Calorie counting can definitely be a useful tool for you to use, but is it right for you? There are many benefits to it, which you can read about here, but there can also be some negatives as well. I am going to go over these for you so you can make up your own mind as to whether it would be beneficial for you to use as part of your health and fitness journey or not.
Calorie counting can be quite tedious and time consuming (although apps like myfitnesspal and all of the others around now it is a lot easier).
The way food is prepared can make a difference to the number of calories the body absorbs from it, for example cooking and blending foods makes the calories more easily absorbed by the body and eating foods raw and unprocessed makes them harder to digest and less of the calories are absorbed.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the nutrition information listed on food labels and in many food databases are surprisingly, not always accurate. A lot of the time they are just averages. Also, be sure to check the serving size and how many serves are listed. Sometimes these serving sizes are much smaller than most people would eat.
Another problem, how do you count the calories in foods that do not have a label such as fruit and vegetables? Again the numbers listed on food databases are usually just averages. A few problems with the averages listed are the size of the piece of fruit or vegetable - what does large, medium, or small look like? Also, the riper a piece of fruit is, the more calories it contains.
Counting calories can also have a negative effect on some peoples mindset, depending on their personalities. I have seen a lot of people become obsessive about making sure they hit their goal every day or even become obsessed with eating just a little bit less each day and seeing the number of calories get lower and lower. This is not a healthy mindset to be in and can lead to disordered eating patterns. If this resonates with you at all, then counting calories may not be the best thing for you.
As you can see from this list, there are many reasons as to why counting calories may not be the best option for everyone, and if you don’t want to count calories, that is fine. No two peoples health and fitness journey will look the same - you just need to do what works best for you.
