Should you count calories for weight loss? My experiences!

Now days, the majority of popular diets have a high focus on counting calories and/or counting macronutrients. [Macronutrient: Ratio of carbohydrates, fat and protein]
The reason calorie counting is a main focus is simply due to the fact that you must consume less energy (calories) that you expend, thus putting you in a calorie deficit, in order to lose weight.
If maintaining your current weight is your goal, consume an equal value of calories to your total daily expenditure (TTE). And finally if you want to gain weight, you must be in a calorie surplus.
Excluding those with medical conditions or metabolic damage, at the end of the day it all comes down to calories in versus calories out!

What the hell is calorie anyways?
"Calories are simply a measure of the heat energy in food, typically measured by burning 1 gram of the food. Kilojoules measure the same thing by a different measure.  1 calorie = 0.004184 kilojoules.  1 gram of Protein and Carbohydrate is 4 calories, whereas fat is more than double at 9 calories. 1 gram of alcohol is 7 calories"


***LEARN HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR TOTAL DAILY EXPENDITURE BELOW***

Weight loss via good old calorie counting sounds so simple in theory, right?
There are two sides to every story of course.
Let's have a look at some of the benefits and drawbacks to calorie counting.


Pro's of counting calories

It teaches you to make better food choices or more so teaches you how energy dense poor food choices are.
Before I started counting calories, I had no idea how many calories were in just one 55g Cadbury chocolate bar or the carbohydrate value or breads and pasta. From reading nutritional labels and entering my food intake into My Fitness Pal I have acquired valuable data that I have memorized, which helps me make better food choices everyday.

It keeps you accountable and in control. People are less likely to make poor food choices if they have to write it down or enter it into their food diary. Food diaries have been proven as effective weight loss measurements in holding people accountable to what they eat. You can't just forget about that slice of mud cake you had at morning tea for Susie in the pay office birthday it's on paper. Especially if you have to report back to your coach/nutritionist or personal trainer.

It helps you accurately create a calorie deficit. What gets measured gets managed. Calorie counting takes the guesswork out of losing weight and helps you to be specific, accurate and make every day count. It also gives you feedback that you can change. If you get to the end of a few weeks of counting and haven’t dropped centimetres then  you can go back through your diary and reflect on what better choices you could have made.

It helps with portion control Many people eat double or more the recommended serving sizes of foods, because they’ve never measured their portions. Spending a few weeks measuring all your food brings your portion control back into line. Have you ever checked the serving size on the size of a cereal box and measured it out? It's tiny compared to the usual heaped bowl we all unwittingly pour ourselves every morning.

Con's of Calorie Counting




It may lead to obsessive behavior. Perfectionism at its worst! All or nothing thinking. Me all over!  It can lead to black and white, good or bad type thinking that is a part of a dieting mentality and not ideal for long term, sustainable lifestyle change.

It's tedious, anti-social and blood stressful. For it to be accurate, you must enter in accurate data. This means weighing your food and logging every time you eat so you don't forget.
 Eating in and preparing your food is the way to keep accuracy, this can also cause people to be hesitant toward eating out because they can't weigh it or know exactly what is in it. I had a friend who used to take her digital scales to restaurants and weigh her steak at the table, at the time I understood but for anyone else watching they probably thought we were complete nut jobs.

It doesn’t take into account the hormonal response to certain food types.

Your body responds to each food differently. Each food has a massive impact on insulin and glucose on your blood stream which affects how, where and what, your body does with the energy from the food. A calorie of protein does not affect your body the same way that a calorie of carbohydrate does. It is far too simple to give you the whole picture

 

My thoughts

I have done my fair share of calorie counting and macronutrient counting. Weighing my food, preparing meals, making sure I was withing a 5g radius of my carb, fat and protein targets.
After calorie counting for so long and after considering all the pro's and con's, I personally think think calorie counting is great for the short term, no longer than 10 weeks. It will teach you to make better food choices and less energy dense food choices and you will become more aware about what you eat.
Calorie counting is not a long term solution, it can hinder enjoyment of food and stop you living a balanced, relaxed and healthy lifestyle.
If you are a perfectionist like myself, you can become obsessive and get stressed out when you can't control your calorie intake, this kind of black and white thinking can set people up for disordered eating behavior.

Balance is the key! Thuy and I before walking to get Frozen Yoghurt in Glenelg!

How to estimate your total daily calorie needs.

source: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-determine-your-calorie-needs.html

1. Estimate your basic energy needs.
   Multiply your current weight (in pounds) by 10 if you’re a woman or 11 if you’re a man. Or use the formula in table below, which factors in your age in addition to your sex.
   For example: Sue is a 45-year-old female who weighs 155 pounds. She calculates her BMR like this:
   155 pounds ÷ 2.2 = 70.45 kilograms
   70.45 kilograms x 8.7 = 612.92 calories
   612.92 calories + 829 calories = 1,441.92 calories
   So Sue’s BMR — or the number of calories that her body needs at complete rest to function — is roughly 1,442 calories.
   If you figure Sue’s BMR by using the shortcut method, her needs are about 1,550 (155 pounds x 10 = 1,550) — a bit higher than the full calculation, but still in the same ballpark.

How Many Calories Your Body Needs Per Day for Basic Energy Needs

Age	Use This Equation to Calculate Your BMR
*	Men
18 to 30	[15.3 x weight (in kilograms)] + 679
30 to 60	[11.6 x weight (in kilograms)] + 879
Older than 60	[13.5 x weight (in kilograms)] + 487
*	Women
18 to 30	[14.7 x weight (in kilograms)] + 496
30 to 60	[8.7 x weight (in kilograms)] + 829
Older than 60	[10.5 x weight (in kilograms)] + 596

1. Determine your activity factor value.
   How active are you? Find the description in the following table that best matches your lifestyle. If you have a desk job but fit in a dose of daily exercise (at least 30 minutes), consider yourself in the light or moderate category.

How Active Are You?

If, Throughout Most of Your Day, Your Activities Include	Your Activity Level Is	Your Activity Factor Is
Sitting or standing; driving; painting; doing laboratory work; sewing, ironing, or cooking; playing cards or a musical instrument; sleeping or lying down; reading; typing	Very light	0.2
Doing garage, electrical, carpentry, or restaurant work; house-cleaning; caring for children; playing golf; sailing; light exercise, such as walking, for no more than 2 miles	Light	0.3
Heavy gardening or housework, cycling, playing tennis, skiing, or dancing; very little sitting	Moderate	0.4
Heavy manual labor such as construction work or digging; playing sports such as basketball, football, or soccer; climbing	Heavy	0.5

1. Multiply your basic energy needs by the activity factor value that you determined in Step
   Using Sue as an example, she multiplies her BMR of 1,442 by 0.3 because her activity level is light — running around after her kids, taking care of the house, and fitting in a 2-mile morning walk with her neighbors every other day. Sue needs 432.6 calories for her activity level.
   1,442 x 0.3 = 432.6 calories
2. Determine the number of calories that you need for digestion and absorption of nutrients.
   Eating food actually burns calories. Digesting food and absorbing nutrients uses about 10 percent of your daily energy needs. Add together your BMR and activity calories and then multiply the total by 10 percent.
   The calculation for Sue’s calorie needs for digestion and absorption looks like this:
   1,442 calories + 432.6 calories = 1874.6 x 10% = 187.5 calories
3. Total your calorie needs.
   Add together your BMR, activity, and digestion/absorption calorie needs to get your total calorie needs — that is, the number of calories that you need to maintain your current weight.
   To maintain her current weight of 155 pounds, Sue calculates her total calorie needs like this:
   1,442 calories + 432.6 calories + 187.5 calories = 2,062 total calories