Counting Calories: What’s the deal?

I am sure you have heard that to lose weight, you have to be familiar with counting calories. For those of you unfamiliar, counting calories is taking what your body needs to function (also known as your Resting Metabolic Rate) in addition to any additional exercises you may do (i.e working out 2 days per week versus 5 days per week) and using that number to see how many calories you need to sustain your weight for the day. Let’s look at an example:

For a 29 year-old healthy female that currently weighs 145lbs and is 64 inches,

Resting Metabolic Rate Calories Per Day: 1,443 kcal

This means if I count up all of the calories from food this 29-year-old eats in one day, an energy surplus (i.e eating more than 1,443 kcals) would cause a gain in weight. On the other hand, an energy deficit (i.e eating less than 1,443 kcals) would result in a loss of weight. Therefore an energy neutral day would consist of eating (you guessed it!) exactly 1,443 kcals per day.

But, is this really true? It depends…

Calorie Counting Is Not Accurate

Yes, you heard me. Counting your calories is not the end-all-be-all to losing weight. There are many factors that affect energy balance in the body. And because of this, sometimes the numbers lie. So if you have struggled with this before - counting calories and not seeing results, then maybe the numbers are not correct and we need to change some things.

One thing you can do is use your numbers as a baseline. See what your average calorie intake should be, add up your calories for the day, and see if you are close to what is recommended for you. Are you eating to where you feel satisfied? Are you ravenous at the end of the day? Or maybe you eat less than anticipated and trying to increase your food intake makes you feel uncomfortably full.

Whatever your unique situation is – calories in to calories out is important! What isn’t as important is putting numbers to those calories all of the time!

So, what can affect our calorie intake?

I am glad you asked! There are many factors affecting our calorie intake. If you remember from science class, a calorie or kilocalorie is the amount of energy needed to heat one kilogram of water by one degree celsius. So, the calorie is a quantifiable way to measure potential energy. And to further take us back to our highschool science class - keep in mind that energy can neither be created or destroyed, only transferred. So the purpose of eating is to get energy to live! But we know eating is sooo much more than that!

To break this topic down further, it is important to look at calories, or energy as what is coming into the body and what is going out of the body. This balance is different for each person, but is an integral part to weight loss, weight gain, and weight stabilization.

Below is a table of different factors that affect the energy coming into our bodies and how energy is released from our bodies.

Energy In	Energy Out
Appetite Mostly influenced by our hormones that tell us when we are hungry or full	Energy burned with exercise Influenced by intensity, frequency and duration of exercise Also influenced by sleep quality, environment and hormones
Calories Absorbed Influenced by our age, overall health, energy status Influenced by type of macronutrients and energy density of food	Energy burned at rest Influenced by genetics, hormones, overall health, age, body habitus, prior diet history
Food Consumed Influenced by what we like to eat (palatable), how accessible food is (cost, location), education about food (macronutrient balance)	Energy burned with Non-activity exercise Influenced by genetics, overall health, stress levels, leisure activities, occupation and hormones
Psychological Factors Influenced by self-control, self-esteem, stress, sleep quality	Energy burned from metabolizing food Influenced by macronutrient makeup and how processed food is (unprocessed foods use more energy to metabolize where processed foods take less time to break down)

This table represents the fact that even though calories are important to know about, counting them isn’t always the answer for most people trying to get healthier. The exceptions are those that rely on physique for special purposes, such as competitive bodybuilders, actors, and professional athletes. But for you and me, put the calculator down, and let's focus on the basics.

Here are the Top 5 Ways to Reduce Weight Without Having To Count Calories

1. Eat slowly & mindfully

2. Eat until you are 80% full

3. Ditch the processed foods (at least for majority of your meals and snacks to start)

4. Sleep quality matters, work on a better bedtime routine

5. Reduce stress and work on mindfulness and stress-coping methods