It seems to be fashionable to be in one camp or the other. Calories are all that matter when trying to lose weight i.e. the eat ice cream for breakfast camp or the other camp you can eat as much as you want if it’s from the right food and you’ll never get fat.
Both of these opinions have some truth in them but they also can be misleading and here is why. Below explains why counting calories can help you reach your goals.
- Calories Matter– To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit eating i.e. less calories than you are burning. This is a fact however how much of that is fat and not muscle is dependant on the composition of your food such as eating adequate protein and your weight training.
- Stop yo-yo dieting – are you the guy or girl who is always starting a new diet?
If you’re starting a diet again and you didn’t keep the weight off then your diet hasn’t worked.
The reason why most diets don’t work is people are eating too little and it’s not sustainable.
To lose weight you need to have a small calorie deficit (around 300 calories or so). This stops the brutal hunger cravings that lead to binge eating and always restarting your diet.
The best diets are the ones that you can adhere to because if you can’t stick to it then there is no point. If you’re suffering too much you are much more likely to stray off plan.
- Continuing to eat the foods you love
By counting your calories you can still fit in the foods you love. Diets that restrict any food group like carbs, fats etc very rarely work long term. The only way they do work is by keeping you in a calorie deficit when trying to lose weight.
Telling yourself you can never eat your favourite food again is not sustainable and why should you when you don’t have to?
It’s important to eat enough protein, fruit and vegetables to make sure you’re getting enough micronutrients. Then as long as you’re within your calorie allowance fill it with foods you like.
90% of your food should be ‘clean’ food and the rest can be from foods you enjoy.
- Making sure you eat enough protein
I know this technically isn’t counting calories but weighing your food to make sure you’re eating enough protein is vital to reaching your goals and this is all linked to tracking.
The optimum amount of protein to build and maintain muscle while dieting is 2.2g per kg of bodyweight.
Also eating a high protein diet will keep you fuller for longer and again stop the yo-yo dieting.
- Making Adjustments
If you’re dieting and you’re not losing weight it means you’re not actually in a calorie deficit.
This means you need to adjust your diet to reduce your calories.
If you’re not tracking your calories in the first place you can’t do this.
You must measure your calories so you can keep things consistent and make the necessary adjustments to keep making progress. - Underestimating how much you eat
We have had 1000s of clients come into BTX and tell us they don’t eat that much but still put on weight.
How much is not that much? The answer is f*ck knows!
Simply, if you’re not losing weight you’re eating more calories than you are burning.
Start measuring your calories so you know exactly what you’re eating.
When you measure absolutely everything you eat or drink, people quite often get a shock how much they are actually eating.
All those little snacks add up!
Conclusion
When starting a diet it is a useful tool to measure calories. This allows you to make adjustments and to make sure you’re eating enough protein to build muscle and hold onto muscle whilst dieting.
Tracking your calories makes sure you eat enough food to lose weight sustainably and keep it off and that’s the goal!
Nutrition plans only work if you can stick to them and by counting calories it enables you to choose your foods and eat the foods you enjoy all whilst keeping within your calories allowance.
