I recently googled how many calories are in an apple. I don't necessarily care, but apples are in season, so I've been consuming them with voracious gusto (and using them to make my favorite apple pie and apple crumble recipes). Since I'm constantly amazed at how filling an apple can be, I thought I'd look up the nutritional value to satisfy my own curiosity. The top Google results varied, ranging from 95 calories to 104 calories to 116 calories in one fruit. After sifting through over 10 articles that varied in nutritional metrics, I just gave up on getting a solid answer.
For years I firmly believed that weight loss and overall health was a simple matter take in fewer calories than you burn. With last night's internet search in mind, I realized it's not quite that simple.
Counting calories is often considered an effective way to quantitatively measure your diet. Applications like MyFitnessPal and Num have built their brands around determining exactly how many calories are in that Starbucks Grande Vanilla Latte (250) or that banana you had for breakfast (105) with the stated goal of helping users lose weight or make changes to their body shape by maintaining a caloric deficit. . But is calorie counting really an effective practice?
As with many emerging trends in health and wellness, we need to critically evaluate both the promised benefits and potential dangers. Self-proclaimed health experts on social media sites like Instagram and TikTok say (in a tone that implies “duh”) that weight loss is just calories in versus calories out. Depending on where you look, research can disprove or confirm the effectiveness of calorie counting. To find out the truth, I spoke to an expert, David GaviriaPhD candidate in the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
What is calorie counting?
Calories express the nutritional value of a given food or drink, but at its simplest, a calorie is a unit of energy. Calories are units of measurement used to describe how much energy is expended in a day (calories burned) or expended. They are necessary to keep us alive and to keep our organs functioning. Calories give the body fuel to function and move, whether it's breathing, sprinting a mile, or digesting food.
It's true that to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you consume, and you can do this through changes in your eating habits and increased exercise. For many on a weight loss journey, the practice of self-tracking every calorie consumed and burned in a day is an effective way to stay within target calories to reach health or weight goals.
Gaviria said calorie counting became popular really as a result of diet culture. While some people, like athletes, may need to rely on calorie counting to make sure they're expending enough energy to fuel their rigorous exercise schedules, it's mostly about manipulating weight status.
“Counting calories is not really a natural thing,” Gaviria said. “We eat food, not calories. And yes, our bodies transform food into calories that it uses for daily function, but really it's just a quantitative way, a number, to help people essentially maintain their diet or maintain their weight. .
The size of the products can change the number of calories, making it difficult to accurately track calories.
What are the potential dangers of counting calories?
While tracking daily calories can be a tool for weight loss or making sure you're fueling your body properly, it's not the right practice for everyone. For some, it has to do with contributing to eating disorders and disordered eating.
This does not mean counting calories it can't to be helpful, but it depends on the individual — including their health history and emotional connection to food and their body. Dangers can arise when counting calories, so it's important to be aware of the potential dangers and warning signs to look out for.
Accuracy is almost impossible
Accurately tracking calorie intake is obviously difficult. For starters, it's hard to know how many calories are in the food you eat. While there are several online directories of food calorie counts, getting accurate numbers is still not straightforward. For example, if you're looking for the calories in a half-cup serving of rice, that number will be different if the rice is cooked or uncooked. It's even more difficult for fruits and vegetables – if there are 105 calories in a banana, how big is that banana? With so many different sizes, each will have a different amount of calories.
“You have to essentially know exactly what the caloric content of the food you're eating is, and that becomes difficult to do without being even more precise with measuring and measuring things,” Gaviria said. “Not to mention it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of brain space to say, 'Okay, well, if I'm going to have this meal, I'm only going to have 500 calories, what kind of meal can I build that's going to be 500 calories? ?'”
Accurate weighing and measuring is required to accurately track calories.
In addition to trying to hit the calories in a certain portion size and planning your daily meals to a certain number of calories, it can also be taxing to remember to track every calorie.
Many forget to keep track of the oils or butter used for frying, or the seasonings added to a sandwich or dressing added to a salad. It's easy to skip tracking whole meals if you eat on the go. Even simple omissions can add 500 to 700 calories that weren't counted.
Links to eating disorders and compulsive stalking
Although many use calorie counting safely, this practice is associated with leading to food restriction beyond what is healthy or encouraging disordered eating. Calorie tracking is definitely not recommended for people with a history of eating disorders and weight or body disorders, as it can worsen symptoms and encourage a negative relationship with food.
A study conducted in 2017 found that of 105 people diagnosed with an eating disorder, 75% revealed they had used an app (MyFitnessPal) to count calories, and 73% said they felt the app contributed to their eating disorder symptoms. While not all users of calorie tracking experience unhealthy side effects, there is research that suggests it can lead to a restrictive, unbalanced diet or may be associated with higher eating disorder pathology.
“There are some people who believe that the research on calorie tracking shows that it can put people at risk for eating disorders or compulsive tracking, but there are some people who believe that the research shows that it doesn't,” Gaviria said. “I think it comes back to the individual and their circumstances. People need to take time with themselves to recognize if it is a good process for them or not. And if they start doing that, when will they recognize that it's not a good process for them.”
Experiencing feelings of guilt, shame, or anxiety is a sign that calorie tracking is becoming harmful.
When should one stop counting calories?
It's likely that at some point you might try counting calories either out of curiosity or to lose weight. If you decide to use calorie tracking regularly, as Gaviria said, it's important to know when to stop.
Experiencing guilt, shame, or anxiety is a sign that calorie tracking is becoming harmful and you should stop immediately. If you find yourself thinking about food frequently or worrying throughout the day about your future food choices and how you will fit them into your calorie allotment, you should consider stopping. If you feel compelled to track calories while cooking or eating, then it could be a sign that you are a compulsive tracker.
Gaviria said the biggest indicator to stop tracking is if you're asked to eat and the first thing that crosses your mind is your calorie window.
“If you start denying yourself social situations that you used to enjoy going to because they won't fit into your calories, that's a really big sign that you need to rethink what you're doing,” Gaviria said.
Symptoms can be manifested physically, not only psychologically. If you suddenly have no appetite during the day or lose your sense of hunger, it could be a sign that you're not listening to your body, Gaviria explained. Lack of energy, sleep problems, exhaustion and cessation of the menstrual cycle are the main signs of cessation. Sometimes it's easier to notice those physical signs before noticing what's going on mentally.
If you're tracking calories and other health metrics, it's important to maintain a healthy relationship with both eating and exercise.
Is there really a safe way to count calories?
Many believe that counting calories is an effective way to maintain a calorie deficit and lose weight. CNET already has a guide to expert-backed ways to safely count calories if you choose to do so, but it's important to remember that weight and shape aren't the only indicators of your health. Actually, there are many other indicators that are more important to your overall health than weight, including genetics, access to healthcare and mental health.
If you choose to track calories, it would be wise to understand that it is not your final solution. Any changes in your body take time and patience. If you're following safe, you'd still eat foods you enjoy, even if it means going over your calorie count—and you won't feel shame. Instead of denying yourself, you can be careful what you choose to eat.
“There are healthy ways to do it,” Gaviria said. “But I think the moral of the story would be to use calorie tracking sparingly and still allow yourself to enjoy what's important in life, rather than avoiding the things that are important to you just because of the calories.”
Remember that health doesn't have to be complicated. A healthy, nutritious diet can be achieved by eating more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and drinking water, engaging in physical activity, reducing stress and getting plenty of sunlight. These basic changes can make you feel healthy and you will start to notice a difference holistically.