Calories in, calories out...that’s how it goes right? Just count your calories, and then be sure to exercise that same amount of calories, and you’ll never gain weight. They make it sound so easy, sometimes it even seems like if you can’t manage to do this you must just be incompetent. Well pardon my French, but it’s bullshit. Sure, calorie counting can help you to lose weight, but it’s a pain in the ass and it’s certainly not sustainable. What person actually wants to calculate everything they eat all day, every day, forever? The other issue I have with counting calories, is that it doesn’t take into account the quality of the food. It would be pretty easy to eat a low-calorie diet, that is also incredibly unhealthy for you. In fact, some of the worst things for you in the grocery store probably boast “low calorie” or “zero calories” right on the front of their packaging.

Food is much more than the sum of it’s calories.

The phrase: “A calorie, is a calorie,” spreads the notion that as long as it’s low calorie, it doesn’t really matter what it is. This idea would imply that 100 calories of green beans is the same as 100 calories of Oreo cookies. I’ll assume that you and I both realize this can’t be true, and that is the problem with such a number-centric philosophy. Calorie-counting thinks only about weight gain/loss, and not about actual health. For more on the science behind this, click here.

If you eat for health, your weight will follow.

Eating food, real food, is the easiest, most sustainable way to manage your weight. Eating real food will also make you feel more satisfied, and help you to really listen to your body and what it wants. A hundred years ago no one was counting calories, and our population was significantly less obese than it is today. Your body is actually capable of deciding how much it needs to eat, once you stop confusing it with processed, sugary “empty calories” that leave you craving more and more. Turn that product around, look at the ingredient label, and make sure you’re eating actual food, then just enjoy it. Being conscious about the quality of the food you are eating will typically result in a natural, healthy weight without all the stress over portion control.

Real life frustration.

One of the biggest things that frustrates me about the calorie-counting way of thinking, is how simple it sounds, despite how unrealistic it can be.

Take a day of mine for example:

Breakfast & Lunch calories consumed: ~888

Exercise calories burned: 409

How crazy is that? By most standards, you can probably agree that I ate super healthy, and that I had a killer workout…but if the concern is calorie-counting, I might think I can’t have dinner because I’ve already doubled the amount of calories I burned. It would be impossible for me to keep up with “calories in, calories out” without feeling like I’m starving! My body would need plenty of calories to recover from that run but the calorie-counting school of thinking might make me feel as though I shouldn’t provide that fuel to my body for fear of weight gain.

Moral of the story.

Yes. If you count calories, and worry about burning calories, you could succeed in losing weight. But once you stop being a slave to the calorie counting there’s a good chance your weight is going to come right back, because calorie-counting is all about quantity with no concern for quality. So free yourself from the calculating, measuring, and stressing, and just start eating real foods. Foods with few ingredients, and minimal processing, bonus points if the food doesn’t even have a label because it’s just an actual food (like everything in the produce section). Then if you have a day when you just really want to eat that treat you’ve been craving – have it, enjoy it, and then go back to eating your real foods. I agree, that moderation can be a virtue, but I highly doubt that you’re ever going to want to eat so much broccoli in one sitting, that you’re “overdoing it.” I also think it's incredibly important to remember that your diet is not just about your weight, your diet impacts all areas of your health, the number on the scale means nothing if you aren't healthy. Life is about balance, try it out, and let me know how it goes. Thank you for reading!

p.s. If you have a medical condition in which your doctor is recommending calorie-counting, do not take it upon yourself to stop because of this article. I do invite you to discuss alternative dietary methods with your doctor, and maybe even seek the help of a health coach to supplement your primary medical care.