Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Week 8: Calories

Calories.  Those little units of energy-producing potential that are in everything we eat.  We need calories to function properly, but the question is, do we really need to count them? I’ve had more than one person tell me that I should stop counting calories, that it doesn’t really matter if you count them, and that I’m just stressing myself out.  My knee-jerk reaction is to get angry, but then I remind myself that they are just trying to be helpful.  So, I just smile and nod.  

Eventually I searched the internet for “reasons I should not count calories” and was rewarded with something like 17 million hits.  I read close to a dozen articles and blog posts on the topic, including this, this, and this.  There were similar themes in each of these articles, even though they were presented a little differently.  To touch on each would take me hours, but these 4 seemed to pop up the most:
  1. Counting calories and having to measure your food takes the joy out of eating and is stressful.
  2. You’re probably underestimating the calories you’re eating and overestimating the calories you’re burning.
  3. Counting calories teaches you to ignore your natural satiety cues.
  4. Caloric quality matters more than caloric quantity

Let’s start with point one.  I think today’s technology pretty much makes it obsolete.  Yes, counting calories was a chore...when I was in grade school.  Now?  Not so much.  Google the words “calorie counting apps” and I think you’ll see what I mean.  There are apps that will not only give you the calorie counts of numerous common foods, but they’ll find grocery brands and restaurant foods for you, too.  They’ll also take your age, height, weight and gender and calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR) for you.  Then all you have to do is tell it how much weight you want to lose per week and it will give you your daily calorie goal.  It will also take into account any exercise you do and adjust the calories accordingly.  Does this sound hard?  Does this sound stressful?  Seriously, I enjoy playing with my calorie tracking app.  It’s fun as hell, and it will even email me weekly reports.  

Moving on to point two, again, I think technology makes it obsolete.  See the above paragraph regarding the part about underestimating the calories you’re eating.  As for overestimating the calories you’re burning, there are wonderful little bits of technology out there that can be worn on the wrist or the waistband that keep track of the steps you take, the miles you’ve walked/run, and the calories you’ve burned.  And it’s not a generic guesstimate, either.  These things take into account your weight and the level of activity.  So, while the calories burned may not be on the nose, it’s close enough to be of value if you’re keeping track.  And it’s easy.

I think that point three is meant for people that have a somewhat “normal” relationship with food.  I do not.  In an earlier blog post I established the fact that I have a food addiction.  There are certain foods and situations that are as dangerous to me as a glass of wine is to an alcoholic.  That being the case, I’ll ignore those “natural satiety cues” even when I’m not counting calories.  That’s the nature of my relationship with food.  Do alcoholics stop drinking when when they feel slightly tipsy?  Well, when I’m not counting calories and in the middle of a food binge, I can guarantee you that I’m not stopping, even when I start to feel full.   In fact, in these instances, it’s knowing how many calories I’m about to put into my mouth that often gives me enough willpower to stop before I start.

To a point, I agree with point five.  Caloric quality matters far more than quantity.  100 calories of sweet potato is FAR better for you than 100 calories of cake.  Whole grain bread is way better than Wonder White.  So, yeah, in that sense, I agree.  However, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.  The bottom line is, if you eat more calories than you burn, you’re going to gain weight.   Eating “quality” calories only works if you don’t eat too many of them, and the only way I can tell if I’m eating too many is if I track them.

So, do I really need to count calories?  Others might not need to, but in my case, the answer is definitely “yes”.


1 comment:

  1. And it's working for you. People find that different things that work for them. But if you've found something that works for you, run with it! Oh, yeah. You already are! :-)

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