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How To Stop Yourself Counting Calories Obsessively: Life After Apps
You might think that my choice of image for this article is an odd one.
But by the end of you reading this, I promise it will become clear.
I am writing this because I got this gorgeous question from one of my one-to-one clients on the Strong and Confident Program.
Firstly, the fact that my client feels like she is personally battling this, means that there are probably millions of others out there battling with it as well.
It’s normal to feel scared about wanting to stop counting calories.
So my first point is, if you are here reading this, you are not alone.
You are here because you are struggling, and you want to find a release…this Article will provide that release from counting calories obsessively.
An awful lot of people when they are struggling feel lonely.
So please don’t.
To help stop you from feeling lonely, it would be awesome if you wanted to become my friend.
As your friend, I will send you some things. Links to my podcasts, an opportunity to work with me, some educational material, and a few books. and workout programs and probably the odd story about me, and my cats Nala and Simba.
If you want to chat more, please just send me a friend request by filling out this form:
My face now we are friends:
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR: How To Stop Yourself Counting Calories Obsessively: Life After Apps
Does Calorie Counting Work?
Should You Stop Counting Calories?
Strategies to manage Calories Without Calorie Counting
The Process Behind Stopping Calorie Counting
A Little Pep Talk
You can listen to the audio version of this Blog Post on my Podcast: The Fitness Solution
You can watch the video version of this Blog Post on my YouTube Channel:
Does Calorie Counting Work?
It wouldn’t take you long to flick through my Blog Posts and see that I regularly give out advice to help people learn how to manage counting calories and how to make it more effective.
This is because if your goal is weight loss or weight gain - counting calories can work.
But that doesn’t mean it will always work.
And it doesn’t mean that it is the best strategy for everyone.
If you look at the titles of my posts:
It would be fair to assume that I am indeed in favour of this as a strategy. But if you read the posts and look deeper, you will see the great variance and nuance in my message around Counting Calories and their relative success for you in your Weight Loss goals.
This morning I was talking to a Physician who specialises in Type 2 Diabetes Healthcare - and we got into a glorious discussion about what is optimal healthcare for these clients.
The conclusion we both had was:
You have to let the person decide what science you are going to use.
There is Science out there that clearly shows Calorie Counting can help manage body composition [1]:
“Over 3 times as many Consistent Trackers as Inconsistent Trackers achieved ≥ 5% weight loss at 3 months (48 vs. 13%) and at 6 months (54 vs. 15%; ps < .001). Though causality cannot be determined by the present study, tracking weight and/or diet nearly every day [on a Commercial App] per week for 12 weeks a commercial app may serve as an effective strategy for weight loss. Strategies are needed to promote greater consistency in tracking.”
There is also science that shows truly how damaging counting calories can be. Damaging for a relationship with food, relationship with body image, relationship with social occasions - and this damage is real - I’ve worked with more than enough people to know that to be true.
This study [2] analysed 5.5k posts on community forums and three mobile food journals in relation to the difficulties with food tracking.
It found posts summing up these emotions of those who engaged in this behaviour:
Food journalers report feelings of shame, judgment, or obsession associated with current designs. P6 reported journaling “made me feel guilty sometimes”, while P27 noted a lack of positive feedback: “I always felt guilty when I ate too much, and there wasn't that much pride when I was under my goal.”
“Sometimes I feel like not logging things because I know it’s really unhealthy”
”It made me too focused and obsessive about what I was eating”
“It was more of an on the way to an eating disorder thing than anything else (tried to keep calories extremely low)”
“I think I was hesitant to do the logging if not alone”
“I had more of a problem with eating out at a friend’s house because I didn’t want to ask for ingredients or mention that I was logging calories”
Many of those feelings I can imagine you relate to. Which is why you are here.
The great tragedy in all of this is that my dear friend, “the fitness industry” has painted this as a black and white scenario.
Counting Calories = losing weight. Regardless of the cost.
And with all behaviour there is a cost attached - and you must always ask yourself when engaging in behaviour whether the cost is worth it.
But the good old “fitness industry” doesn’t tell you this. It doesn’t understand that everybody is different and you need a unique path for you.
It just draws a line from where you are to where you want to be and expects you to follow it.
Counting Calories has worked for many people. If it didn’t Under Armour would never have bought My Fitness Pal.
But its greatest failure is its inability to screen its users to actually check to see whether or not they should be counting calories.
Because there is a whole host of people, people more than likely just like you, who should not have engaged in tracking calories, to begin with.
So here I am. A humble fella with just his keyboard as his weapon to try and help you reverse that damage and show you a way out of this tunnel you feel like you are in.
Take my hand… Let’s find you a way out.
Should You Stop Counting Calories?
As I mentioned previously, many people can count calories and use it as a perfectly decent way to manage their intake.
But many others cannot.
This doesn't mean that one person is superior to the other, it simply means that there are no black and white rules in fitness, other than you must always treat each and every case on its individual merits.
This also doesn't mean that if you don’t count calories, you can’t achieve your goals.
Believe me, you really can. In fact, I would say 80% of my clients on The Strong and Confident Program don’t count their calories, and we manage their nutritional needs in other ways - more on this later.
As I write this, it is very important to me that I am clear on who should not be counting calories, so that you can judge whether you fall into one of these categories, and can therefore learn how to move away from this obsessive behaviour.
Have you ever been diagnosed with an Eating Disorder?
If the answer to this question is yes. Then you should not be counting calories.
Period.
No ifs. No buts.
End of discussion really.
You must remember with every behaviour there is a cost attached, and the cost attached to counting calories if you have ever had a diagnosed eating disorder - or suspect you might have an eating disorder - just isn’t worth it.
It’s not worth the cost to your Mental Health and physical health.
Knowing the calories in your food is not worth the negative effects that can occur from counting calories.
This study [3] looked into this very topic and found:
“Of the app [MyFitnessPal] users, 73% stated that the app had at least somewhat contributed to their eating disorder, with 30% reporting that the app very much contributed to their eating disorder. Additionally, the more likely an individual was to report that usage of the calorie tracker had contributed to their eating disorder, the more likely they were to have higher eating disorder symptoms”
If you are already susceptible to an eating disorder, tracking your calories is only going to re-open that pandora’s box again.
And believe me, no physique goal is worth that.
Are you a perfectionist?
If you have perfectionist tendencies, then tracking your calories is not a good idea as it will create too much stress in your life.
Calories aren’t perfect.
The calories that are published on packets can be up to 20% inaccurate.
This study found the following:
“Measured energy values exceeded label statements by 8% on average in pre-packaged convenience meals (12), which is slightly higher but consistent with the label disparity of 4.3% in packaged snack foods. Also consistent with this study, most products in our sample fell within the allowable limit of 20% over the label calories per Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations”
Added to that, all the clever equations we use in Fitness to help calculate your Maintenance Calories, for it is from there where we can establish your Calorie Window, is just the best guess.
Figuring out your weight, height and age, and then asking you to subjectively rate your movement each week in terms of intensity is not going to be accurate.
This is why when you use many different Calorie Calculators, you get different numbers. Whether it’s the Katch McArdle Method, or the Mifflin St. Jeor neither are perfect.
This is exactly why I work with a Calorie Window with all of my clients. I don’t need their calories to be perfect, I need them to be in a range that will work.
Therefore if you are a perfectionist in an imperfect set up you will find untold stress in trying to get it right all the time.
You can’t get it right. But you don’t need to. Comprehending the imperfect system will help you be less obsessive with counting calories.
Do you feel guilty after eating certain foods?
If you can’t eat a Krispy Kreme doughnut without feeling like you have to go to the gym for an hour to “burn off those calories” then you need to start creating space between what you eat and that immediate feedback on the calories involved.
No good can come from eating something and then chastising yourself by logging it immediately, and to see that the calories are more than expected which compounds all of those feelings of shame and guilt around what you enjoyed.
Even though you see tracking and logging your foods as a way of working towards your goals, it is actually counter-intuitive if you experience this guilty feeling. This is because it will slowly rot away your self-esteem. You will feel completely undermined, and you will be left with three choices:
Spend countless hours in the gym time and time again to punish yourself for the food you ate - damaging your relationship with your body and exercise.
Stop tracking the foods that make you feel this way and therefore feel like a failure every time you have them - and be aware you are “lying” to yourself about your caloric intake - damaging your sense of self-worth.
Give up on your whole fitness journey period - again leading you down a path of feeling like a failure and thinking you will never succeed at changing what you want to change.
None of those options are ideal for your long-term success.
Do you refuse to eat when you are hungry because you are worried about going over your Calories?
Calories are a best guess.
If you are refusing to eat when you are genuinely hungry because you might be over for a day - then you have a problem.
Hunger can mean many things - not all hunger is a desire for food.
Hunger can mean you are bored, you need a hug, or you are in need of a connection other than for food.
But there is an element of hunger that is related to the need for food - if you are denying that hunger too much in order to stay within your calories, and you are doing it too often, then there is no way you will be able to keep that up.
The hunger will win - and then you will again give into that physiological feeling - perpetuating your feelings of failure either way.
Strategies to manage Calories Without Calorie Counting
You are probably sitting there thinking this all so far makes sense but how on earth do you keep working on your goals when you have no idea what your intake is?
But there are many ways to manage a calorie deficit without having to track your calories.
A Study called: The Effect of Adherence to Dietary Tracking on Weight Loss: Using HLM to Model Weight Loss over Time [3] concluded that:
“Consistent trackers had significant weight loss (-9.99 pounds), following a linear relationship with consistent loss throughout the year. In addition, the weight-loss trend for the rare and inconsistent trackers followed a nonlinear path, with the holidays slowing weight loss and the onset of summer increasing weight loss. These results show the importance of frequent dietary tracking for consistent long-term weight loss success”
However, when you look at how they were asked to track their dietary intake you find a great nuance that doesn’t involve MyFitness Pal.
They managed this long-term weight loss by:
Maintain daily food journals and physical activity records;
Reduce portion sizes;
Reduce foods high in calories, fat, and simple sugar;
Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products;
Weigh themselves frequently and at least weekly
They each worked with a Health Coach and attended interactive sessions designed to educate them on nutrition and exercise adherence.
Strategy 1: Food Journals
The food journal in the study above could well have been on MyFitness Pal. But it doesn't have to be on there exclusively.
A Food Journal can just be writing a record of what you ate and when you ate it. No Calories but just the foods.
For example:
I chose this diary as an example because I love the “Starbucks” comment.
I do think that with Food Journals if you can also document an emotion along with the food you are eating it would be really helpful. It just needs to be a sentence, explaining how you were feeling at the time and how that led. to you eating what you had.
For example:
Porridge with peanut butter - was a little tired but wanted to have a good breakfast.
Coffee - I was tired, and I love starting my day with coffee.
Plant Kitchen No Chicken Indian Wrap - I thought this was a good lunch option, but I was a little short on time because of my work schedule, but I enjoyed it.
By doing this you begin to create objectivity between your food and emotions. You can begin to see how your emotions are impacting your food choices and the more information you gather in this way the more you can see patterns and get insights into how your emotional state affects your caloric choices.
Strategy 2: A Structured Diet
I come across an awful lot of people who use Calorie Counting as a way to try and control emotional and binge eating. But as we have seen from the studies, this can be very counterintuitive.
A lot of calories do come into your diet when:
You don’t eat because you are “busy”
You restrict too much and then binge.
This is where a structured diet will have huge benefits. The two issues are essentially the same.
Just yesterday, I had a banana for breakfast and some toast at about 07:30 am - not a huge amount of calories for me - then I didn’t eat again until I was in a restaurant at about 12:30. But by that point, I could feel my blood sugar levels dropping, I was getting anxious and was beyond hungry. The second I sat in the restaurant, before my lunch, I asked for a Croissant with Nutella in it. Just because I was ravenous.
I then ate my full lunch too.
That is an extra lot of calories that could have been managed a lot better by having a much better breakfast.
I have worked with many people who vow that they don’t eat that much, I then ask them to start eating breakfast…and they start to achieve their goals.
As this study [4] backs up:
“Eating breakfast is a characteristic common to successful weight loss maintainers and may be a factor in their success.”
When you don’t eat at regular times during the day it creates moments where you overeat at mealtimes.
By eating in a more structured way you protect yourself against that.
In many ways - you will feel like you are eating more - and yet you are actually consuming less.
How To Structure Your Diet
I have one method: 3 Meals. 2 Snacks.
Each meal must fit on one plate - as much food as you want - but it must only be on one plate.
If you have an alcoholic beverage the night before - try and take away a snack the next day - but this isn’t essential.
If you can iron out your food intake to more regular moments with food, in a structured manner your body will respond well. It will enjoy the rhythm and pattern of knowing when it is being fed, and your hunger hormones, grehlin and leptin, will respond in a much better way because they will have a structure.
Remember:
“We find freedom within a structure, without structure all we have is chaos”
The other important aspect of structured dieting is actually spending time with your food. Don’t eat in a distracted manner, if possible. As in, don’t work as you eat, don’t watch TV as you eat, and certainly don’t scroll social media as you eat.
I fully respect and understand the issues with this advice for parents with young children - you are exempt - just do what you need to do to get through dinner.
But allowing yourself a moment of self-love, self-care and nourishment when you eat is going to help you improve that relationship with food, and will help stop the mindless eating.
It is all about being more mindful, not mindless.
Strategy 3: Five Awesome Rules For Fat Loss Life
I came up with this for my clients when I first became a personal trainer. It was more instinct than science, and since then science has very much backed up what I put in place.
These Five Rules are very simple:
Be in a Calorie Deficit
and the others help you achieve that, without counting calories:
2. Three Litres of Water A Day
3. Protein and Veggies at every meal
4. 10,000 steps a day
5. 7-8 hours of sleep a night
I explain all of them in much more detail right here:
5 Easy Ways To Do A Calorie Deficit Diet without Working Out
Or you can watch this:
Strategy 4: Portions and Food Choice
Now within 3 Meals, 2 Snacks it would be wise to still follow some guidelines for better nutrition. It’s important we don’t overthink this because overthinking this can lead you back to that desire to track what you are doing to make sure you are getting it “right”.
I recommend Protein and Vegetables at every meal.
In fact, some meals I have personally, are only protein and veggies.
You are allowed Carbs - probably more Carbs than you think you should have - in fact, Carbohydrates will be the fair majority of your diet - in the forms of Fruit, Vegetables, and Complex Grains.
Remember, no one ever gained weight from eating too many fruits and vegetables.
The fact that within 3 meals, and 2 snacks you are only allowed your food to fit onto one plate is designed to help control portions.
When it comes to Carbohydrates, portion control is the issue. They are so easy to overeat.
This is why I always recommend building your plate of food with Protein first, Vegetables second, then Carbohydrates last.
But it is also why you should make sure your food fits onto one plate because then you know you are controlling portions in a more optimal way.
When you look at the study I referenced earlier one of the points that led to more successful weight loss was:
“Reduce foods high in calories, fat, and simple sugar”
There are a number of other studies that back this up. In this study [5] participants had maintained a weight loss of at least 13.6kg for at least 1 year, and they found that:
“Successful maintainers of weight loss reported continued consumption of a low-energy and low-fat diet.”
The tasty food isn’t the Carbohydrates. It’s a very real combination of carbohydrates, Fat and Salt.
Like with potato chips. Let’s take the greatest potato chips ever made:
These have:
123kcals, 6.5g of Fat which is 58.5kcal and 14.3g of carbohydrate which is 57.2kcal.
If you want to have a bag of chips, then please do. But as you do. consider the portion size a lot more and by doing that you will naturally improve your calorie management.
The Process Behind Stopping Counting Calories Obsessively
Everything I have so far said in this article will help you stop calorie counting because it is all designed to help take your fear away.
Because I get it.
You are stuck in this loop of;
“I don’t want to count calories anymore, but I am scared of having no control over what I am doing”
And the thought of just not logging into MyFitness Pal and not tracking that one carrot and teaspoon of Hummus you ate a 20:30 when you were at a friend’s house is just too scary.
So there are a couple of things you can do to help ween yourself off tracking your calories.
Make Sure You Have A Structured Diet
I am not going to go through the structure again;
***Cough***
Three Meals, two Snacks
***Cough***
But I do want to make sure I emphasise how truly important this is to your success away from tracking calories obsessively.
Track One Meal A Day
Pick a meal - any meal - and just track that each day. Then over time, you will see that you are still making progress by only tracking one-fifth of your intake, and you will show yourself that everything else you have implemented aside from tracking food is working.
Go into an Education Mindset
I believe this should be the case for anyone who starts tracking anyway - but sadly very few people set themselves up in this manner. When you started tracking your calories, rather than using it as a way to control your intake, you should have used it as a way to educate yourself about your intake.
And this difference takes away the shame.
It adds in the aspect of investigation and exploration, two very important themes in how I work with clients.
Therefore if you are trying to stop tracking calories obsessively, give yourself a time frame of a month or two to use the tracking as a way of learning, a tool for you to create a knowledge and database in your head about what you usually eat and how that all plays into your goals.
Tracking your calories should only ever be used as an educational tool - not a tool to control you, and the more you learn the more freedom you will find over time.
Make Sure You Are Doing “The Work”
Many people use calorie counting to control their intake because it gives them a sense of working towards their goals. They almost use it as a way to make up for doing the other work that is required.
They aren’t going to the gym, they aren’t getting their steps in, they aren’t making mindful and healthful choices with their food and so they can use tracking as a way to either help beat themselves up for not doing the other work, or they see tracking their intake as “the work”.
A great way to make sure you feel comfortable in moving away from tracking your calories is to make sure that you are executing a well-thought-through plan each day that helps you move towards your goals.
I am by no means saying you can give up tracking and do nothing else and still achieve your goals. Implementing the rest of your plan will help reduce your anxiety about stopping counting your calories.
A Little Pep Talk: Life After Apps
The reason you are so nervous about giving up calorie tracking is that you are scared of undoing your progress, or not making any at all.
This comes down to a trust issue.
MyFitness Pal is very clever in the sense that it gets you to put your trust into it and you therefore attach your success to the app.
Its a very good marketing strategy. But it comes at great cost. Great cost at your relationship with food, and great cost at the expense of your confidence in yourself.
To give up calorie counting. you have to teach yourself to believe in yourself.
You have to build your confidence to be able to stand on your own two feet.
You have to trust that you are able. You have to trust that you can do this. You have to trust that you won’t “screw up again”.
And I know that you can do that.
As this article draws to an end, I want you to use this as your guide, I want you to start working on the concepts laid out in it, and I want you to start rebuilding your trust in yourself.
You deserve food freedom.
You deserve unconditional permission to eat and enjoy your food.
You deserve the balance that can be found between those two concepts and your goals. You deserve self-love and self-trust.
You deserve self-empathy and compassion.
I started this Article with a text from one of my clients who gets one-to-one coaching from me on the Strong & Confident Program.
I would also like to finish with what she put in her weekly report to me the other week.
There are four weeks between the first text I showed you and the one I am about to show you:
She has put in the work to get to this point. She has implemented behaviours and actions that have bought balance into her life.
Those behaviours have allowed her to begin to release the toxic control that counting calories can have.
Set and Keep Promises To Yourself
If you want help developing a system where you can rebuild that trust in yourself. Rebuild your confidence and develop your ability to know that you are doing the things that will work towards your goals then I would suggest starting with getting a few things written down and laid out for you immediately so that you can have a system which supports you.
It started with this Google Form right here:
The First Step To Building Your Confidence
What’s Next?
I hope you found this article useful, and that you feel a lot better about your struggles at the moment.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my work, it really does mean a lot to me to have you here.
I also have some other articles you might find useful to help you navigate scale weight and your relationship with it:
It would also be a delight if you wanted to join my Facebook Group. It’s a safe space for anyone who would like some free help with empowering their Fitness Journey. I can’t wait to have you in there.
References:
Patel ML, Brooks TL, Bennett GG. Consistent self-monitoring in a commercial app-based intervention for weight loss: results from a randomized trial. J Behav Med. 2020 Jun;43(3):391-401. doi: 10.1007/s10865-019-00091-8. Epub 2019 Aug 8. PMID: 31396820.
Cordeiro F, Epstein DA, Thomaz E, Bales E, Jagannathan AK, Abowd GD, Fogarty J. Barriers and Negative Nudges: Exploring Challenges in Food Journaling. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2015 Apr;2015:1159-1162. doi: 10.1145/2702123.2702155. PMID: 26894233; PMCID: PMC4755274.
Ingels JS, Misra R, Stewart J, Lucke-Wold B, Shawley-Brzoska S. The Effect of Adherence to Dietary Tracking on Weight Loss: Using HLM to Model Weight Loss over Time. J Diabetes Res. 2017;2017:6951495. doi: 10.1155/2017/6951495. Epub 2017 Aug 9. PMID: 28852651; PMCID: PMC5568610.
Wyatt HR, Grunwald GK, Mosca CL, Klem ML, Wing RR, Hill JO. Long-term weight loss and breakfast in subjects in the National Weight Control Registry. Obes Res. 2002 Feb;10(2):78-82. doi: 10.1038/oby.2002.13. PMID: 11836452.
Shick SM, Wing RR, Klem ML, McGuire MT, Hill JO, Seagle H. Persons successful at long-term weight loss and maintenance continue to consume a low-energy, low-fat diet. J Am Diet Assoc. 1998 Apr;98(4):408-13. doi: 10.1016/S0002-8223(98)00093-5. PMID: 9550162.
7 Practical Tips To Make Counting Calories Easier
One of the most frequent complaints I get from clients on the Strong & Confident Program is that they just don’t have the time to track their food.
Once they have cooked the dinner, eaten the dinner and then washed up after - its either their bedtime or their children’s bedtime…and the act of meticulously going through what they ate that day, and most importantly trying to remember everything they ate that day, is obviously going to be the last thing on their mind - whether they want to achieve their goals or not.
And I get it.
80% of my clients, throughout my career have been busy parents, and realistically you have to look at their lives and question whether tracking their calories is really going to add stress or take the stress away from their life.
And much of the time it will add stress - which will have far more negative repercussions on their fitness than whether they choose to track calories.
About a month ago, I did a Seminar here on the Gold Coast, Australia, all about Tracking your calories, and I wanted to share with you what we all went through on that day.
Table of contents for: 7 Practical Tips To Make Counting Calories Easier
Does Calorie Counting work?
Why should you track your food?
Informed Consent on tracking your calories
7 Tips to make Counting Calories Easier
How To Be In A Calorie Deficit Without Logging Your Food
There is a quick summary of my 7 Practical Tips on YouTube. But to understand the principles and the whys and wherefores behind counting calories - keep reading!
Does Calorie Counting work?
This is a very hotly debated topic.
There are people out there…on the internet…who will tell you that tracking your calories simply doesn’t work…simply because the calorie amounts on packages aren’t accurate.
This study [1] called ‘Food Label Accuracy of Common Snack Foods’ found that:
“Measured energy values exceeded label statements by 8% on average in pre-packaged convenience meals (12), which is slightly higher but consistent with the label disparity of 4.3% in packaged snack foods. Also consistent with this study, most products in our sample fell within the allowable limit of 20% over the label calories per Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations”
This is a shocking revelation, but it’s still only 8% out.
The last time I checked, 8% was a pretty small amount. Let me put it to you thus, if I gave you 92% success in your Goals…would you take it?
Exactly.
So let me ask again; Does Calorie Counting Work?
And it’s a resounding yes provided you have never had an Eating Disorder.
If you have ever had an Eating Disorder then please don’t engage in Calorie Counting. And if you need help with that please contact the Charity BEAT here [2].
There are issues relating to Calorie Counting, and I go into those later in the article. But the main answer to this question is the following:
Yes. Calorie Counting does work.
This study [3] took participants over one year, and depending on their consistency with dietary tracking, split them into three Groups.
Rare Trackers equalling <33% days tracked (114 days out of 343)
Inconsistent Trackers 33-66% days tracked
Consistent Trackers >66% days tracked (228 days out opf 343)
Please note that consistent trackers qualify at just two-thirds of the time available to them - not 100% of the time available to them.
All participants were asked to:
Maintain daily food journals and physical activity records;
Reduce portion sizes;
Reduce foods high in calories, fat, and simple sugar;
Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products;
and
Weigh themselves frequently and at least weekly (more on this here)
They each worked with a Health Coach, and attended interactive sessions designed to educate them on nutrition and exercise adherence.
The results were:
“Only consistent trackers had significant weight loss (-9.99 pounds), following a linear relationship with consistent loss throughout the year. In addition, the weight loss trend for the rare and inconsistent trackers followed a nonlinear path, with the holidays slowing weight loss and the onset of summer increasing weight loss. These results show the importance of frequent dietary tracking for consistent long-term weight loss success”
It also concluded the following:
“Early in the program weight change of consistent trackers did not differ from rare or inconsistent dietary trackers. However, rare or inconsistent trackers gained weight during the holidays but the consistent trackers' rate of weight loss did not change as they sustained their rate of weight loss from the first quarter. Hence, successful behavioural interventions should emphasize the benefits of consistent dietary tracking for participants, motivating individuals to track for at least 5 days of each week for sustained and clinically significant weight loss"
This study teaches us a lot about weight loss.
The first lesson is that consistency is what matters, and consistency doesn’t mean as much as you think it does. It is simply just two-thirds of your time.
The second lesson is that tracking is a behaviour that supports other behaviours like having a Coach, reducing portion sizes, and eating more fruits and vegetables.
The third lesson is that scientifically 10lbs is a significant amount of weight to lose in a year.
As a coach, my point here is you need to stop comparing yourself to people on Social Media. What you see on there, compared to what real world results truly look like vary greatly.
Follow Me On Instagram:
Why Should You Track Your Food?
One of the most common occurrences in people who are trying to lose weight and getting frustrated with the outcomes in terms of weight loss is that they often overestimate the calories they are burning and underestimate the calories they are consuming.
As this study concludes:
“The failure of some obese subjects to lose weight while eating a diet they report as low in calories is due to an energy intake substantially higher than reported and an overestimation of physical activity, not to an abnormality in thermogenesis.”
This basically means that it comes down to your Calorie Deficit, rather than there being an issue in the way your body metabolises food.
The hypothesis has been tested in two other ways as well. This study pipped Dieticians against Non-Dieticians and found that even dieticians under-report their energy intake somewhere between 223 and 116 kcal/day, compared with the non-dieticians who underreported between 429 and 142kcal/day.
This just goes to show…that even those who are really well educated on food and nutrition still underestimate the calories they are consuming.
This doesn’t mean that learning about nutrition and your food isn’t worthwhile. The dieticians were still better with an average over-reporting of 169.5kcal/day compared to the non-dieticians which averaged 285.5kcal/day.
And finally,
This study actually paid people to be accurate. They were giving out $50 bonuses to be accurate with their diet recall on four occasions. One group had to be accurate the first two times, the second group accurate the second two times, and one group received no bonus at all.
And guess what happened:
“Energy intake did not differ within or between groups at any time, and the number of under reporters was not associated with group at any time. Overall, the incentive was ineffective.”
So by tracking your food, you reduce the risk of being inaccurate. In fact, tracking your food is the most accurate way to tell if you are or are not in a calorie deficit for that day. We have no other way of knowing this information, and if you want instant feedback about your weight loss day on day - then tracking your food is the best way to go about it.
In terms of overestimating the number of calories, you are burning this comes down to many things. The main one is that we trust our smartwatches to be accurate with this information when this study [5] demonstrates.
It found that Smartwatches at their most accurate, in terms of judging energy expenditure are off by between 27% and 93%.
The study also found that they are better at reading heart rates.
Personally, as a Coach, I don’t like clients on my Strong & Confident Program to focus on Calories burned from exercise - because that can destroy your relationship with exercise and create very extreme behaviour that will only lead to failure.
You should focus on eating to your deficit - and exercising to get strong enough to fight a bear in the woods.
Informed Consent when tracking your food
As I mentioned above, you should not track your food if you are recovering from any form of Eating Disorder.
But I also take my responsibility for your Mental Health very seriously so I want to let you know about the drawbacks of tracking your food, before I give you the 7 Practical Tips To Make Counting Calories Easier.
Then you can decide whether or not it is a behaviour you are safe to engage with.
This study [6] analysed 5.5k posts on Community Forums, like MyFitness Pal, and discovered what the practical difficulties are with tracking food.
Success is attributed to a “goal weight achievement”
Of 94 people, only 22 thought they were empowered enough to no longer need to track their food
Can be a tedious practice
Not knowing how much of a food to enter
Not being able to find foods in the database
How do you track restaurants and eating at a friends house?
When asked to rate difficulty by meal type, respondents rated packaged food (average: 6.5) and fast food (6.3) as significantly easier to journal than home-cooked meals (4.6), buffet meals (3.7), ethnic food (3.7), restaurant meals (3.6), foods served by friends (3.2), and foods consumed at parties (2.9)
I’d just like to highlight a few points here:
“Success is attributed to a “goal weight achievement” - this is always going to be an issue on an App like MyFitness Pal - because it keeps reminding you how much you will weigh in x amount of days, if you keep up the behaviour you set that day. Although some will find this motivating I am here to tell you that your success is not defined by hitting a weight on the scale. Your success is determined by engaging in behaviours over a consistent period of time. If you set these behaviours and execute you will gain confidence and strength - as a consequence of that you might lose weight.
I think I summed this up best when I said on Instagram:
“How do you track restaurants and eating at a friends house?” - there are two schools of thought here:
If you don’t eat out too often - mainly if it’s just a special occasion - then you shouldn’t be tracking in the first place, you should be enjoying the moment.
If you eat out more and are worried about the calories, do your best at figuring out what you had when you get home…then add 30% to account for factors of food that are out of your control - like the amount of oil used by the Chef.
The same study [6] then also analysed Mental Health outcomes relating to tracking food and it found:
Food journalers report feelings of shame, judgement, or obsession associated with current designs. P6 reported journaling “made me feel guilty sometimes”, while P27 noted a lack of positive feedback: “I always felt guilty when I ate too much, and there wasn't that much pride when I was under my goal.”
“Sometimes I feel like not logging things because I know it’s really unhealthy.
“It made me too focused and obsessive about what I was eating”
“It was more of an on the way to an eating disorder thing than anything else (tried to keep calories extremely low)”
“I think I was hesitant to do the logging if not alone”
“I had more of a problem with eating out at a friend’s house because I didn’t want to ask for ingredients or mention that I was logging calories”
You should never feel shame around a behaviour you are engaging in and if you are feeling that way then please do not operate in that behaviour.
If what you are doing is not making you feel strong and empowered - then why o why are you doing it?
You shouldn’t have to suffer - and I don’t want you to suffer at all.
In terms of going over your calories sometimes - and that leading to a feeling of failure - please remember that no matter what you do - you can’t fuck this up - because when you engage in a fitness journey - it shouldn’t be defined by an endpoint, it should be a move to building an active lifestyle and pulling yourself into balance.
Therefore, all you have to do is get back on track the very next day.
The human body doesn’t gain weight that quickly, so there really isn’t a need to panic when you go over.
1. Don’t try to be perfect in an imperfect system
The whole system around calories is flawed.
When we establish someone’s Basal Metabolic Rate which is the point upon which we begin to figure out their deficit calories we are making it our “best guess”. This guess is based on years and years of study across millions of people, but it is still a guess.
And the food industry does the same. In 1991 the Australian Food Standards Code used to state:
“That the value shown in a Nutrition Information Panel was deemed to comply if these values (of energy, carbohydrate, starch or fibre) did not vary by more than 20% from those values actually present and 10% variation was permitted for other nutrients”
And although these figures are no longer part of Law they are still regarded as acceptable folklore in the Food Industry.
The current Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code does not permit or mandate any limits on accuracy of the levels of nutrients expressed in Nutrition Information Panels but only requires that these values be ‘average’ values. Maximum and minimum quantities are required in regard to claims for polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acid contents of food.
And in the US a study called “Food Label Accuracy of Common Snack Foods” [7] we have already seen that calories in published are not that reliable.
Being consistent with tracking your food, to get a best guess is good enough, and by doing that you still get results as you will be holding yourself accountable and over time will improve your choices to help you get to your goals.
2. It’s Not A Life Sentence; its a Period of Education
When you approach anything in life with the view of “What can I learn about this?” as opposed to “Can I pass or fail this?” you will automatically improve your relationship with that behaviour.
Tracking your food is no different. You should do it to learn about the energy in food, to learn about how your choices over a day impact your energy and ability to control your stress. Its a way of finding out if your weekends are destroying your progress and what eating in balance really looks like.
You get to decide when that period of education is over and when you feel empowered enough to move away from tracking your calories - because that is the goal here. The goal isn’t to be tied to MyFitness Pal for the rest of your life.
You should want to be educated enough about nutrition so that you never have to open an app ever again.
3. There is no right or wrong, just exploration
One of these days I’m going to get this printed on a t-shirt. It’s true of exercise, and it’s true of nutrition.
If you go over your calories, the only person judging you is you.
If you don’t hit your protein target, the only person judging you is you.
Every time something sub-optimal occurs the good news is that you have the opportunity to learn from it, grow from it, and ultimately succeed from those lessons.
You are only every investigating, course correcting and developing - you are not passing or failing.
4. If it’s in a packet: Track it!
This is so simple it hurts. MyFitness Pal and any other tracking app you might use will have what’s called a Barcode Scanner. It will literally take you a matter of seconds to get all of the nutritional information you need about that food by scanning the barcode.
Therefore if you eat something with a barcode. on the packet - which will be a fair 75% of the food you eat - just track it.
5 . Set Up generic value amounts for Fruits and Veggies
Let’s be very clear - no one ever gained weight from eating too many fruits and veggies. Even if you are a Vegetarian, I promise you fruits and vegetables in your diet are not the problem here.
And when it comes to tracking them, they can be really annoying to put into an app accurately.
Therefore you should just set up a generic value for Fruits and Vegetables, save that into your App and just use those every time you have your Veggies at dinner.
Personally I just scan a bag of frozen vegetables set it to 100g and use that every time I have dinner - irrespective of what the Vegetables actually are.
6. Eating Out? Add 30% to your meal
I alluded to this earlier in the article - but it’s a strategy that makes everything. more accurate for you when you are trying to track your food.
The best way to track your food when eating out would be the following:
1. See online if the restaurant publishes their calories
2. In the restaurant take a photo.
3. When at home, best guess the amounts.
4. Add 30% to every amount even if the restaurant does publish their calories
That way you have the bases covered.
And remember if you are out celebrating - celebrate. Don’t worry about the calories on special occasions - just worry about getting back on track the next day.
7. Cook Meals that are already Calorie Tracked
This is the one that perplexes me the most when it comes to people who are trying to lose weight and using calorie tracking as a solution to that.
It also perplexes me with clients on my Strong and Confident Program - who are tracking - as they have access to over 250 recipes all with calorie tracked barcodes including vegetarian and vegan options - yet they still say that tracking is too hard for them.
All the hard work has been done for you.
In fact, if you Google “MyFitness Pal Dinner Recipes” you get 688,000 results and the top one is all with the Macros and Calories already figured out for you.
So use that resource.
I guarantee you will be able to find a version of your favourite meal that is now Barcode Scannable or has all of the nutritional information figured out for you. Then you just have to copy and paste.
The brass tax is if you can’t be bothered to copy and paste some information or spend ten minutes finding the information on the internet to be able to track your calories - then engaging in a fitness journey will always be a slog for you.
How To Be In A Calorie Deficit Without Logging Your Food
There are other things you can do to keep your calories in check without necessarily logging your food.
But bear in mind, the only way to truly know if you are in a deficit each day - is to log your foods.
I have two strategies for this.
The first is a three meals, two snacks which I outline here:
This is very simple.
Each day you are allowed three meals.
Each meal must fit on one plate.
Between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner you can have a snack.
I have found applying this structure is incredibly effective.
The second strategy is called The Five Awesome Rules For Fat Loss Life.
This is a list of 5 things you need in order to lose weight:
Be in a Calorie Deficit
Three Litres of Water A Day
Protein and Veggies at every meal
8-10k Steps A Day
7-8 hours of sleep a night
And if you want help figuring this out then watch this:
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Across this website, I have other Articles all about Tracking your Calories and managing your Calorie Deficit:
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References:
Jumpertz R, Venti CA, Le DS, et al. Food label accuracy of common snack foods. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013;21(1):164-169. doi:10.1002/oby.20185
Beat. 2021. The UK's Eating Disorder Charity - Beat. [online] Available at: <https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/> [Accessed 15 September 2021].
Ingels JS, Misra R, Stewart J, Lucke-Wold B, Shawley-Brzoska S. The Effect of Adherence to Dietary Tracking on Weight Loss: Using HLM to Model Weight Loss over Time. J Diabetes Res. 2017;2017:6951495. doi: 10.1155/2017/6951495. Epub 2017 Aug 9. PMID: 28852651; PMCID: PMC5568610.
Lichtman SW, Pisarska K, Berman ER, Pestone M, Dowling H, Offenbacher E, Weisel H, Heshka S, Matthews DE, Heymsfield SB. Discrepancy between self-reported and actual caloric intake and exercise in obese subjects. N Engl J Med. 1992 Dec 31;327(27):1893-8. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199212313272701. PMID: 1454084.
Shcherbina, A.; Mattsson, C.M.; Waggott, D.; Salisbury, H.; Christle, J.W.; Hastie, T.; Wheeler, M.T.; Ashley, E.A. Accuracy in Wrist-Worn, Sensor-Based Measurements of Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure in a Diverse Cohort. J. Pers. Med. 2017, 7, 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm7020003
Cordeiro F, Epstein DA, Thomaz E, Bales E, Jagannathan AK, Abowd GD, Fogarty J. Barriers and Negative Nudges: Exploring Challenges in Food Journaling. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2015 Apr;2015:1159-1162. doi: 10.1145/2702123.2702155. PMID: 26894233; PMCID: PMC4755274.
Jumpertz R, Venti CA, Le DS, Michaels J, Parrington S, Krakoff J, Votruba S. Food label accuracy of common snack foods. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Jan;21(1):164-9. doi: 10.1002/oby.20185. PMID: 23505182; PMCID: PMC3605747.
How To Find Your Calorie Maintenance Level
I always feel like Calorie Maintenance gets a bad rap in the Fitness Industry.
It’s the one that gets forgotten. The reason for this is that we cannot sell Calorie Maintenance.
Imagine if you saw an advert for The Fitness Collective (my coaching program) and it said:
“I will teach you to keep your weight exactly where it is, so you can saty exactly as you are”
You’re going to look at it like this:
And I understand why.
But if you think that maintaining body weight is not something you should be concerned with…then you need to read on…because in taking a moment, hitting the pause button and understanding the role that Calorie Maintenance can play in your fitness, health and above all your Fat Loss, is crucial.
Yes.
I did just say that Calorie Maintenance can be crucial in helping you to lose weight.
But don’t worry. I haven’t gone mad and abandoned my Calorie Deficit principles…so let me show you what I mean by this.
But before I do just that… it would be wonderful if you got onto my email list and we became friends.
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Table of Contents for “How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level”
If you want to see this Article explained in Video Format then watch this YouTube Video:
What is Calorie Maintenance?
Time for a quick science lesson recap about your Metabolism.
I promise. It will be quick.
As you can see from the infographic your Metabolism is made up of four components:
Basal Metabolic Rate
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
Thermic Effect of Food
All combined these four things make up your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE.
Simply put that means how many calories you burn each day.
Once we know your TDEE we know how many calories you need to eat to be in Calorie Maintenance.
If you want to understand your Metabolism so much more, and begin to understand why you can’t break your Metabolism then please do more reading and join 100s of other people by reading this: https://www.thegymstarter.com/articles/is-your-metabolism-broken
There you go.
I told you the lesson would be quick.
The issue we have with just looking at our TDEE, finding out the calculation and going from there is that the factors are variable.
For example, you may not exercise, you may not eat foods that have a good TEF like High Protein Foods, you may not keep your NEAT high enough each day.
So knowing your TDEE is one thing, and it’s a great starting point…but when figuring out Maintenance Calories we need to be a little bit cleverer than that.
I will come back to this point later.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
When should you go into Calorie Maintenance?
At this point, it would be useful to tell you that there is another term out there for Calorie Maintenance…and it comes from Jordan Syatt (who is basically my Coaching Idol)
He calls Maintenance the following:
“Momentum Calories”
And this is important when we are figuring out when to move into a Calorie Maintenance phase.
In my experience with clients when we bring this topic up they think it is a comment of failure. When I say to them, I think we need to start considering a move into Maintenance, they look at me all puppy-eyed and plead me not to say it.
This is an actual photo of one of my clients
There are two overriding reasons this reaction occurs when talking to someone about Calorie Maintenance:
You think that because you aren’t at “Goal” weight I don’t believe, as your trainer, you will ever get there and therefore I want to just “try something different”
You are petrified you will “put it all back on”
Neither is true.
The truth is you cannot Calorie Deficit forever. It’s too stressful, it can be too restrictive and it’s just a downright pain in the backside.
If it’s not the hunger annoying you….
It might be a lack of energy…
Or the lack of improving strength you can build in the Gym…
Or the simple fact you want to enjoy the Holidays.
All perfectly valid reasons to get frustrated with something.
This is where Jordans “Momentum” term comes into its own.
Because you are simply taking a moment, giving yourself some time to pause, relax and gather up the energy you need before you go again.
The analogy I like to use in this situation for you is the following: Every professional Sport in the World has seasons. Off and On. The reason these are in place is that demanding certain things from your body creates stress and we all need a break from that stress.
It's perfectly normal. And if professional athletes need it, then we can bet your bottom dollar its probably a good idea for you as well.
As for being petrified, you will “put it all back on again” this is a very understandable worry.
But Calorie Maintenance isn’t a free pass. It isn’t an excuse to go and eat whatever the hell you want.
Yeah sorry about that.
Its a controlled break from the Calorie Deficit and Weight Loss, one upon which you slowly but surely figure out how to stabilize the scale and enjoy the benefits that brings to you before you decide what to do next.
Added to this is that we know Fat Loss isn’t linear and using Maintenance as a way to accept that more might be just what you need. By cycling in some Maintenance moments over a much longer time frame for your Fat Loss Goals then you are going to be able to be so much more consistent for a lot longer.
So truly at what point should you go into Calorie Maintenance/Momentum?
Well, you have to first earn the right to do it.
This isn’t an excuse for you to step away from your Deficit because you want cocktails with your friends each weekend. It’s not what the “Cheat Meal” has become where people just eat what they want and excuse their behavior not being congruent to their goals with two simple words.
If you want to truly lose weight you must be in a Calorie Deficit. You must also be truly consistent with that Calorie Deficit and give it the due care and attention it deserves.
You cannot simply move into Maintenance when the going just gets a little tough, and you’re finding it hard to figure out.
I personally would say this: You can move into Calorie Maintenance once you have been in a Calorie Deficit for at least three months, hitting your Calorie Deficit numbers at least 24-26 days out of 31 in each month.
That is a consistent Calorie Deficit following the 80/20 rule.
I do think many people can sustain a Calorie Deficit a lot longer than that…and you probably should if you are still not getting towards your Weight Loss Goals.
Others moments when you should go into Caloric Maintenance are:
You are truly exhausted of the Calorie Deficit, you are irritable and more and more you are noticing that you are really struggling to stay within your numbers.
When you have reached your Goal Weight and want to start figuring out how to get greater flexibility in your diet at that weight.
Your goals are changing and you want to focus more on strength and PBs on the Gym Floor
There is a high Social Calander on the horizon…like the Holiday Season…and you need more flexibility in your Calorie Allowances.
When you feel like you need a little more Brain Space for what life is throwing at you…for example times of higher stress.
When you want more energy on a day by day basis.
When you want to experience less hunger each day and you have noticed it increasing.
These are all perfectly good reasons to move into Calorie Maintenence and maybe a few of them have rung true for you.
This is also a wonderful path away from Yoyo Dieting.
How many times have you lost weight, and then put it all back on again, because you couldn’t figure out the flexibility and the parameters you needed to exist in since your body has changed so much?
Yeah. Me too.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
What to expect when you do go into Calorie Maintenance
The first and most important thing here is that:
The Scale Will Go Up:
Now please don’t freak out.
You must keep in mind four things.
One, we know it's going to go up, we know the scale will increase and you are entering into this knowing that is the outcome you want.
Two, you aren’t stopping your fat loss journey. You are simply hitting pause to explore new options, and go back into a Calorie Deficit anytime you like.
Three, there is no time limit on when you need to lose weight and there is no rush. So taking a pause will be great, and allow you to move further forward in the future.
In a lot of technical things sometimes you must regress in order to progress.
Four, you aren’t increasing your calories by that much really. It’s going to be a slow build of adding in about 27kcal a day for a few weeks.
It’s hard to say how much the scale will go up, because we are looking for that moment on the scale where it stays true. It will always fluctuate up and down and that will probably be anywhere between 1lb-5lbs.
You Will Have More Energy:
You are eating more! That means more calories, which means more energy!
Obviously the extra calories should still come from foods congruent to your goals for health. So just helping yourself to an extra 200kcal a week of Haribos might not lead to more energy overall.
Your Strength In The Gym Will Increase:
You know that in order to gain muscle you have to be in a Caloric Surplus. Therefore any increase in calories will help you with the goal of gaining muscle.
You won’t look like Arnie.
But you should notice your workouts feeling a bit more full of energy and strength, and that progressive overload is a touch easier obtain.
You Will Have More Brain Space:
A calorie deficit is stressful and tiring. That takes up CPU power in the brain. But the truth is that by removing the pressure to lose weight for a small period of time, by renewing your focus and changing your goal for a brief period it will give you more vigor and motivation.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
How Do You Go Into Calorie Maintenance?
The first and most important thing here is that I recommend you do this after a phase of being in a Calorie Deficit. It makes life easier once you know what you need to eat to lose weight, to then increase from there.
You will need to figure out your numbers. For which there are three methods I recommend. The first Method is the way you should do it…but its not the most simple or most effective.
Method One:
Once you have decided to go into Calorie Maintenance then, you need to start adding in 200kcal per week. From there, you will see the scale increase.
Don’t forget to weigh daily, because without that you will never know whether the weight has stabilized, dropped, or spiked for no reason.
If you want to improve your relationship with the scale then head right here to my article which has helped hundreds of people learn how to use the Scale Every Day: https://www.thegymstarter.com/articles/2020/5/2/your-scale-strategy
Then just keep building your calories up, until you have regular weigh-ins that hover around 1–5lbs above your starting Maintenance Weight: that is the window we are aiming for.
Method Two:
Download my Calorie Calculator right here: Free Calorie Calculator and other Weight Loss Goodies
Fill out all of your Data on there and then follow the guideline laid out for “Maintain Weight”. This is basically a Free TDEE Calculator for you.
Method Three:
Bodyweight in LBS x 14.
Just take your current body weight in pounds and times it by 14. You will get a fairly rough estimate of where you need to be.
In truth, its probably wise to do all three, and figure out your averages, and what sits best with you. That way you are keeping well educated and in touch with your body.
How Do You Find Your Calorie Maintenace Level
Conclusion
Remember if you decide to come away from your Calorie Deficit and come into a controlled period of Calorie Maintenance then it doesn’t mean any of these things:
That you have failed
That you can’t lose weight
That you aren’t focussed on your Goals
What it does mean is this:
You need a little rest
You are assessing new possibilities
Your goals have aligned differently
You are finding balance in the Calorie Deficit process
Calorie Maintenance is hard to get right because your Daily Activity will change from time to time. So it’s like an ongoing and fun experiment.
The scale will go up, but that's ok, as it’s part of the plan and its nothing to freak out about, plus you won’t lose all you lost again because you are putting your extra calories and extra energy into the Gym and what more the body can do.
I genuinely believe that Calorie Maintenance is the answer to “what now” once you hit your Goal Weight, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it as a tool to help you continue working towards your goal weight and your Fat Loss if you aren’t quite there yet.
Calorie Maintenance is where to go when you feel lost, confused and frustrated with the constant yoyo of what modern-day dieting has become.
It can help give you balance all the way along the journey.
And as we know, balance is the most important word in the English Dictionary and in Fitness it is important to exercise it at every opportunity you get…because that creates consistency.
And consistency leads to success.
With a healthy dose of balance too.
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7 Things Stopping Your Calorie Deficit
The epitome of Weight Loss.
The foundation of all that you need to lose weight.
Martin MacDonald once said:
“Weight Loss is as simple as “Calories In vs Calories Out” but “Calories In vs Calories Out” just isn’t that simple”
And he is right. He is as right as they come. We have all heard the saying to lose weight you just need to eat less and move more but if you have any concept of how hard weight loss can be you will realize that this phrase is just short-sighted and far too simplistic for someone who needs help.
Because eating less is a very difficult thing to do consistently enough when you want to lose weight.
So here are 7 Things Stopping Your Calorie Deficit:
1. Not Eating Protein and Veggies At Every Meal
Oh, golly. The first one is really about eating Vegetables.
COME ON ADAM
But this is hella important.
Protein is a truly wonderful Macro Nutrient for many reasons…but why I am always preaching about why you should have it in your diet is because it fills you up. Your body takes a much longer time to digest protein than any other Macronutrient. This basically means it will keep you fuller for longer [1]. The way in which this works is it helps keep Grehlin at bay. Grehlin is your hunger hormone that tells your brain you want food.
So keeping that happy is a good idea.
As you already know from my Article on your Metabolism that you have read haven’t you? Good. Great. Well as you know Protein has a higher Thermic Effect of Food as well and therefore will burn more calories when it is being digested than other Macronutrients.
I personally would suggest you aim for 2g per kg of bodyweight each day.
AIM FOR…
That's a lot of protein if you have never tried before, but it will inspire you to start eating more and trying to get it increased. Which is what we want.
Read My Article that has helped 100s of people understand more about their Metabolsm right here: Is Your Metabolism Broken
What about the V-word then? The dreaded Mushroom. Seriously…is there a vegetable worse than a Mushroom?
Vegetables are Calorie Friendly foods. They have far fewer Calories in them than other foods, and therefore you can eat far larger portions of them. Which again keeps you filled up for longer.
For example….
100g of Spinach contains 24kcal
100g of Oven Chips contains 202kcal
100g of Chicken Breast contains 165kcal
So as you can see…you can eat A LOT more Veggies as oppose to anything else at the same quantity.
2. YOUR DOING TOO MUCH HIIT
Let me be clear…I love running and Cardio Exercise. I love lifting weights.
I very rarely get less than 10k steps in a day and I promote walking and cardio work to everyone in The Fitness Collective.
And all my clients follow Strength Training protocol.
However…HIIT has been known to damage your ability to control your Calories. Studies have shown that those who participate in HIIT might burn a few more calories in the session, but they then have a much higher appetite after the exercise session will then consume up to 350kcals more than someone who has followed a traditional Strength Training Programme. You also think that you have worked so hard you are entitled to be more relaxed around your diet. [2, 3]
It can sound so enticing when you hear about the idea of High-Intensity Interval Training. The idea of burning more calories in less time in the Gym. Who wouldn’t want that?
But in truth…let's say you do one 30min HIIT Session. That’s all you will do because of how exhausting it is.
Whereas if you did a Strength Training you might spend an extra 10–15mins in the Gym…but you will end up burning more calories overall for your workout.
Added to this many of the headlines regarding HIIT relate to a comparison against Steady-State Aerobic Exercise eg Running a 5km. [4]
Not a Strength Training Workout.
3. YOUR FOCUS IS IN THE WRONG PLACE
If you have been looking at my work for a while I would fully hope that you're a true member of team Calorie Deficit.
And by that, you know the only way to create Fat Loss is understanding your Energy Balance.
Calories In vs Calories Out
Now if you are starting your weight loss journey, or have tried in the past I am almost certain your top priority was activity.
Get a Gym Membership
Get a Personal Trainer
What Workouts to do?
Go for a run
etc etc
Your focus was on Calories Out.
If you send the word focus to the other part of the equation so that you begin to address your Calories In…
The Calories Out will take care of themselves.
I’m sure you have heard the old adage…you can’t out-train a bad diet. But the truth is you can’t out out-train a calorie-dense diet.
There is no good or bad…but if you are making the Calories Out your priority and focus…you will find a Calorie Deficit very difficult to create.
I’m not saying don’t exercise. Training is very important for your Health and your global wellbeing…and it will help you burn some calories and improve your body composition so you begin insuring yourself against future fat gain. But you must pour your focus into your Calories In.
4. YOUR CALORIE DEFICIT IS TOO BIG
You have to trust me here.
Your Calorie Deficit is too big. As in…you are allowing yourself too few calories.
If you have been at this for a while and you see initial results and then they stop you have probably set your Deficit to too low. What then happens is you end up in a cycle. You have a deficit, you maintain that for a few weeks maybe a month, you have seen some good results, but its hard work. You get tired, grumpy, and sick of tracking all foods and you just run out of steam. You then stop thinking about your calories and they start creeping up. You start eyeballing your portions and the calories start sneaking in more and more before you know it…you are no longer in a Deficit.
And all this has happened because your initial experience in the Deficit was far too hard.
By beginning with a smaller Calorie Deficit and allowing yourself to eat more within that Deficit you will find it far less restrictive and far more sustainable.
Yes…the results might not be as fast as you honestly want. But they will last a lot longer and you will still be able to have a night out with the girls.
I call that a Win Win Win.
If you want to find out how to set your Calories in a sustainable way then watch this:
5. YOU WANT IT TO HAPPEN TOO QUICKLY
Quick question…
What do you think a decent amount of weight to lose each week is? Say you went to the gym two to three times, started eating a little more nutritiously and made health a little higher on your priority list…
What would you expect to lose each week?
Was your answer 2lbs a week? Maybe 3–4lbs a week?
No, I didn’t read your mind. I just know that you think 1lb a week for weight loss is too slow. Despite the fact that 1lb a week is incredibly realistic, incredibly sustainable, and would signify incredible progress.
By wanting more…you are damaging your chances of success. By wanting it to happen quicker you are damaging your chances of success.
Why the rush? Why the sudden it must happen in 3 months?
You need to take a long hard look at your health and you should want to incorporate it into a part of your life…just like work, finances, socializing and family. It should be part of what makes you up…not what defines you for three months and then not for another 6 years.
Look, it's perfectly OK to be in Year 7 of your 5 Year Plan.
Because really…if you have balance and have found a system that is working, even if it is slower than you initially wanted then what does that matter? Really?
And if you need proof of 1lb a week being normal weight loss…not slow weight loss…then watch this:
6. YOUR NIGHTS OUT
I’m not here to tell you to stop socializing. I really am not. Really.
Because you are a human being. And you have friends and family and you have to live your life right? And if I told you to not go out and enjoy your life you would just ignore me anyway…and rightly so.
The issue here really comes when you drink to excess. Although alcohol does pack a punch in terms of caloric value (about 9kcal per gram).
I will always allow my clients to do what the hell they want…but consider this little story of a night out and let me know if it resonates with you:
Night out with alcohol.
Get a kebab on the way home.
Eat toast when home…put kebab under bed
Eat kebab for breakfast because you are hungover.
Lay in bed all day feeling sorry for yourself.
Try to cheer yourself up with a Domino’s (other Pizza is available)
Eat half of that.
Still not moved all day.
Go to sleep
Wake up….eat the rest of your cold pizza
Feel a little better.
Get a text from a friend about going out.
Feel like you need to feel like you have actually done something this weekend.
Meet up with said friend…
Have a drink or five.
Get a kebab on the way home.
Eat toast when home…put kebab under bed,
Eat kebab for breakfast because you are hungover.
Spend all day in bed and get no steps in.
Take about 3–4 days to regain your energy levels from lost sleep and feeling groggy
Finally, get back on track maybe Friday.
Then its the weekend again…
I have done this. If I haven’t done all of this (like a Kebab for Breakfast) but I have definitely noticed the huge drop in discipline, activity and focus after a night out.
When you see Trainers on Instagram piling on the “Weekend Calories” bandwagon…its not because we don’t like fun.
Its because you see it as one night out.
We see the effect it has on everything for the next three to four days.
7. YOU SPEND TOO MUCH TIME LETTING THE SMALL THINGS STOP YOU DOING THE BIG THINGS
Here is a conversation I had on Instagram with someone this week. This was someone who is at the moment doing Keto. By her own admission, she knows it is unsustainable due to the extremely low carb intake it requires.
When I asked her what she would then move into this was her response:
Now her suggestions aren’t that far off.
Other than the fact Protein itself doesn’t increase muscle mass. You can’t just eat Protein and magically grow muscles. To magically grow muscles you need anabolic steroids…which I do not recommend.
However, she has a Fat Loss goal. She would prefer to spend time figuring out the new regime of Intermittent Fasting, counting her Carbs and Fats, and then making sure her protein has gone up proportionally as well.
Maybe it is just me…but I read that and thought…BLIMEY. That's a lot of words. A lot of figuring out. When really all she would need to do is operate a system like my Five Awesome Rules For Fat Loss Life and its all taken care of.
This girl has missed the point, and its not her fault. But she has got bogged down on the small things.
Other examples are things like:
Cardio or Weights?
Bike or Treadmill?
BCAAs or Protein Powders?
Keto or Intermittent Fasting?
Macro Splits?
What Vitamins to take?
Normal Potatoes vs Sweet Potatoes
I’m sure you get the point.
You could spend all day thinking about this…and not actually go to the Gym…or move.
Or track your calories.
There's a massive reason most of my message is always about the same few topics…because those are the big things that make the biggest changes.
If you really want to start getting results, and getting them fast…stop worrying about the small stuff that will give you 10% of the result.
And do the Big Stuff that will give you 90% of the result you want.
You will thank me.
Oh and if you want the Five Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life…its right here:
Did you find this useful?
You can Join The Fitness Collective which is my Membership Group. In there I give Monthly Updates, Live Q and A’s, I provide you with new workouts each and every month, and write guidance on your fitness journey.
To find out more about The Fitness Collective you can click here: The Fitness Collective
Please share this with your friends and anyone else you may know who is worried about training in a gym, and feel free to follow me using the links below…
And if you want to get updates on when I publish new articles, publish new podcasts or anything else then please remember to sign up below
And above all remember this…for as long as you are trying your best no one can ask for more from you.
Coach Adam
Is Emotional Eating Your Biggest Problem For Fat Loss?
I normally start an Article like this with a funny meme.
You know, a picture of Joey from Friends eating Pizza with a humorous caption to the effect of: “It's not my fault I can’t lose weight…it's my emotions”
But actually I was quite surprised by what I saw when I typed into Google:
“Emotional Eating Memes” because what actually showed up was “Stress Eating Memes”
And I think that is really what is going on with a lot of Emotional Eating.
In this article we will discuss the following:
Is emotional eating something that affects only me?
What is emotional eating and why does it occur?
How do you begin to change your behaviour with emotional eating?
Can I lose weight whilst working on my emotional eating?
Conclusion
Before we go any further I need to run a few disclaimers. I’m a very experienced Personal Trainer in the field of Female Fat Loss.
I am not a Psychotherapist, Eating Disorder Clinician or Doctor of any kind. If you are currently suffering from an Eating Disorder or feel like you might have an Eating Disorder akin to anything like Bullemia, Purging, Anorexia Nervosa or any other kind of Disordered Eating then please contact your GP immediately, or contact the fantastic Charity BEAT: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/
Is Emotional Eating something that affects only me?
Many of my clients think that their emotional eating is significant to them, that they are the only person who turns to a Glass of Wine or a Bar of Chocolate to help them feel better about themselves.
And I’m sure you think that about yourself too.
But here's a thought…what if it is more normal than you originally thought? What if more women than you knew were actually emotional eaters…it's comforting right? That you're not alone. That you're not broken. That it's not something that is only wrong with you.
People find a lot more comfort in the knowledge that there is a sense of “normality in numbers”. When a client first comes to my Gym and starts working with me, they are normally nervous as hell…until I tell them that actually everyone is nervous. Everyone in this building is nervous, which is why they are here in the first place. All my clients are scared their first time, but they got through it…and you will too. They then relax, they calm down. It's now not “just them”. They are now not singled out in their minds. Social Psychologist Robert Cialdini in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion says the following:
“Whether the question is what to do with an empty popcorn box in a movie theater, how fast to drive on a certain stretch of highway, or how to eat the chicken at a dinner party, the actions of those around us will be important in defining the answer.”
We find great comfort in following the crowd. But we must always know that the crowd exists first. When you type “Emotional Eating” into Google you get About 397,000,000 results (0.44 seconds).
It's a popular topic. You aren’t alone and it's certainly not the case that you are broken.
In short, …it is a normal behaviour pattern [1].
What is emotional eating and why does it occur?
I couldn’t write a whole article without a meme now, could I?
Emotional Eating is closely related to Binge Eating, however, Binge Eating is classed as an Eating Disorder, and Emotional Eating is not classed as an Eating Disorder due to the fact that as discussed above, we all do it.
I’ve eaten chocolate to feel better, I’ve got horribly drunk after I split up with an Ex and I have also eaten Pizza until my heart is content because something wasn’t feeling right inside of me.
You are jumping straight to the “Eating”And not looking at the “Emotional” with enough scrutiny.
The Pizza didn’t help. Nor did the Alcohol. Nor did the Chocolate.
The reason? The eating wasn’t the reason I needed comfort. The emotion was.
You will go through an emotional moment and then move towards an item of highly palatable, calorific food or drink. We all do it.
How Do You Define Binge Eating? <<< Read my article on how to understand if you are Binge Eating…
What we don’t all do however is look at the reason why we went to the food. You jump straight to the food being the problem because it doesn't align with the physical goals you have set for ourself.
You are jumping straight to the “Eating”, and not looking at the “Emotional” with enough scrutiny.
As a Coach I’m guilty of this as well. In the past, I have only focussed on the “Eating”. Clients tell me that they want to lose weight, and I will jump straight to the calories, without thinking about their Emotional state soon enough, or putting in enough measures to help them make sure that they are working on their emotional environment and behaviour as much as their physical one.
According to HelpGuide.org [2], these are the triggers that cause Emotional Eating:
Stress
Stuffing emotions
Boredom or feelings of emptiness
Childhood habits
Social influences
Then these triggers work themselves into the following cycle:
Its a continuum. It's a cycle that you cannot work yourself away from because you keep returning to the places that the triggers exist, and then you reach out for the food that comforts you.
Emotional Eating also presents very differently physiologically. You get hungry far quicker than normal, it is associated with specific cravings, you then eat quite mindlessly (watching television or a film, flicking through Social Media etc), you are never satisfied once the moment is over, and you experience feelings of guilt, shame and powerlessness when you experience it.
These are all very different to the feeling of physical hunger, which you can be satiated from, it is controlled by hormones (Grehlin and Leptin), it can be held off, you will eat a wider variety of food and you don’t experience such intense or any self-loathing after a meal that is regulated and makes sense to you in the traditional sense.
Its not all negative either. We can also eat emotionally to reward ourselves. Ever gone out for a Cocktail because you got a promotion at work? Or landed a bonus and celebrated with a bottle of bubbly?
These are behaviours that also constitute Emotional Eating.
How do you begin to change your behaviour with emotional eating?
With emotional eating, you must start focussing more on the “Emotional”. You need to develop your ability and practice your ability to manage your Emotional Wellbeing and state.
The reason you Emotionally Eat is not because of your genetics, your physiology or the fact there is something wrong or unfixable about you.
Its because you are stressed and fearful of what is happening to you.
“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” — Bertrand Russell
Now there are times that Emotional Eating is totally understandable and you should treat yourself with empathy when it happens. Those moments will be subjective to you.
But you must also develop two other things to get a handle on it.
Emotional Resilience and better coping strategies for when you are stressed.
We can do this by [3]:
Selecting self-efficacy: take ownership of the problem that is causing disbalance in your life, don’t run from it, as you are likely to run towards a less favoured behaviour.
2. Emphasise Empathy: allow yourself to understand what is happening to you and treat yourself with compassion
3. Practising Patience: you can teach yourself to be mindful in difficult situations, and chose to move away from the stressful moment. Give yourself time and space to comprehend what you are going through.
4. Create Capacity: we can choose these moments to work upon our discipline and desired behaviours rather than turn to the destructive behaviour you are trying to move away from
5. Perceiving Possibilities: from all moments of stress and emotional upheaval, there is always an outcome that can be positive. It might be hard to find, but if you can visualise it, and think upon the positive then you will see the light at the end of the tunnel.
How Do You Deal with Stress?
There are many positive behaviours you can implement to help you cope with stress in a much more positive way…rather than returning to what you want to conquer.
There are many different types of stress, and each one and each person will need a different response to the stress they are feeling.
But we know the following will help you immensely:
Eat in a more nutritious manner
I’m not saying “eat better” or “eat good foods” or “avoid good foods”. I am saying eat nutritiously. Sometimes that will mean eat a Cookie, a Donut or have an Espresso Martini. But it also means building your plates with protein and vegetables, drinking 3 litres of water a day, make positive choices that align with your goals both physically, emotionally and mentally.
2. Exercise
Exercise is one very important aspect of dealing with stress. Whether that is hit the gym and follow a good Resistance Programme (Grab a Free Month of Workouts right here: Free Month of the Be Confident, Be Strong Programme) or go for a Swim, Jog, Yoga or even just a 10 minute walk. Exercise reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body’s natural painkillers and mood elevators. [4]
Find out why Resistance Training is great for Fat Loss right here: What is the most important thing for Fat Loss…Resistance Training or a Calorie Deficit?
3. Sleep
Sleep is the most powerful tool in your ability to control stress. You need to be getting 7–8 hours a night. When we sleep we allow our brain to process the day you have just experienced and it will give you much better willpower for the day ahead. Think of sleep not just as a restful time to recover from the day, but time to prepare yourself for the day ahead — like warming up before you exercise. Also, make sure you are creating a good sleep environment for yourself. For example, you should limit caffeine at least 8 hours before you sleep, you should reduce screen time as much as possible, and if you have to be on your phone then use your Night Shift Filter to limit your Blue Light exposure (I have mine on all day every day — and its great!)
If you need help sleeping try listening to one of my Sleep Stories:
4. Meditation
Meditation and deep breathing is also an extremely powerful way to manage your stress. A lot of people give up on Meditation as they believe that they should magically be able to quieten their mind naturally. But it takes practice and is something just like fitness that needs to be worked upon. Also by engaging in Deep Breathing you connect with your Parasympathetic Nervous system which produces a relaxing effect [5]. You can also Meditate anywhere in the world, at any time in your life. it doesn’t have to be at Sunrise on a Beach or listening to Birdsong. Although being in Nature is one of the most relaxing things as humans we can do. You can do it on the Tube, or as you are walking. Try some of my 10-minute walking meditations and see how you get on:
5. Connect with others
By connecting with others and talking things through with your friends will help you solve problems and find the answers you need to figure out what is stressing you out. Plus its comforting to talk to those you are close to. Don’t text them. Speak to them or see them in person. Texting is not an appropriate human connection to help with your stress levels.
6. Give to Charity
There are few things higher up that we can do to improve our sense of self-worth than give to charity. When you help someone else, it makes you feel good, really good, and it helps put your problems into perspective a little more.
Can I Lose Weight Whilst Working on my Emotional Eating?
Let me be clear from the off; anyone can lose weight — all you need is Calorie Deficit:
However, if you are aware that you struggle immensely with Emotional Eating, then a calorie deficit will be an extremely hard thing for you to stick to, as you will constantly be stressing yourself out.
Lets run this through an example:
You have started a new diet and exercise programme and are feeling good for the first few days. You have a little bit of a busy day at work, and feel a bit let down by your colleagues. They haven’t done anything wrong per se, but they just didn’t feel supported. Your boss has hit you with a deadline, and although achievable…in truth its the last thing you want to do right now.
You get home and try to talk to your husband or boyfriend about it. He's only half interested, can’t wrap his head around your point of view and just says something like:
“Well just work hard and you will get it all done. Don’t worry about it”
(Men? Am I rite?)
It brings back all the feelings from your day, from your Boss and your colleagues and you then think about dinner. Feeling a bit low, you notice the Pizza in the freezer rather than the Meal Prep you made.
Pizza it is. You indulge in it. You begin to realise what you did and how that behaviour doesn’t match your new “healthy” regime. However, its ok because you know you are allowed flexibility in what you eat — no ones should be that strict on their diet.
However, you still seem hungry after the pizza. It's not quite done its job. You're not satisfied because you need emotional satisfaction, not physical satisfaction.
There’s Ben and Jerry’s in the fridge…
You get to bed. Sleep not as well as you would like, due to the stress from work, and as you wake in the morning you realise the calories you ate last night exceeded your deficit for the whole week. You now start to feel down on yourself again, and despite knowing all you have to do is follow the Four Step F*** It Philosophy as detailed thus:
STEP 1: Acknowledge you went off plan and why.
STEP 2: Say F*** It.
STEP 3: Draw a line under it.
STEP 4: Move on.
You can’t shake the feeling that you have now let yourself down. You feel your stress levels rising again. Work is just as stressful as before and it's now Karens Birthday. There's Krispy Kremes in the office. One or two won’t hurt, and you need it. You’re feeling low again.
And then the stress increases again because you aren’t matching your Diet to your desired behaviours.
And it goes on and on and on. Until you eventually give up on your diet, give up on your exercise and your goals seem further away than ever.
My point here is that you can’t build a house on a foundation of sand and with three walls. A Calorie Deficit is really simple. But it doesn’t mean it is easy, and to attempt to achieve one in order to lose weight and get a bit “healthier” is going to be extremely hard if you aren’t willing to work first on improving your relationship with food.
You can’t build a house on a foundation of sand and with three walls. Your relationship with food must be postivie before attmepting a Calorie Deficit.
You need to first learn to be able to draw a line right under it and truly move on. When you can achieve that as a habit, without guilt attachment and without you feeling like you are a failure, then you will find being in a Calorie Deficit so much easier.
In the midst of all of this to you will have to learn how to balance your hormones to your expectations. I find that my clients eat a little more during certain times of their cycle and that they need more flexibility in those moments. This is another part of your diet you will need to fully comprehend and understand to help you manage your stress a lot better, and therefore your relationship with food.
How Does Your Menstrual Cycle Effect Fitness and Fat Loss? <<< Read my article on this topic right here
Conclusion
Emotional Eating is a normal, human thing to do. We all Eat Emotionally and this can be both in negative moments of our life and positive moments of our life. Understanding this is crucial because it shows that your behaviour of emotional eating is standard practice and that you aren’t “broken” or “need fixing”
A lot of negative Emotional Eating comes from being in as Stressed state. When the hormone Cortisol and Adrenaline are running rampant in your body, you are much more likely to indulge in foods that do not match the behaviours you want to have in order to reach your goals.
If Emotional Eating is a particularly prevalent behaviour in your relationship with food you need to focus your efforts in the Emotional part of the equation. Not the Eating part of the equation.
Look at the things in your life that are causing you high stress and learn better ways to manage that. Through better nutrition, Exercise, Meditation, Connection with others, giving to Charity and getting out into nature.
It is possible to lose weight whilst being an emotional eater. But it is making your journey a hell of a lot harder. Try and work on your relationship with food before you engage with a Calorie Deficit as fixing your relationship with food will make the weight loss journey more successful and more sustainable.
Above all remember the following: You are not alone, and although this all seems quite daunting, you can totally do it. I know you can. And I believe in you more than you probably believe in yourself. If you got this far through the article, this is clearly something you want to understand more and work upon…and you are already ahead of 90% of the people who have read this.
Stop worrying about the food. Start fixing your stress levels and you’ll do just fine.
Did you find this useful?
You can Join The Fitness Collective which is my Membership Group. In there I give Monthly Updates, Live Q and A’s, I provide you with new workouts each and every month, and write guidance on your fitness journey.
To find out more about The Fitness Collective you can click here: The Fitness Collective
Please share this with your friends and anyone else you may know who is worried about training in a gym, and feel free to follow me using the links below…
And if you want to get updates on when I publish new articles, publish new podcasts or anything else then please remember to sign up below
And above all remember this…for as long as you are trying your best no one can ask for more from you.
Coach Adam
References:
Medainc.org. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.medainc.org/binge-eating-vs-emotional-eating-whats-the-difference/> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
HelpGuide.org. 2020. Emotional Eating And How To Stop It. [online] Available at: <https://www.helpguide.org/articles/diets/emotional-eating.htm> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
Bogdanos, M., 2020. 5 Steps To Help Build Emotional Resilience. [online] World of Psychology. Available at: <https://psychcentral.com/blog/5-steps-to-help-build-emotional-resilience/> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
Publishing, H., 2020. Exercising To Relax — Harvard Health. [online] Harvard Health. Available at: <https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
André, C., 2020. Proper Breathing Brings Better Health. [online] Scientific American. Available at: <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-brings-better-health/> [Accessed 4 May 2020].
How To Count Calories
How To Count Calories
There I was on Instagram doing my daily video asking my audience what I might be able to help them with…and I got this response:
“I don’t know how to count calories…can you help me?”
Well, of course, it's my pleasure to help anyone if I can. But with this message, I felt like the person sending it to me felt guilty that she didn’t know how to do this — which is absurd. Why would you know how to do this if it's not something you have looked into how to do it. In the fitness industry, we spend a lot of time talking about things which we know…and we don’t do a great job of informing people about actually how to do what we talk about. This is for one reason…many people in this industry want to make them seem like they have a secret you don’t have…thus you will part with your cash in order to get said secret. It's nonsense. Nothing makes someone actually want to invest in you more than you empowering them to solve problems themselves. Helping them when they think they will never be able to figure it out.
Therefore this article is here to:
Explain why you should count calories
Show you how to count calories
Make you aware of the positives and negatives of counting calories
and
4. Send you on your way feeling empowered to take control of this part of your Fitness Journey.
Why You Should Count Calories
Most Diets you have ever heard of, will in some way do two things.
Count your Calories
Get you into a Calorie Deficit or a Calorie Surplus
For the purposes of this article, let's just use the premise that you want a calorie deficit to lose weight. Whether you followed Slimming World, Weight Watchers or Atkins they all incorporate a “system” for counting your calories. The issue with these diets is they also encourage you to develop very questionable relationships with how you view your food which in the long run creates a very messy relationship between you and your diet. They also use this calorie counting system to restrict your intake of calories…hence getting you into a Calorie Deficit.
These companies have clearly realised that part of a successful Fat Loss diet is that you manage to get the dieter to learn how to restrict their food, and thus get results.
Have you ever heard the phrase “what is measured can be managed”?
Well, that is why you should count your calories if you want to lose weight. We need to keep track. And that's it. Keep track of the amount of energy you are eating.
That's all a calorie is: A unit of energy.
In the same way, a mile is a unit of distance. A calorie is a unit of energy.
And in the same way, you are tracking how far you are running or walking, or how much you are lifting…you must also track how much you are eating.
You wouldn’t step foot into the Gym and not take note of how heavy the dumbbell you are lifting is, would you? So why are you not treating your food the same?
Emotions. Which I empathise with…(and if you need help with that then please read my article titled: How Do You Define Binge Eating?)…but that's not for this article.
It is also my belief that counting calories is important as we habitually wildly underestimate how many calories we are eating. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (1) and an article published by Public Health England (2)both state that participants under-report their calorie consumption.
This is why I believe it is very important for you, if you want to begin to lose weight to start counting your calories as accurately as possible. In the Western World we are so poorly educated on this subject…it leads to a huge overconsumption of caloric intake. We just have very little idea on two things, how many calories we actually require each day (our Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and how many calories are in our foods.
There is:
97kcal in a Cappuccino from Starbucks (Tall)
130kcal in a bag of Salt and Vinegar Walkers Crisps
214kcal in a large glass of Red Wine
1064kcl in a 200g bar of Cadburys Dairy Milk
1720kcal in a medium Dominos Pepperoni Pizza
Now imagine you had some garlic bread with the pizza or a dash of syrup in your cappuccino. Maybe had two glasses of wine not just the one…you can see how the little bits here, the little bits there add up.
And if you don’t track that…you can begin to take away from all of your hard work in the gym.
That being said…
“All calories count, but you don’t have to count all calories” — Jordan Syatt
You can get into a Caloric Deficit without counting calories, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t educate yourself on them. Learning how many calories are in the foods you eat is a simple and easy way to make sure you can keep track, even when you aren’t “tracking”.
How Do You Count Calories?
Great question.
Before we get into this…I want you to know that at times it's not easy to be very accurate. It used to drive me bonkers, the few times I have counted calories that it was never perfect. So right off the bat…i’m telling you this is NEVER an exact science.
In fact, even the calories published on packets are not 100% accurate. The FDA in the US allows up to 20% deviation on what the packet might actually contain either way…
So how do you get around this? Well, you give yourself a nice long time frame to lose weight…you experiment and keep making little changes until it starts to work for your goals.
Personally, I recommend to my clients to download the app “MyFitnessPal” although some clients have had great success with FitBit Tracking too.
With MyFitness Pal you set up your Goal Weight…and it will give you a Daily Amount of Calories that you can consume.
Then throughout the day you scan barcodes, type in and figure out what you are eating in order to find out how many calories you are eating. It has an extensive list of food stuffs in its library and there are few things in this world that aren’t on there. Including Restaurant Menus, Cocktails and your favourite Fast Foods.
But figuring out portion sizes can be difficult.
There's another catch with MyFitnessPal if you want to lose weight…and its this:
Image from @thegymstarter on Instagram
MyFitnessPal gives you back Calories burnt from exercise as per your exercise tracker (the red arrows on the illustration above). Fitness Trackers don’t accurately calculate the number of calories you have burned through exercise and therefore the number of calories MyFitnessPal says you can have back is not going to be accurate.
Added to that…if you have increased your movement…and burnt some calories…why would you then want to eat that back?
You are just undoing your hard work.
What If The Food I Eat Is Home Cooked and Doesn’t Have A Barcode?
Tracking Home Cooked food is terribly irritating on MyFitnessPal. As you will have to weigh all your food, every ingredient and figure out how you cooked it because how you cook food changes its calorie content…there becomes a lot of barriers in place which will stop you from tracking your calories.
And as you may well know…my number one rule for Fitness is enjoyment. As enjoyment leads to adherence. And if there are lots of barriers in place you simply will not remain adherent to what you are doing…because its no longer enjoyable…but onerous.
Luckily for you, I have a Fat Loss My Fitness Pal rule in place for this very problem.
If you are eating home cooked food, or whole foods nearly the whole of the time, that sticks to the rule of Protein and Veggies at every meal…and Carbs come along for the ride (one of my 5 AwesomeRules for life) then it is my belief you don’t have to track that food.
But…
And its a Big But…if you eat anything with a Barcode on it…you must scan and track that.
If you are finding you are getting to within 60% of your Calorie allowance (the Goal Number on the image above) from Barcoded Foods…then it is a fair statement to say that you are eating over your calorie allowance.
This means that if you have a calorie allowance of 1500kcals a day and you are eating 900kcals worth of Coffees from Costa, Wine, Crisps and Dip, Sodas, Chocolate or Sandwiches from Pret then I think we can assume you are going over your calories each day.
So the Big Food Number on your MyFitnesPal should read no more than 900kcals (60% of your Daily Caloric Allowance) in this example.
YOUR BMR or GOAL CALORIES — Know Your Numbers
I set all my clients up with a calorie target of two numbers.
A Lower Limit
An Upper Limit.
The lower limit is set to their BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which is the number that dictates how many calories they burn just by being them. Their Digestion, Respiration, Minimal Daily Movement all leads us to this figure.
If you want to know your BMR then email me a request and I will tell you how to get a number (adam@thegymstarter.com)
The upper limit is normally their Goal B/W ins LBS x12.
This figure is always higher than we expect and scares a few people. But if you are consistent with your training and your NEAT especially, then it will work fine for you.
I ask all my clients to try and make sure that each day they will fall somewhere between these two numbers, and by doing so…they will over a course of time…lose weight, and keep it off.
One last important point…
I heard this from Susan Neibergall on my Podcast: The Fitness Solution (listen on iTunes here). Susan said that the aim of being in a Calorie Deficit isn’t to see how little you can eat…but to see how much you can eat within that number.
That's the challenge.
It's not about restriction.
It's about abundance within your limits. Imagine you driving a car, and you are coming onto a Motorway, you know that your limit is 70mph on the motorway…you are going to drive damn near to that number. You aren’t going to travel on the motorway at 40mph because you want to get your destination as quickly as possible, and you know that going that slow…when everything else around you is going that quick…is damn dangerous.
Yout might cruise at 60/65mph…but no slower.
What Are The Positives and Negatives of Counting Calories?
The positives are the following:
You can educate yourself on the calories you are eating each day and see how that is effecting your Fat Loss Journey
It gives you a way of looking at food as just energy. Not good or bad foods…it just is literally a combination of calories formatted in a certain way for you to consume.
It is time-restricted. This is not something you need to do for the rest of your life. Once you get a handle on the foods you like to enjoy…and learn how much energy is in them then you are free to roam the world and keep looser tabs on what you are doing. Then if things go array…you have a tried and tested format to help you get back on track.
It will lead to results. If you track accurately…it will lead to results for you.
It allows you to stop being a Dieter. You can finally walk away from Slimming World and Weight Watchers and actually learn that food is just food…and if it fits inside your number…then you can eat it. It basically gives you guilt-free freedom.
Read number five again.
I know I spoke about negatives a the top of this section…and there are a few. But what I really mean are pitfalls. There are common mistakes that people make when tracking calories which will drastically hinder their progress.
Again, let me call on Instagram:
Image from @thegymstarter on Instagram
As you can see there are plenty of ways that this method of tracking your consumption can let you down, and therefore will hinder your progress.
I can only suggest avoiding these mistakes and you will be able to remain accurate with what you are doing.
The other negatives associated with Calorie Tracking is thus:
People can become obsessed with it.
People don’t want to see the truth.
Point 1: They can be completely obsessed with their numbers and that can totally impact the way they view their food.
What I would say about this is the following. We may all know someone who is “obsessed” with their numbers. But in truth, that is one person out of many more that you are focusing on. You are looking for the anomaly to prove your point. Far more people casually track their calories in this world, than get obsessed with it. Don’t use one person to prove your already biased opinion.
Point 2: It can be scary. If this is something that you believe you have had a handle on your whole life, but know the scale has never actually told you what you want to hear…then being accountable for what you are putting in your mouth can be a very scary moment. Seeing it in black and white…is, without doubt, a bitter pill to swallow. But if you can make your peace with that right now, then it will pay dividends, compared to you regretting not being able to when you are 55 and need a hip replacement.
To Conclude
For me the answer is simple: Track Your Calories
Its not a life sentence. You don’t have to do this for the rest of your life. But if you can accurately track for a month or so…then you will learn so much about your food you will be able to take so much more control over what you are eating.
Numbers are King. You need to know your numbers to succeed. Your Upper Limit, Your Lower Limit and hit between those each day for a long period of time…and you will succeed.
Eat as much as you can within your numbers. That's the goal here. To eat as much as possible…not as little as possible.
Stick to the 60% rule don’t let MyFitness Pals annoyances stop you from succeeding. Learn to work with it, rather than against it, and you will find success.
Guilt-Free Freedom this is your goal. To learn to enjoy all foods so long as they work within your numbers. Foods are not good, or bad. They just are.
And thats it.
How To Track Calories by me,
The Gym Starter…
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Sources:
New England Journal of Medicine. 2020. Discrepancy Between Self-Reported And Actual Caloric Intake And Exercise In Obese Subjects | NEJM. [online] Available at: <https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199212313272701> [Accessed 9 April 2020].
Ons.gov.uk. 2020. A Government Statistical Service Perspective On Official Estimates Of Calorie Consumption — Office For National Statistics. [online] Available at: <https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/methodologies/agovernmentstatisticalserviceperspectiveonofficialestimatesofcalorieconsumption#toc> [Accessed 9 April 2020].
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Coach Adam