that really restricted my food intake and it was honestly exhausting. About 4 months ago, I decided to change my eating habits for good to ensure I was eating intuitively rather than counting calories. Being mindful about your body and what it needs to function can really benefit you. I only started calorie counting around a month ago and its really wearing me down and making me miserable.
I also started using my fitness pal to track calories. I used to count calories as well. And my obsession was that I always had to eat less calories than I need even when Im not trying to lose weight. I would only eat 2 times a day and consume calories a day. And then I realized I couldnt live like this. I didnt eat that night as well, because I couldnt eat after 6 pm. That night I promised myself to fix my mind.
Ive been trying so hard since then. Its beeb almost 3 months and I sometimes still count calories. I still have obvious disordered behaviours. But I try to move on. I try to eat that thin slice of bread every morning even if I dont feel like eating it. Because once your brain gets use to controlling and calculating everything, you always make plans on your head about what to eat next and when you dont eat what you already planned, you never feel satisfied even if youre full.
Fixing your mind after an eating disorder is really really hard. But the first thing to do is absolutely to stop counting calories. Noone can tell you how much to eat. Yes,sometimes you will eat so much, sometimes you will regret eating that extra extra chocolate. Stoo counting calories, be present with your food.
Enjoy your food. And dont focus on the scale. Let your body find the ideal weight until you nourish yourself with enough and healthy food. I promise, you wont get fat. You might gain weight but that doesnt always have to be a bas thing. In my case, I know that I have to gain weight. I cant have my period.
But I cant put myself under pressure to gain weight. After an eating disorder, gaining weight is a big big deal. But I try to focus on building a healthy relationship with food. While doing this,I know that my body will find the balance and get itself to my ideal weight. Let things happen naturally. My mother counted calories when she wanted to lose some weight and I learnt it from her when I was still in high school.
I have IBS, gluten and dairy intolerances. When I stopped eating the the things that made me sick there was literaly only a handful of things that I could eat. I realised I was gaining too much weight and on a shopping spree for new pants I decided I refused to buy a bigger size. I started counting calories to see how many calories I was actually eating.
A calorie calculor said I should only eat calories per day. After reading your article my mind is made up. No more counting, but only healthy foods that I love and know is good for me. Thank you for your inspiration. I find that calorie counting always leads to under consumption during the day and too much junk food at night making the point of dieting useless.
I have counted calories, it helped more to limit fats and increase protein or fruits and vegetables gradually. Exercise also helped.
I counted calories before, and well, it worked for losing weight. Now I want to lose a little fat again, and instead of counting and weighting everything, I do it a very loose and easy way, without thinking much of it. This keeps me satisfied until evening, when I eat a huge meal with my boyfriend, and I absolutely eat what I want and what feels good most is healthy anyways, I am vegan and there are a lot of vegetables, legumes, fruits etc.
This way, I am never hungry, I can eat what I want, I do not need to weigh foods or anything, do not excessively count calories but still know that I am eating slightly under my current need to meet my goals. I think I am obsessed with counting calories and it scares me — not as much as gaining weight scares me, but close.
Since about three months ago I have been counting every single thing I put into my mouth. I have lost some weight, but eating has become a constant battle. I have to check the amount of calories before I dare to take a bite. I want to enjoy food again and not focus on the numbers I add to my log with every meal. I am 17 years old and weight less now than I have in years. It caused me to turn my life around completely. I went from little or no exercise, to being scolded by my mother for exercising while I am ill.
I used to love swimming, but an obsession with how many calories I can burn in a day has sucked the joy out of it. I am starting to irritate my mother, who struggles to cook things that I will eat and make sure the restuarants we go to has something that I can order. I feel ashamed sometimes. I really want to uninstall the calorie counter on my phone and try to enjoy food like I used to. What if I gain all the weight I lost? I counted calories for about a year and a half before quitting.
I just started to feel like if I counted calories any longer, I would head down a slippery slope leading to an eating disorder. There were days I would eat perfectly healthy, but feel so bad about myself because an apple with natural peanutbutter put me over my calorie limit.
Something told me this wasnt the right and so I stopped. I immediately felt better; carefree but still eating healthy. However, I think its a good thing to do for a month. Its a learning experience for sure, I learned the basics about nutrition because counting calories sparked my curiosity to know the 4ws of eating healthy.
It helped me to be able to guestimate if the meal in front of me was a good choice. This is long, but it was really nice to hear a shared opinion from not only a professional, but someone who has went through calorie counting crazyness.
When I was counting calories I was thinking about food all the time, feeling deprived and binging a lot. I decided to eat till I was satisfied not full, and I was gonna eat whatever I wanted.
To me eating what you want but eating slowly savoring everything was the key. Hey lily! I usually eat about a day not counting what excercise has burnt off and yet I have been stuck at the same weight.
I hardly ever eat added sugar and I never eat white bread or much junk food…. I am 16 years old, female and I weigh 62kgs. I was wondering if you could give me some tips on nutrition such as how much protein,fibre and carbs and fat I should be having on average a day? Good web site you have here.. I seriously appreciate people like you! Take care!! This works for us. This article did not provide solid reasons why someone should stop counting calories. It did provide reasons but, the reasons all promoted having a lack in discipline my opinion.
The system of counting calories is no more difficult than reading any other item on the label except that most people do not understand the science behind the other items on the label.
Most people understand the basics of less in and burn more equals weight loss, and you get an easy to use system of that method by counting calories. I have tried calorie counting, but I wanted to stop because I felt that I was going to get an eating disorder. This article helps me a lot, thank you. I think its more important to exercise to burn off calories and tone muscles then to count calories. Just exercise and eat healthy enjoyable food. Calorie counting helped me control my portions and let me see in numbers what foods were contributing more or less calories to my day sometimes it was surprising.
The online tool I used to count also let me roughly see what nutrients I was regularly missing from the food I was eating, so I could steer towards foods that fit the things I was missing.
My hunger and amount consumed per day is down overall — I can see that from the chart the site automatically shows me and that makes me feel good. I can end with a calorie deficit at the end of the day and not feel like I need to fill it with junk food every time. My friend sent me this link because I have been counting calories for about 2 years now… I lost 20lbs in one year without trying but nice huh?? Any advice?? I started counting calories about two months ago and it worked great for me.
I started realizing how much difference there is between eating a big portion of fruit and an unhealthy snack if you also include how long you feel satisfied for. I had no problem feeling guilty about the food I ate. I sometimes ate two ice creams a day with no problems. And yes, I sometimes ate an extra snack because I had not eaten many calories that day. Sometimes I went over, sometimes I stayed well below the daily amount up to a calories , but on a weekly basis, I basically broke evenand met my daily average goal.
I did not start calorie counting to lose weight. I did it to eat a healthy amount of food in the long term and, more importantly, to gain insight into my eating habits. I did it all on paper as well and devised my own system that worked for me. James Dinicolantonio that discuss how goofy reducing food to a number really is:. Both statements are true, but neither is causal.
The associations do not explain the why. For those that are unfortunately working with a Jillian Michaels type trainer, nutritionist, or doctor, try sending them this picture the metabolic pathways of a cell , and asking them how calories go in one end, and come out the other side…unscathed. Repeat business? Composition Controls Intake Some foods fill us up for hours, and other foods leave us looking for lunch at 10am. Muscle Increases Energy Expenditure The more muscle you have the more energy you burn at rest.
How are you feeling and performing? Can you maintain it? Smarter people than me have figured all of this out and even catalogued how certain carbs affect insulin levels. We call this the insulin index. How to control it: Look up the insulin index of the foods you commonly eat and opt for foods that are lower. White bread is the standard and is given a score of In addition to this, it encourages the body to store additional fat—especially around the hips, legs, and booty.
But… Estrogen dominance is becoming a common problem, especially amongst men yes, men because of stuff in our environment that our body absorbs and mistakes for estrogen.
We call these xenoestrogens. Soy is an estrogenic compound. Commercially raised beef, chicken and pork are common sources, as well as plastic water bottles, cosmetics are you wearing makeup?
How to control it: Check out the website EWG. Pretending to be smarter than I really am. Calculating your energy output is flawed. Measuring energy intake is flawed. Counting calories as a strategy is imperfect. Very imperfect. Too many people approach calorie counting as if they are holding the law in their hands, which turns things into one shitty game of cops and robbers.
Must be my genetics. That just screws things up. The answer is to zoom out. To go broad. To not be as anal with calorie counting because there is error all over the place anyways. To embrace trial and error. To use real feedback to guide the process.
You might now be wondering… How? How do you take the last paragraph and put it into practice? I want to stay focused and connect with something I mentioned earlier. I said there were two reasons why all of this energy balance talk is shit.
Above is the second reason. A lot of people get duped by the numbers because they associate them with certainty. But there is none, initially.
Now its time for the first reason. The sexier reason. So, uhh, expect them Monday. Why counting calories is a game for idiots that are… idiotic. Your body needs energy.
You get energy from food. Energy is measured in calories. But its shit. For two reasons. Counting calories is only a viable strategy if you can do two things: Reliably calculate daily energy output.
Reliably calculate daily energy intake. I mean, you can. I want to get a more accurate estimate of my daily metabolic rate. See you later.
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