Is Calorie Counting Really That Important?

Over the years, counting calories has become one of the most popular activities of people trying to lose weight.

 However, the calorie counting system has its flaws – and it may not be the best way to go about losing weight.

You've heard it said time and again: To lose weight you must decrease the amount of food you eat. And while that's true, it doesn’t paint the whole picture.

It’s important to realize that calorie counting isn't an exact science...

While it's easy to go to a chart and see that an apple has 80 calories, the apple you're eating may have more or less. The true calorie count depends on the size of the apple and how much sugar it contains. To make it even more complicated, different types of apples will also have their own calorie counts.

So what exactly is a calorie, anyway?

A calorie is basically the amount of heat required to raise a gram of pure water one degree Celsius. You can also look at a calorie as an energy unit. Calories are fuel for your body. When you consume too much fuel it's stored as fat. This is what happens when we overeat.

Our bodies are literally storing up the extra energy in the form of fat. This is a brilliant survival mechanism, but in our modern way of living – it’s not really needed anymore, because we have regular access to food.

A pound of fat is about 3500 calories, so to lose one pound you would have to decrease the number of calories you consume by 3500. The 'average' person consumes 2000 calories per day to maintain an average weight. So if that average person cut their calorie consumption by 50%, it would take 3.5 days to lose one pound. If the consumption was cut by 75% it would take only a little over two days.

Mathematically, this makes perfect sense. But in the real world – this theory is far from accurate.

This is because your body doesn't co-operate with this logic. If you drastically reduce your consumption of food to near starvation levels (which is what you’re doing if you cut out 1500 of the 2000 calories), your body reacts by lowering your metabolism – considerably.

Each and every day you eat at near starvation levels, your body will simply compensate your eating habits by lowering your metabolism.

Eventually you will just stall out.

Even though you will be eating hardly anything, you will lose hardly any weight at all. This is your body’s survival mechanism working perfectly to keep you alive during times of little food.

So let’s talk a little about your metabolism.

Your metabolism is basically the rate at which your body turns the calories to energy.

Metabolism is dependent on a number of factors. Heredity is one of these factors – although it isn’t nearly as important as it is often made out to be. Some of us naturally use more energy than others.

How much you weigh is another important factor in determining your metabolism. The more weight, the more energy is required to move that weight. A heavy rock is harder to push than a lighter rock.

It also depends on the ratio of fat to muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat. This can work to your advantage. When you think about it that makes sense, muscles work, fat just sits there. Two people who are at the same weight and height may have very different metabolisms because one person has mostly muscle mass and the other a higher fat ratio. If you build more muscle, you’ll burn more calories, even while resting, sleeping, or surfing the internet.

Another aspect which will have an effect on your metabolism is your activity levels. Your metabolism will actually increase after exercise. So a person who briskly walks every day will most likely have a higher metabolism than one who doesn't.

In conclusion, it’s important to remember that losing weight is much more than just counting calories. In fact, you don’t really have to count calories – if you stick to mainly healthy foods, and try to increase your metabolism by becoming more active. Sooner or later, you will notice the results.