The Big Calorie Lie: Why Counting Calories Is Making You Fat
HAPPY SPRING from The #1 choice for Personal Training in St. Petersburg for over 50 Bodies!
I just love this time of year with the humidity free coolness to the air and the extra hours every night to enjoy all that St Pete has to offer. People are pouring into our St. Petersburg small group personal training and weight loss programs as spring and summer’s skin bearing clothing starts to bring thoughts of “dieting” into their heads.
1 Bag of Skinny Pop Popcorn: 150 calories, 100 Calorie Yogurt, Fat Free Dressing: 10 calories. Sound familiar? If you are reading this, you’ve probably tried cutting and counting calories to lose weight or you might have even done so under the advice of a personal trainer and, it worked great …. until it didn’t and you gained all of those pounds back plus a few. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone.
For years I’ve said Americans are overweight because of “portion distortion” and too many “diet foods”. I founded Custom Bodies (Now Fitness St Pete I Tierra Verde Fitness) 20 years ago on the principles of serving sizes and exchanges based on food groups, teaching people how the “calories” from their foods equated to servings from different groups and how to eat proper portions.
After about 15 years as a personal trainer, I started to notice a disconnect between research and what “experts” (including myself) were teaching others about calories. I became fascinated and it led me to more in depth research. As I tested out my “theories” on our private training clients and group fitness members, I knew I was onto something. People were losing tons of fat and inches, obliterating carb cravings and finding themselves amazed if they did log their food into their ap and saw how many “calories” they were actually eating.
“Count Ingredients not calories” became our mantra and it revolutionized the way our clients were eating and thinking about food ! “Eat Smarter Not Less” became our new tagline and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now TO BE CLEAR, calories matter to an extent since you have to be in caloric deficit but, the SOURCE of the calories and lifestyle habits matter just as much.
So, here are the 5 biggest lies I’ve discovered about “counting calories” and the facts that will set you free from ever having to count another one while you achieve a body that looks, feels and performs better than it has in years (maybe ever)!
1. You Think Calories are a magical thing and simply cutting them from food and increasing them from activity will magically help you achieve a body that looks and feels amazing
FACT: While it sounds good in theory. The reality is that Americans spend 4 BILLION dollars a year on diets based on calories and gadgets designed to track calories and we are becoming more obese and unhealthy by the decade.
Calories aren’t a mythical, magical creature. Essentially, they are nothing but a measure of how “energy” a food contains or your bodies spends during activity.
FACT: Calories don’t tell the whole picture. I can put “enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), palm and canola oil and modified palm oil, cocoa, corn starch, corn flour, corn syrup, salt, baking soda, natural and artificial flavor, soy lecithin, ammonium bicarbonate,” into a package , label it ‘fit and active” because it only has 100 calories.
From Scientific American: Science Reveals Why Calorie Counts Are All Wrong
2. You Think All calories are equal.
FACT: Not all calories are created equal. Different macronutrients (carbs, fats, proteins) are processed by the body differently. Chemicals and preservatives also impact the way a “calorie” is processed and utilized by your body. On top of that, some “calories” make you feel full, satisfied and full of energy while others leave you tired, bloated and hungry.
3. You Think Eating 1000 or 1200 calories or less will make you thin, lean and have you in a body you love because every major magazine, diet book and diet food company revolves around the 100 or 1200 calorie diet.
FACT: These numbers are pretty arbitrary based on the “average” metabolic rate of a given person based on nothing.
Other than age, weight and gender. They do not take into account individual activity level or those who want to add lean muscle while they strip fat. (HINT: if you are a woman over 30 or a man over 45, you WANT to ad muscle whether your goal is to be “slim” , “toned” or “muscular”)
There is nothing particularly wrong with a 1200 calorie food plan for short periods of time as long as your macro nutrients are in the correct balance for optimum nutrition and maximization of TEF.
More From Fat Loss U: How To Speed Up Your Slow Metabolism In 5 Easy Steps
FACT: Counting calories leads to failure more often than not and usually leaves people fatter than they were before they started their last “diet”. The majority of the people with whom I’ve worked over my 20 year career as a personal trainer are women who were consuming 1000-1200 calories while they were “dieting” and men taking in 1400 – 1600 calories. They would lose some weight and then gain it all back…… over and over and over.
If you starve yourself, your body slows down your metabolism, burns muscle and stores fat. There are also endocrine and other issues which are the topic of a graphic I am creating at the moment.
If you have done one (or many) low calorie diets, you’ve probably noticed that when you started eating “normally” again after a you gained all of your weight back .. plus a few.
Why?
Because your decimated your metabolism and burned muscle for energy. If this is you, you are not alone. Recent statistics put 77 % of Americans in the “overweight” category and over 40% in the “obese” category.
4. You think all you have to count calories and go on a 1000 or 1200 calorie a day diet one more time be and “be disciplined” to make it work this time.
Our clients have often heard me say “Weight Is Just A Symptom Of Lifestyle”. Basically, “Dieting” only tackles the symptom (being over weight and or associated health issues) instead of handling the underlying cause (e.g., what’s keeping you from being at an ideal weight, unhealthy habits and lifestyle)
It’s a pardox of sorts because “dieting” in and of itself with calorie restriction of entire wholesome food groups and consumption of processed, chemical laden foods, is a VERY unhealthy habit.
Think of it like a clogged bathroom tub. You call the plumber to come fit it he tells you the cure for your clogged tub is to stop using the tub. His solution fixed the symptom (the tub is not going to overflow) but not the cause (what’s causing the clog?). The cause of that clog in your “plumbing” is eating poor quality foods that throw your fat-burning, appetite-taming hormones out of whack and not moving enough.
5. You think that tracking, monitoring and counting calories will reduce the stress of weight loss
FACT: Counting Calories makes you stressed.
In a study from NCBI, researchers assigned healthy women into four groups. The researchers found that monitoring increased psychological stress, but restricting increased physiological stress (cortisol levels) even when the subjects felt no psychological stress. In other words, your body is still stressed out by dieting even if you don’t feel unhappy about it.
Chronic stress is the worst nightmare of someone who wants to lose weight. It deranges everything from your gut flora to your skin to your immune system on TOP of increasing your cortisol levels which will have a negative effect on your fat loss efforts. If you’re stressing over your diet, it’s undoing t least some (if not all) of the health benefits of the diet itself.
SOURCES:
Popular Science – Science Reveals Why Calorie Counts Are All WRONG
Harvard Health Publishing – There is No Sugar Coating It, Not All Calories Are Created Equal
Harvard Health Publishing – Stop Counting Calories
Healthline – Why Calories in and calories out (CICO) does not tell the whole story
If you want to take the guess work, calorie counting and stress out of achieving your goals and avoid crash diets or yet another start to the New Year that involves an extra 7 – 15 pounds, The FSP Signature 14 Day Rapid Results Program is a done for you Success Plan with 2 weeks of done for you meal plans, tasty recipes, success manuals and unlimited access to our pros and most successful private clients and group personal training members in our private members only Facebook Group.
It’s going to teach you how to eat more, train less and turn your body into a fat burning machine while giving you the direction and accountability you need, plus you will get a ton of support . If any of this sounds good to you, just Click HERE to see if you qualify .
Committed To Your Success & Awesomeness,
Dianne Villano, Your Personal Body Shaping Expert
Fitness St. Pete I Tierra Verde Fitness
P.S. Have you met Heather, the over 40 full time working mom tired of the ups and downs of yo yo dieting? Check out the amazing results she got with her personal trainers
[…] I go into this in more detail about why this is the WORST thing you can do in my post Why Counting Calories is Making You Fat but, today I want to teach you the “secret” that has revolutionized “weight […]
[…] MORE FROM Fat Loss U : Why Counting Calories Is Making You Fat […]
I do not even know how I ended up here, however I believed this publish was once good. I do not recognize who you are however certainly you are going to a well-known blogger should you are not already. Cheers!
[…] MORE FROM FAT LOSS U: Why Counting Calories Is making You Fatter […]
I just added this website to my rss reader, great stuff. Can’t get enough!
Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will often come back very soon. I want to encourage continue your great writing, have a nice afternoon!
Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thanks
[…] fool yourself into thinking cutting more will enable you to lose fat faster, You can read “Why Counting Calories Is Making You Fat“ to learn why this is a sure fire way to gain […]
I just want to tell you that I am just new to blogs and absolutely enjoyed Fat Loss University. I will be book marking it for sure. You have great, well written posts. Cheers for sharing.
[…] you stick to my list of fat blasting, flat belly foods 80% of the time , along with including at least one green smoothie per day, you will not have to […]
[…] MORE FROM FAT LOSS U: Why Counting Calories Is Making You Fat […]
I just want to say I’m very new to blogging and loved your blog. I will be book marking it for sure. Your article content is amazing.
I couldn’t leave this blog! Great Info!
What a great post. Thanks for sharing. It explains a lot about my weight loss struggles.
Love your writing so much! Looking forward to reading more.
Great post. I have been looking for thoughts on this.
Great Blog. Plenty of useful info here. I’m sending it to some friends ans also sharing. Thanks for the great content!
I admire your work , thank you for all the informative posts .
Great post. Good nutrition is especially vital when dieting and there is so much back information out there. A massive reduction in junk food, sugary ingredients, fried foods, sugary foods, red meat, and white-colored flour products can be necessary. Many thanks for these great posts.
Very interesting points on your blog , thanks for writing.
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little research on the subject.
I love this blog. I will definitely be bookmarking it!
I want to say that this post is awesome, nicely written and includes a lot of information to clear up confusion on the subject. I’m looking forward to reading more on the topic. Fat Loss U is amazing. Keep it up.
I was I need to to thank you for this wonderful read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it and i also have you book marked to see new stuff in your blog.
This post is very useful and helpful
Thank you for sharing this. I am impressed by the details. It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for extra articles. You, my pal, ROCK!
Hello there! This article could not be written any better! Going through this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept preaching about this. I’ll send this article to him. Fairly certain he’ll have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
Great website! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am bookmarking your feeds also.
I actually loved the information! Will be back frequently to check out new posts and recipes.
Generally I do not comment on blogs, however I would like to say that this post deserved one! Your writing style is great . Thank you, very great article.
Very informative post. I wonder why the other experts in your industry do not talk about this. Keep putting out that information! .
The website style and design is perfect and your content is really fantastic. “We can only learn to love by loving.” by Iris Murdoch.
I truly appreciate this post. I¦ve been looking all over for something like this! Thanks again
I am so happy to read this. This is the kind of information that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is on a lot of fitness websites. Appreciate your sharing this.
Thanks so much for this post. It answered a lot of questions for me.
WONDERFUL Post.thanks!
Great blog you’ve got here.. It’s difficult to find high-quality writing like yours these days. Take care!!
As a Newbie, I am always searching online for content to make some sense out of all the weight loss info out there. Thank you
Great points , appreciate this post.
Good post..
Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly return.
I really like your writing style, excellent information, thank you for posting :D. “Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility.” by Johathan Edwards.
It’s hard to decipher the knowledge from the fluff, but you sound like you understand what you’re talking about! This post cleared up a lot of questions I’ve had. Thanks
this post is invaluable , Thanks for taking your time to write it.
I found your site on a google search about weight loss It’s excellent, thanks. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Heya i am here for the first time. Excellent article and explains so much! Thanks
Wow! This could be one one of the best blogs I’ve seen about weight loss. It’s great. I also have a blog so I understand the effort that goes into it.
Great post!
Heya i am for the first time here. It’s my first time here and it’s really useful & This post has helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and help others like you helped me.
Excellent post. I love this blog! carry on.
excellent post. I check your blog often and am always inspired! Extremely helpful info 🙂 Thanks and best of luck.
very good stuff, appreciate it. “Love begets love, love knows no rules, this is the same for all.” by Virgil.
You can certainly see your enthusiasm within the work you write. There need to be more people in your industry who aren’t afraid to deviate from the herd and popular trends
Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research on this. I’m very glad to see such great information on here. Can’t wait to read more of your blog
I just love to read new topics from you blog.`,`,~