Does Calorie Counting Work for Weight Loss?

Does calorie counting work for weight loss? When you think of dieting and weight loss, one of the first thoughts that comes to mind is often calorie counting. That is the generally accepted idea that if you eat less and move more (exercise) that you will lose weight. Or if your intake of calories from your diet is less than the number of calories that you burn in your daily activities then you will lose weight.

While this concept is actually fundamentally correct, it fails to cover for some fairly basic biological and psychological concepts. For a start to say that all calories are created equal is somewhat of a myth. If you are accurately measuring the energy released to your body from a unit of food you might say that an apple and a doughnut of equal calorific value will provide your body with the same amount of energy. However as we all know you feel very different after eating an apple than you do after eating a doughnut. This is because an apple will cause a much smaller surge of sugars into your bloodstream which will in turn mean there will be a much smaller release of insulin after eating an apple compared to eating a doughnut.

Following eating the doughnut, excessive insulin release will result in a lowering of blood sugars and also a formation of fat to store the excess energy provided by the large amounts of refined sugar in the doughnut. This has the overall effect of making you feel tired due to the sudden drop 爄n blood sugars, in addition you will feel hungry and crave more sugar due to the same reason, and your body will preferentially store more fat.

So while 2 completely different foods may contain the same number of calories, as they will affect your body in very different ways, you can be sure that the overall result will be more likely for weight gain if you eat foods high in sugar compared to natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean meats and fish.

What we eat has so much more bearing over whether we will lose weight (and keep it off) than simple calorie counting. If we change what we eat, then we can break food addictions, reduce cravings brought on by excessive sugar intake, switch off our body's tendency to store fat and feel much more satisfied by the food we are eating. By focusing on what we eat rather than how much you will naturally reach a healthy weight without feeling hungry all the time and without the risk of gaining all the weight back after the diet is over.

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