Why and How to Stop Calorie Counting
If MyFitnessPal is, or has ever been your bff, this one’s for you. It might feel like you will never get those calorie numbers out of your head. That is, if you’re even at the stage where you want to! Let’s talk a little bit about why stopping calorie counting is important, and how to stop counting calories.
why it’s important to stop:
If you’re counting your calories, and you’ve landed on this page, chances are something feels off. Maybe you’re on a diet to lose weight, maybe you just feel like you need to know how much you’re eating in a day, either way, it’s not the intuitive and freeing relationship with food you want. The truth is, it’s impossible to have a healthy relationship with food while counting calories. Let’s give some examples as to why calorie counting is unhelpful:
It disconnects you from your body
I put the most important one first. Calorie counting disconnects you from your body. Your body actually knows intuitively how much energy (calories) it needs in a day. By using an app or counting your calories and only allowing a certain amount of food each day, you’re not letting your body do it’s number one job: keep you alive. If you’re looking for the most helpful way to know how much you should be eating, listen to your body. That amount will change day to day.
It’s impractical
Tracking your calories for every meal and snack can get so overwhelming (which I’m sure you’ve figured out, if you’re reading this)! If you want to have a lick of the brownie batter, go to a restaurant or friends house where calories aren’t listed, you have to a) interrupt your joyful moment to track, and b) guesstimate the amount of calories in whatever you ate, which is probably wrong. Calorie counting interrupts your daily life. Imagine if the time you spent tracking your calories could be spent enjoying your life?
It can lead to disordered eating and eating disorders
Disordered eating and eating disorders run rampant amongst calorie-counting individuals. It might seem harmless at first, but what starts as an “I just want to see…” can turn into an obsession really quickly. The numbers many calorie counting apps suggest are much too low for just about every single human being, and your body does not do well with intentional food restriction of any kind. Your body doesn’t know the difference between a diet and actually being starved. When your body thinks it’s being starved, your mental as well as physical health declines, hence, eating disorders being born. Eating disorders and engaging disordered eating are rarely things people choose to have or do.
It’s inaccurate
As I’ve hinted at throughout this post, calorie counting is so inaccurate. Not only is it inaccurate in that there’s no app that can tell you how much to eat, but there really isn’t any person (yes, even professionals) who can tell you the exact number of calories you need to be eating in a day. That’s because that number will change, because the way we move and live changes day to day. It’s also inaccurate because human brains are imperfect! Even calorie labels are imperfect! Did you know that calorie labels can be wrong up to 20%? That’s right, 20%. There could be 10% more or less calories in any given food item with a label. That’s only the stuff with a label. Everything else? Unless you’re obsessively measuring your food (also not healthy, also a disordered eating behavior), there’s no way to know exactly how many calories are in any given food item. The guesstimations on your app are just that: guesstimations.
It doesn’t work for weight loss or maintenance
Not a lot of people know this, I wish more people did, but diets and restricting your food for long-term weight loss or maintenance doesn’t work. We know that 95% of those who go on a diet will regain the weight within 5 years. Some studies say even within a year, like this one, where they also found that any improved cardiovascular risk factors also disappeared within a year. It’s not worth it, ya’ll! All restricting your calories will do is put you at risk for an eating disorder, which is the number one cause of death amongst all mental illnesses.
how to stop:
Here are some simple ways you can reduce the urge to count your calories:
DELETE THE APP
Put stickers or affirmation sticky notes over calorie labels
When at the store, resist the urge to read the label
Buy foods in bulk or from sources that don’t put labels on their food (like bread from bakeries, meat from butchers, etc.) if accessible
Practice eating a little more than that specific number you have in your head or on the app, and notice what happens
Now, I know these won’t magically solve the reasons why you might be calorie counting. Those reasons likely run deep, and you deserve to heal. If you practice eating more than your set number and you notice you can’t control yourself around food, that’s unfortunately normal! It’s a symptom of the food restriction, not a symptom of something being wrong with you. The solution is less, not more control.
If you’re looking for support in healing those underlying issues with food, and maybe body image too, feel free to reach out!