How Calorie Counting Alone Can Sabotage Your Weight Loss
Author: Stephanie Santoro
If calorie counting becomes a strict rule-based way of policing your diet, it probably won’t be sustainable. You need a deeper way to really learn what foods make you feel good and satisfied while losing weight sustainably.
Self-Care Mentality Over Skipping Lunch
In today’s busy world everyone is pressed for time and overtaxed mentally. Career and family obligations have a huge effect on our capacity for taking on yet another thing, whether it has to do with lack of time or making space for self-care (which we often neglect for the care of others), or both. It’s no wonder we seek instant fixes for losing weight.
Often times the growing stress of life, in addition to sedentary demands of the office, can be huge culprits to weight gain that we don’t notice until it’s too late. Before you know it there’s a creeping fatigue that prevents motivation for calorie-burning activity. We also get into habits of mindless snacking or takeout during late deadlines at the desk after skipping lunch and breaks in a frenzy.
Counting Calories Has Been Around for Awhile
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to lose weight as it is to gain it. Not because weight loss is hopeless, but because re-training our bodies, and furthermore our minds, is complicated work that we don’t all have the tools necessary to do it.
The answer for some can be to count calories, using fitness and diet apps on their phones or computers to keep track. Because this approach is accessible and free in many respects, easy to manage, and relatively compatible with lots of lifestyles, it’s a popular age-old technique that seems like a good idea for first-time dieters as well as more seasoned ones.
The Downsides of Calorie Counting
The problem with calorie counting in the narrow sense, is that it can be detrimental when not properly planned out. Nutrition deficiencies, fatigue, cravings, and decrease in metabolism are only some of the major side effects for dieters attempting to go rogue with weight loss and calorie counting specifically, without taking a look at the big picture. You’re running the risk of not knowing the difference between real weight loss vs. water, muscle, and bone loss, in addition to affecting your basal metabolic rate that results in extra weight gain after the original weight comes back. And it almost always does, unless you have the tools you need to keep it off.
Making Calorie Counting Work for You
That’s why it’s important to take nutrition and exercise into consideration, and not relying solely on reduced calories to make you lose weight. Not all calories are equal. There is so much at play when it comes to making food choices that align with your weight loss and health goals. Not only is it challenging in the practical sense, but it’s also usually mentally taxing.
Fortunately, it’s completely unnecessary when you have support, access to expert advice, and a program designed by psychologists with a sustainable weight loss program like Noom. As part of a larger program, calorie counting doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. With the guidance of a unique color system, it moves above and beyond traditional calorie counting!
Transforming Blame to Achievable Wins
We tend to blame ourselves for failing at approaches we try out with no guidance or support. Calorie counting makes sense only when paired with a properly nutritious meal plan and exercise routine. These methods together, when supported by appropriate sleep, mental wellbeing, community, and small achievable wins along the way, are what contribute to workable new habits. It puts you on the road toward successfully achieving a weight loss goal that’s maintainable for life.
Personal and Rewarding Weight Loss
If you’re going to succeed in your weight loss efforts, you need a truly personalized weight loss program. Check out Noom to see for yourself how well it molds to individual needs. A lifestyle shift that inspires, doesn’t make you feel deprived, and is rewarding, is the sustainable way to approach long-term weight loss.
It’s time for something better — something that’s synonymous with a lifetime of wins, rather than a demeaning cycle of yoyo dieting. Your psychological wellbeing will thank you for it – and your body will, too.
