Stop Counting Calories…Now!
…and what to do instead.
If you go on to any website about weight loss or read any posts in the weight loss groups or read a magazine article on the topic, you can pretty much guarantee that someone will be talking about calories. In fact, for years, the best advice that fitness, nutrition, and health professionals have been giving is to eat less calories if you want to lose weight. So it follows, then, that if you want to eat less calories, you have to start keeping track of how many you are eating in the first place to know what less is. Does this sound familiar? Raise your hand if you have counted calories before in an effort to lose weight. Is your hand raised right now? Mine is.
Conventional wisdom tells us that if you want to lose weight (body fat), you have to consume less calories than you burn. On the surface, this is essentially true. The problem is, our bodies, women’s bodies especially, are a lot more complicated than a simple caloric deficit. If we get down to the most basic function, our bodies are just trying to survive. There are many things that go into surviving, but do you know what one of them is not? Losing weight. Your body does not need to lose weight or look lean and toned in order to survive. So if there is a lot of other stuff going on in your body, mind, and life, losing weight will take a backseat. You know what else your female body prioritizes after survival? Reproduction and sustaining a new life. Again, not looking hot in a bikini.
Stress is one of the main factors that can prevent someone from making progress in losing body fat. Your hormonal response to stress actually encourages your body to gain weight. I’m not going to talk too much about stress today, but it does play a part in calorie counting for sure. How? Well, when your body is in a calorie deficit (you eat less calories than you burn), your body will go into starvation mode. This basically means, that when there is a “lack” of food due to restricting calories, your smart body will interpret this as a problem. In order to protect itself and survive, your metabolism will begin to slow down. Your metabolism is basically the internal fire, it’s what keeps you going, and it’s what burns calories. So when that fire cools down, less calories get burned, more get stored, and weight is maintained.
So, when you count calories in order to create a caloric deficit, you put your body into starvation mode and slow down your metabolism. Stop counting calories!
Now, you may have done this in the past and been successful or had a friend or family member have success with this too. But you know what? You probably wouldn’t be reading this if it was still working for you. It’s possible to have success with caloric restriction for a little while, but eventually your body catches on and slows down your metabolism. People don’t usually stick with diets like this, because it’s hard to be hungry all the time, and then they go back to normal eating, gain the weight back (or more), and then try it again. But after this process is repeated over and over, it gets harder and harder to lose weight because the metabolism is being continually down-regulated.
Another reason why you should stop counting calories, is that it usually causes more stress. Do you find the process of counting, tracking, and figuring out if a food fits into your daily allotment fun? I sure don’t. That extra calculating, counting and tracking is just causing more stress around food. And we have already talked about how stress works against you if you’re trying to lose body fat. So adding something stressful that is supposed to be helping is counter-intuitive.
OK, so you may be wondering what to do instead. Here’s a few things that not only work, but can help to shift your mindset around food, exercise, and body image:
Focus on eating quality whole foods over packaged/processed foods, regardless of their calorie count.
Add more healthy foods like vegetables and fruits to your diet rather than restricting other things.
Figure out what foods give you energy and eat more of them.
Focus on what you get to eat rather than what you want to cut out.
Pay attention to who you are being when you eat. Eat mindfully, free of distractions, and in a calm demeanor.
It can be totally frustrating to try to lose weight, especially when the things that we think should work aren’t working, despite our best efforts. Getting into that sweet spot where things finally click and your body starts effortlessly losing weight is an amazing feeling! Stop counting calories and experience the freedom that gives you. It’s about learning how to care for your unique body and then creating habits so that it becomes natural. If you’d like to learn how to do this for yourself, book a free Discovery Session with me!
Have a beautiful day!