Counting Calories, Not Worth It
At
GYMGUYZ Mid St. Louis County, clients consistently come to us with a goal of weight
loss. It is said that diet can be 80% responsible for weight loss. The
answer is simple yet complicated. Owner and Operator Katie Mackenzie says,
“In order to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you
take in; to achieve this, one must either eat fewer calories or increase
exercise or more likely do a combination of the two.” This sounds
like a very simple formula for success; track your daily calorie intake
and subtract the calories you body burns each day. If that number is negative
you should be losing weight. Like many things in life, it’s not
that easy. There are many other factors to take into account for one to
accurately calculate these two numbers.
Counting the number of calories our body burns each day is extremely hard
to do with complete accuracy. Humans are designed to store fat for energy
and the body calls upon that energy for when it needs it for survival.
While our conscious minds know when our next meal is, our cells aren’t
built to know this information. Our cells are designed, through thousands
of years of evolution, to store energy for times when food is scarce.
Because of this, when we diet or cut calories our body’s metabolism
slows down and burns less calories to help the body survive longer without
food. This makes knowing exactly how many calories the body uses in a
day difficult to calculate as it is constantly changing.
Making things even more complicated, body composition has a large effect
on how the body utilizes calories. Muscle requires more energy than fat;
meaning higher percentage of muscle mass translates to more calories the
body burns. Also the type of movement and exercise performed varies the
number of calories the body utilizes. For example: 1 hour of resistance
training (i.e. weight training) verses 1 hour running. Resistance training
does not burn a significant amount of calories while being performed.
But by nature it damages muscles, the body needs to work overtime to repair
those muscles and utilizes more calories for up to 48 hours after the
training is completed. Running on the other hand needs more calories in
that initial hour. When the body stops the body does not continue burning
additional calories. Again making it difficult to calculate the actual
calories used by the body.
The other issue is that counting calories of the food consumed. In order
to calculate the calories of you meals, one would need to measure and
weigh every ingredient used in the meal preparations. The truth is most
people don’t have the discipline to do this and those that do still
miscalculate the number. Then there are meals that you don’t prepare
yourself like at restaurants or at friends' and families' houses. While
one could ballpark some guesstimates, there’s no way to know exactly
how many calories are in most meals. To top it off, the calories printed
on menus and on food labels can be off by as much as 30%! There are too
many obstacles to accurately count all the calories you’re taking
in on a given day.
I know what you’re thinking; yes, there are many apps and formulas
and technology that can be used to help calculate the calorie requirements
for individuals. The fact is, that these are based on averages and are
not calculated for your unique body. Some of these counting methods take
into account your daily activity level; however, each day is unique and
you’re not going to burn exactly the same number each day. Also
the formula needs to continue to evolve as the body composition changes.
In reality, these are only providing a ballpark figure for an individual
based on averages. Even those calories counters on the cardio equipment
or that heart rate monitor you’re wearing are averages and can be
significantly off from what you are actually burning. This is especially
true if you haven’t tested for our heart rate zones; and if you
have been, how regularly are you updating those numbers?
Instead of counting the calories you burn and consume each day, try keeping
a detailed journal of your food each day. Make sure to include as many
details as possible including the food, how it was prepared, quantity,
time of day, etc. The next morning review the previous day and rank your
day's overall food consumption from 1 to 5 with 5 being the best. Occasionally
look back over your ratings and see if there’s a pattern. If you
had a 1 yesterday, make adjustments to ensure that today is better and
aim for a 5. Also, make better healthier choices for each macro (Carbohydrates,
Fats, Proteins). For carbohydrates choose brown rice or quinoa over white
rice and pastas. Fats use olive or vegetable oils over margarine and vegetable
shortening. Proteins consume lean meats like chicken and turkey verses
fatty meats like pork belly, rib-eyes and sausage. Keeping an honest journal
and reviewing it regularly will keep you more focused on what you’re
eating and if you’re making healthy food choices verses spending
hours and getting overwhelmed in numbers that can't accurately be calculated.
While this is much easier and will not drive you insane with measuring
and calculating everything you put into your body; the issue with this
method is most people are not disciplined enough to do this on their own
consistently. Most people also have trouble really knowing what food are
bad or good and how to put an overall rank on their days. Having a personal
trainer like
GYMGUYZ helps with accountability. We will review and guide you with your diet,
educate you on nutrition and help you achieve better healthier eating habits.