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And without further
ado, the answer is yes...and no!
Allow me to explain...
Calorie-counting
is one of those things that you either love or
hate.
You either feel
like you HAVE to do it in order to get results
or you feel like there's NO WAY you'll ever be
caught dead doing it. It's rare you find somebody
who sits on the middle ground in this one.
As most people know,
in order to lose fat, you've got to have a caloric
deficit, taking in fewer calories than you burn
on a daily basis. No surprises there.
Now here's the thing...in
order to consistently achieve that caloric deficit
and lose fat, you must be AWARE of your calorie
intake.
I believe the
REAL question we should be asking here should
not be "Is calorie-COUNTING necessary?"
but "Is calorie-AWARENESS necessary?"
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So if, in
order to be aware of how many calories you're
taking in, you need to specifically COUNT
them (by weighing food and referencing food
charts), then THAT will be what you have
to do to get results.
And that is
totally fine!
But if you've
already GOT a good awareness of how many
calories you're eating in a day and you
know what you need to eat (or not eat) in
order to achieve that caloric deficit, then
calorie counting is NOT necessary for you.
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The key here, again,
is awareness.
You see, the big
problem with not counting calories arises when
a person THINKS they're aware of their caloric
intake but they really are NOT.
It's a fact that
most people dramatically under-report their caloric
intake when they are asked to estimate how much
they eat in a day. When they keep a food diary
and have to write down every little thing that
goes in their mouth, in
some cases their TRUE caloric intake nearly DOUBLES.
So even if you don't
want to count calories, it may be time for a quick
compromise. It's a temporary calorie count/reality
check!
If you're not losing
fat right now and you feel like you're not really
eating much, here's something you can try in order
to test your "caloric awareness":
First, write down
how many calories you THINK you're eating every
day.
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Now for the
next full week, write down everything you
eat. And I do mean EVERYTHING. Every
little taste and every little snack. EVERYTHING.
Just write down foods and portion sizes
- don't try and look up how many calories
each thing has and don't suddenly change
your diet because you want to make yourself
look good - just keep doing what you've
been doing.
At the end
of the week, go to a food chart and research
everything you ate. Add it up and divide
by 7. This will give you your average daily
caloric intake.
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If you're within
a few hundred calories of your original estimation,
congratulations! You've got good "calorie
awareness!"
But if you're off
by a significant margin, this will give you some
VERY useful feedback on what you need to do to
get fat loss rolling again.
So there's a vote
FOR calorie counting...let's look at the other
side of the coin.
And I'll be blunt here...calorie counting, no
matter how careful you are, is simply NOT all
that accurate.
Think of it this
way...no two pieces of food are alike. When you
buy a steak at the grocery store, they don't charge
you per steak, they charge by the pound. And even
when they charge by the pound, two steaks of the
same cut can have DRAMATICALLY different composition
- one could be lean and one could be fatty!
But if you look
at a calorie chart, you'll see "3 oz sirloin
steak - 100 calories"...or something to that
effect.
So even if you weigh
and chart every single piece of food you put in
your mouth, you're STILL going to be off by a
fair margin. That's just a fact.
And while how MUCH
you eat has an impact on fat loss, WHEN you eat
it and what foods you eat together makes a HUGE
impact on your results. "Calories are calories"
is true only up to a point.
For example, if
you eat a big meal after a workout, most of that
will get used for recovery purposes. But if you
eat that same big meal late at night, nowhere
near a workout, a good portion of that will just
be stored as fat.
Another example
is eating sugary carbs with fatty foods - the
insulin response you get from sugary foods will
jam that fat right into your fat cells with very
little trouble!
So now that you have absolutely no idea WHAT the
heck to do now, here's my step-by-step solution...
1. If you like to
count calories and it gets you results...keep
it up!
2. If you like to
count calories but you're NOT getting results,
either eat less or make sure you're writing down
EVERYTHING you're eating AND are being as accurate
as possible with your charting.
3. If you DON'T
like to count calories and you ARE getting results...keep
it up! Calorie counting is NOT necessary if you're
aware of how many you're taking in AND you're
getting results.
4. If you DON'T
like to count calories and you're NOT getting
results, it's time to take one week to count your
calories and improve your caloric awareness. It's
only a week and it'll give you a MUCH better idea
of what you're actually taking in. This will pay
off BIG in the long run because once you get a
feel for your TRUE intake, you can very easily
keep yourself honest and ADJUST on the fly.
To my mind, the bottom line is results.
If you're NOT losing fat, then you're not getting
the results you want...simple as that. Your approach
should be focused on doing what you need to do
to get those results.
Developing your
caloric awareness is the key to long-term success
with fat loss. And if you have to count calories
to do it, then that's what you've gotta do!
FAT LOSS BOOKS
"Metabolic
Surge - Rapid Fat Loss" - By Nick Nilsson
"Burn
The Fat - Feed The Muscle" - By Tom Venuto
CALORIE CHARTS
http://www.calorieking.com
http://www.caloriecountercharts.com
http://www.3fatchicks.com/food-calorie-counts/
ARTICLES
10
Things You Can Do To Lose Fat Without Even Trying
Why
We Get Fat - Hunting Big Macs and Gathering French
Fries
Nine
Surefire Ways to Gain Fat
Fat
Loss Circuit Training
How
To Lose Fat NOW - A Basic Fat-Loss Program That
You Can Put To Work Today!
BASIC
Nutrition - A Quick, Common-Sense Guide To What
You Should Be Eating to Stay Healthy and Get Results
Right Now
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