The Trouble with Calorie Counting

Let's talk about calories.

Ok, I mean I'm sure there are other things to discuss on a Thursday morning, like the fact that "Maverick" is coming out tomorrow night and even though Tom Cruise has descended into levels of weirdness that none of us could have imagined in 1986, everyone between the ages of I really don't know because 80's movies has a countdown on their computer.

Right? I mean  I know it's not just me....

I digress.

Ok, back to calories.

In my experience as a nutrition coach, most people come into to coaching having tried to cut calories as their primary approach to losing weight. And on paper, as long as you have a calorie deficit - burning more calories in a week than you consume, you should lose weight.

I'm going to take a quick second here to emphasize that you need a calorie deficit for the entire week to potentially see some results. If you are in a 2,000 calorie deficit coming into Friday but eat and drink 5,000 calories over the weekend, you won't see results.

I say on paper because, as many of you have probably learned from your experience, many people feel like they are in a deficit for the week and aren't seeing any change on the scale. Aside from the fact that stress, sleep, medical conditions, certain prescriptions and hormones can also play enormous factors in the fat loss process, there are some other points to consider when it comes to counting calories.

1. Calorie counting is imprecise

There are a variety of reasons for this. For example an apple can range anywhere from 83 calories to 116 calories. There are similar margins for carrots, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes.

In fact, the FDA allows for a inaccuracies of up to 20%.

So 150 calories in your My Fitness Pal app could actually be 130-180 calories.

2. We don't absorb all of the calories we consume.

I'm getting into the weeds here, but bare with me - if you are trying to lose fat you might want to hang out in these weeds with me for a minute.

On the one hand, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. I know. I just cleared everything up for you right there. A calorie is a unit of energy. That's it. A snicker's bar is 230 units of energy. So is something that's much healthier, but I can't think of a good example because "Maverick" IS TOMORROW NIGHT.

But where calories differ is both in the amount of nutrients they contain - hence the reason an avocodo with grilled chicken is healthier than that Snicker's bar, but our body also absorbs different types of calories differently.

Let's say you ate a one ounce serving of unsalted peanuts. That's 166 calories. And let's say you ate the equivalent in peanut butter. Your body is going to absorb less of the unsalted peanuts for a number of reasons, including the fact that your system has to work to break down the peanut, whereas the peanut butter is already processed.

This is part of the reason that focusing on eating whole foods instead of processed foods is a great place to focus your nutrition.

3. Your gut health affects your calorie absorption.

People with a higher of Firmicutes bacteria absorb, on average, 150 calories more per day than those with a higher proportion of Backteroidetes.

If you want to know more about this topic, a quick google search will bring up a recent study with more information - but the bottom line here is to know that your gut health matters.

4. You're not measuring your food at all - or you're measuring incorrectly.

I'm not trying to judge here - I mean I haven't seen whether you count a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter or a leveled tablespoon in your tracking, but you get the gist. I know it's a giant pain, but even if you spend a few days weighing and measuring your food, you'll likely get a much better idea of what a serving is.

If you want to know more about calorie counting, or some of the research tied to the above points, check out this post from the folks at Precision Nutrition and scroll to the bottom.

And, if you are someone that feels that you've tried everything when it comes to fat loss and feeling healthy, I'm taking a small group of folks through a pilot 12 week program beginning in June. I'm accepting applications now, so if you're interested, fill out the form below and we'll set up a time to chat.

Or, just respond to this email with the word "Maverick."

Off to buy my tickets now, in case the theatre in Topsham Maine sells out....