May 14th, 2019

[CALORIE COUNTING: YES OR NO?]

One of the heavier debated topics of late has been around calorie counting. Is it necessary or not? Is it even useful?

Some pro's and cons:

PRO:
- gives you data, which you can use later. If you had a certain daily routine that made you lose weight, it will probably work again in 3 years if you are in the same situation
- nutritional values give a good estimation of what has a lot and what has little calories
- it has been scientifically shown that you will lose weight if you burn more calories than you eat
- therefor, there are no excuses if you are not losing weight

CONS:
- calorie counting views food as points. This external focus takes all the attention away from what your body is feeling. You are basically saying "you've had enough" or "you need to eat more" even though your body might signal something different
- the estimations are approximately ok, but there can be errors up to 20%, screwing up your counting
- a lot of effort to keep track
- all of this together makes it an unsustainable option

Our advice? Focussing on how you feel has more merits than calorie counting and focussing on an external object: the scale. Eat quality, healthy foods and focus on how you feel instead of what you counted.
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