Our Healthy Skeptic looks at why counting calories may be ineffective and even cause harm.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
The Claim: Counting calories is a good way to lose weight.
To shed pounds, keep track of how many calories you consume. It’s been standard advice for 100 years. While this approach may work for some people, it’s typically given more weight than it deserves.
One problem is that calorie counts on food packages aren’t exact. Under law, they can be off by as much as 20 percent, and usually the error is on the low side.
There’s also no guarantee that readings on restaurant menus are accurate.
What’s more, calorie counting can be tedious and time consuming, turning meals into a math exercise.
All this can make counting calories a challenge …which is why it usually fails long-term as a weight-control strategy. But there’s also another reason: calories aren’t the whole story when it comes to weight.
Among the other factors that play a role:
-your metabolism, which slows as you shed pounds, making it harder to lose more weight and keep it off.
-certain hormones, which increase your appetite as you lose weight.
-your genetic makeup, which affects how readily you gain or lose weight.
-and even the bacteria in your gut, which may influence how many calories your body absorbs from the food you eat.
Fixating on calories can lead to harm by contributing to eating disorders.
It may also encourage unhealthy food choices, like jelly beans over nuts.
The jelly beans are lower in calories, but the nuts are much better for you.
This isn’t to say you should completely ignore calories.
But focus mainly on the quality of your diet. Go for whole foods that are filling like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, and fish and try to avoid highly processed foods.
You’ll benefit both your waistline and your health, with no counting required.
For more on weight loss, check out my book Supersized Lies, which reveals why standard advice often fails and what actually works to keep weight off.
Helping you be a healthy skeptic, I’m Robert Davis.