If you’ve ever tried counting calories to lose weight, you likely know that it can be a challenging way to slim down. This is probably because, like most things in life, calorie counting isn’t as black and white as it might seem.
A calorie is a unit of energy (the amount of energy food gives your body). There are calories in what you eat or drink, and the energy your body uses is also measured in calories. Some products have “empty calories,” which can give you some energy but have no nutritional value, so the energy doesn’t last very long.
In the early 1900s, Lulu Hunt Peters, a medical doctor, struggled with weight gain. She noticed that if she counted calories, she lost weight. This was a time when society started promoting that to be beautiful and successful, you had to be thin. In 1909, Peters began publishing columns and weight loss guides, explaining how to count calories and why. She went on to write what became the country’s first best-selling diet book, Diet and Health.
DON’T Expect Sudden Real Weight Loss
The problem with Peters’s approach of calorie counting is it’s too simplistic and most dietitians don’t recommend this as a sole weight loss solution. In theory, if you take in fewer calories than you use, you should lose weight. If you take in more calories than you use, you gain it. But according to Megan Miller, a registered dietitian at LifeMD, your body doesn’t always react that way, especially when you first start cutting calories. If you cut down the number of calories, you might see some weight loss or you might not.
“Your body is readjusting, so you might lose fluid, or fluid retention weight, the first few days, but it’s very common not to lose weight,” she says. How much you exercise is also important. Exercise not only builds muscles, but it also burns off calories. And then, if you’re exercising and creating muscle, that muscle weighs something, too.
Your body also needs to adjust to your changed eating habits. “There's something called metabolic adaptation that you have to keep in mind,” explains registered dietitian Melanie Marcus, founder of the site Miss Nutritious Eats, and nutrition, wellness, and communications manager at Dole Food Company. “If you give your body less, it's going to function as best as it can with what it has.” This affects how much weight you’ll lose.
DO Think About Nutrition
Peters’s weight loss recommendations caused people to focus on calories rather than on nutrition. Calories don’t tell the whole story about nutrition, though. According to Miller, one of the biggest mistakes people make when using calories for weight management is they become rigid about food. They see food as being either good or bad, so they often avoid specific food groups altogether. But when they take these food groups out of their diet, they’re at risk of not getting enough nutrition.
“For example, very commonly we eliminate carbohydrates when trying to lose weight,” she says. “When most people think of carbs, they think of starches. But a lot of starches are fortified with B vitamins. If you cut the carbs, you're at risk for missing out on these vitamins and fiber as well.” So, while you might be reducing your calorie intake overall, you also could change the nutritional balance in your body.
This is where macro counting can come in, says Marcus. Macro counting allows you to see the macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats) in your food and learn about what you’re actually consuming. “There’s a difference between looking at calories and the nutrients of what you’re eating,” she says. You can have two foods that are similar in calories, but they deliver different nutrients. “One might be higher in fat and one higher in carbohydrates.”
DO Enjoy a Range of Food
If you’re just looking at calories, you might be missing what your body needs at any given time. Your body wants good whole fruits, vegetables, plant-based sources of carbohydrates (like potatoes and rice), and so on, says Miller.
“You also want to make sure you're getting enough protein so that you can maintain the muscle that you have. There's tons of research that shows that protein is very satiating, so if you're having at least 3 to 4 ounces of protein per meal, you will also be satisfied,” she says.
And Marcus points out that fat is also an essential part of your diet, but it has to be the right fat. “You want to make sure that you're getting enough healthy, non-inflammatory sources of fat,” she explains. “Maybe it's avocado olive oil, using high-quality ingredients, because your body needs it for nutrient absorption. If you're having a massive salad, don't skip the dressing. That dressing and the fat in it helps those fat-soluble vitamins be better absorbed, so you're getting the most out of that salad.”
DON’T Hoard Calories
Saving calories for a splurge later can be a mistake and should be done sparingly. “Some people will say they’re going to an event or planning on eating a meal that is going to be high in calories, so they’re saving their calories, but it’s not how our metabolism works,” Miller says. “You have to have a steady source of energy throughout the day. You have to fuel, and then you need time to recover from that fuel.” That said, it probably doesn’t hurt to do that from time to time.
“If someone knows they're going to be splurging at a party later, there are a couple of things they can do,” Marcus says. “They can push back their first meal of the day a little bit. Maybe eat at 11 or 12 instead of at 8 a.m., if that's what they usually do. And try to have something that’s a really good source of protein.” But don’t make it a habit, she says.
DO Be Gentle on Yourself
There are several reasons why dietitians aren’t fans of calorie counting, and an important one is how it can affect your relationship with food and your mental health. “If you're obsessive or have anxiety, we don't want to be creating a situation that you're so dialed in on food, you can't focus on anything else,” Marcus says.
And if you have any health issues or special nutritional needs, calorie counting alone probably isn’t for you. Instead, Marcus recommends working with a dietitian so you can be supported as you try to lose weight. You can check with your insurance company to see if this is covered.
Miller sees counting calories more as a tool to help guide you to make healthy food choices, not as something you should do every meal, every snack, every day. “I don't recommend calorie counting on a daily basis,” she says. If someone wants to do it, it should be a few days a week, just to give some insight as to what you’re eating.
By keeping track of your calories this way, you might see patterns you need to change, she explains. Did you only have three servings of vegetables in the week? Next week, you might focus on eating more of them. Or perhaps you ate fast food or a high-calorie food a lot one week, so the next week might focus on more home-cooked meals. “Every two weeks, go back and reevaluate to see if it was effective or not,” Miller says.
DO Find the Right Tool for You
If you want to start counting calories, there are many ways to do it, ranging from having a piece of paper and pen handy to using smartphone apps that do a lot of the work for you. Miller says there are several good calorie-counting tools. “My main go-to is MyFitnessPal, because it’s free. It has a lot of ads, but it has a really decent free option to it. MyNetDiary is another one too. There's MacroFactor, which is a good one, but you have to pay for it,” she says. The type of app that’s best for you depends on what you want to look at.
Marcus points out that the apps that have quizzes can give you an idea – “kind of a guestimate” – as to how many carbohydrates, proteins, and how much fat you need to make up your total calories for the day.
However you choose to lose or maintain your weight, Miller wants people to understand that this is a long game. “Know that you're going to hit bumps in a road, and that's where a lot of people go wrong. If you try to do too much too fast, or to go all in too quickly and it's just too much, you can burn yourself out.”
Recap
- Counting calories is a common way for people to try to lose weight, but dietitians don’t think it’s the best way to lose weight.
- Calories don’t tell the whole story. Learning about the nutritional value of foods is an important part of eating a healthy diet.
- Counting calories should be used more like a tool to guide food choices, rather than a strict way of deciding what you should eat.
- Losing weight is a long game. Don’t get discouraged if it takes longer than you’d like.
Show Sources
Photo Credit: monticelllo/Getty Images
SOURCES:
Megan Miller, registered dietitian nutritionist, LifeMD.
Melanie Marcus, registered dietitian; founder, Miss Nutritious Eats website; nutrition, wellness, and communications manager, Dole Food Company.
Distillations Magazine: “Counting Calories.”
HealthySD.gov: “Understanding Calories.”
Intermountain Health: “What Are Macros And Why Should I Be Counting Them?”
Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan: “Empty Calories.”
National Center for Health Research: “Fast Food Calorie Count Cheat Sheet.”
National Institutes of Health: “Calories Needed Each Day.”
