To Count Calories This New Year… Or Not

As the New Year rings in, the inevitable desire for many to change their body composition rears its head again. People will try anything to feel better. Heck, even a 7 day stint of celery juice cleanse where on day 3 they projectile vomit all over their grandma gets a try.

Most people have taken steps in the past to make a body composition change, even if it was for a short period of time. Unfortunately, more than ever there are avast amount of ‘popular’ ways to change your body composition, and 

today we will cover the method of counting calories or the popular diet name ‘If It Fits Your Macros’ (IIFYM). In this article, I am going to take you through why people choose to count calories, does it even work, and why I believe it may be an unhealthy intervention.

Tracking calories or ‘macros’ (macronutrients) has been a very common method for fat loss for roughly 15 years when it largely gained popularity due to a push in the flexible dieting forums and IIFYM. One camp would claim as long as you hit your macros you could eat whatever you want as long as you stayed within the number parameters. This view inevitably led to less focus on the quality of food and more focus on the quantity of food.

Disordered eating is something that not many people are aware of, even though the awareness of an eating disorder (not to get the two confused) is more known (ex. Anorexia, Binge Eating Disorder). Any of the following practices falls under the disordered eating definition:

–       Restriction/control (counting calories)

–       Routines or rules (ex. When to eat, good/bad foods, “carbs are bad”)

–       Anxiety/avoidance (refusing to eat around others)

–       Bingeing                                      

–       Compensation/bargaining (“I’ll work this off tomorrow)

–       Cognitive dichotomy (feeling good but also bad about a meal)

–       External locus of control

 With counting calories falling under disordered eating, I do not believe it is a healthy and sustainable way for you to achieve your body composition goals. Eating should never feel like rules, just as exercise should never feel like punishment. At the end of the day counting calories is hard, and although potentially beneficial for a select few individuals, it is not something people desire doing long-term.

Two very simple habits can be the difference towards your healthiest and most successful year of body composition change. I say simple because all you need is your own awareness through mindful and intuitive eating. (1) Eating slowly, and (2) stopping when you’re 80% full or satisfied. This is about choice. You can choose to eat slowly and based on how you feel stop eating when your body is satisfied. These habits are known to work because this approach fosters a healthy relationship with food and your body, the principles can be applied anytime with no tools, and you learn that hunger is not an emergency. There is no impending famine, folks!

 Further, if knowing portions is important to you, you may use your hand to give you all the information you need. Attached below is an easy-to-use link on this topic. Happy eating!

https://www.precisionnutrition.com/calorie-control-guide-infographic

Jacob Saunders

Personal Trainer, Fascial Stretch Specialist, FICHFILWY

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