Why You Shouldn’t Count Calories, Part 1

Calorie counting is a common weight loss method that people try but I don’t completely agree with it. There are many reasons that I have, and this blog post would be a mile long if I went into everything, so I’ll be doing a part 2 as well.

In this blog post, I’ll be talking about how calorie counting focuses on numbers and not nutrients, doesn’t listen to your hunger and fullness cues, and how it can become restrictive and obsessive.

It focuses on numbers, not nutrients:

Calorie counting doesn’t tell you anything about the quality of your diet and how nutritious your meals are. You could have 200 calories worth of ice cream every day and be within your calorie budget, but ice cream probably isn’t the most nutritious food to choose due to its high sugar and fat content.

It also doesn’t look at how filling certain nutrients are. Protein is the most filling nutrient. It takes longer to digest so it stays in your digestive system for longer and keeps you full. The calories don’t tell you about the nutrients a food contains or how satisfying it is. You could have a 100 calories from protein or 100 calories from sugar and feel very different after in terms of fullness.

Another way to look at it is with calorie density, which is the number of calories in a given weight of food. You could have 100 calories of broccoli and 100 calories of ice cream for example. These would be the same calorie amount, but the quantity of food would be vastly different. 100 calories of broccoli is ∼ 300g of broccoli which would fill your plate while 100 calories of vanilla ice cream is ∼ 55g, about 1 scoop. So, while they're the same calories, the amount of food you get isn’t the same.

By focussing just on the numbers, you don’t know much about the nutrition of the food, or the quantity of food you’ll be eating.

It ignores own hunger and fullness cues:

By calorie counting, you ignore your own hunger cues and eat based on how many calories you’re allowing yourself that day. For example, you may feel hungry but you’ve eaten your entire calorie allowance so you feel like you can't eat something else. 

This could also come into effect if you’re eating your evening meal and you aren’t full, but you’ve had your calorie allowance. Letting yourself go hungry won’t help as this can lead to overeating at your next meal.

Tapping into your body’s own hunger and fullness cues can be a more helpful way to control your intake rather than relying on the numbers.

Is restrictive and can become obsessive:

Calorie counting is a very restrictive way to lose weight, and it can easily cause more harm than good. People can become obsessed with counting calories. And it means that they may miss out on social events and feel anxious or fearful around food due to the level of restriction.

It could also lead to, in extreme cases, disordered eating or an eating disorder. Some research has shown that people with eating disorders feel that calorie tracking apps contributed to their disorder (1). Calorie counting is also associated with other eating disorder symptoms such as concerns about body image and dietary restraint (2).

Counting calories is not a sustainable way to lose weight, as it could do more harm than good and negatively affect your relationship with food.

Key points:

• Calorie counting doesn't tell you how nutritious or satisfying a food is.
• The number of calories doesn't tell you about the quantity of food you're eating.
• It doesn't allow you to listen to your own feelings of hunger and fullness.
• It can become restrictive and obsessive, leading to disordered eating habits.

You can read part 2 of why you shouldn’t calorie count here.

I’ll be doing further blog posts on how you can lose weight without the restriction. You can find it here.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Bye for now! 👋

References:

(1)    My Fitness Pal Calorie Tracker Usage in the Eating Disorders https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5700836/

(2)    Calorie counting and fitness tracking technology: Associations with eating disorder symptomatology https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1471015316303646?via%3Dihub

The hunger scale: http://www.dchs.nhs.uk/assets/public/dchs/llb/tools/tools_1-11/4_DCHS_A5_4pp_The_Hunger_Scale.pdf

Fibre and protein being more satisfying: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18469287/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26724486/

Calorie content information from Nutritics nutrition analysis software: https://en-gb.nutritics.com/p/home