Does Calorie Counting Work?

Let’s cut straight to the chase.

Calorie counting can work to some degree.

The positive benefits are as follows:

• Brings awareness to how much food you consume
• Gives you a way to measure food intake and stay accountable
• Helps you to plan out your meals and make changes according to the information you collect from it
• The easiest way to monitor food intake that doesn’t require much knowledge to do

However, there are some issues that come along with calorie counting:

• Calories in aren’t always calories used, digested, and assimilated into the body
• Just counting calories doesn’t always mean you’re making good food choices
• It ignores hunger and fullness cues, leaving you starving on some days and extremely full on other days (in other words, our calorie/energy needs change daily)
• Menus with calories displayed are 10-15% inaccurate
• Nutrition labels on food boxes are 10-15% inaccurate
• We tend to underestimate our portions when tracking our food
• We ignore the small bites of food throughout the day and don’t account for it in our calorie counting
• Calorie counting just focuses on how many macronutrients we’re consuming and ignores vital micronutrients that we need from foods like fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices
• Can create disordered eating or obsessive behavior

The takeaway: calorie counting can be an appropriate method to start tracking food intake and become more aware of food consumption, but it’s not the BEST strategy for health and creating a better relationship with food.

If you want nutrition tips that ACTUALLY work, get on the waitlist for my upcoming group coaching program where we dive into realistic lifestyle changes that don’t require calorie counting or starving in the process!

Be the first to get notified here - enrollment opening soon!

Jenny