Ah, the debate about calorie counting… personally I despise counting calories. It makes me crazy & very hungry. I really don’t want to feel crazy or hungry, do you? There IS a better way. I love John Berardi’s stuff, he has a company called Precision Nutrition, and I am currently enrolled in his certification program. I highly encourage you to check out his sample guide to determining portions (link below).
My experience working with more than 100 clients is that counting calories is not successful for weight loss. It makes my clients over-consumed with eating and food. Which is bad! Very bad, because we want to create a healthy relationship with food, not an obsessed one. Weighing and measuring food, meticulously entering it into an online calorie counter can take you far, far away from being connected to your body. All that obsession keeps the whole process in your “head”. For those of us who love details (myself included) and numbers, we get sucked into aiming for perfection. Sometimes this goes awry. In a bad way.
I have a better way. A solution out of the craziness and mayhem. Learn to eat portions appropriate for your body & goals. Feel what full feels like. If you had an extra hard workout, you might be hungry later on or even the next day. Traveling, eating out, and not exercising? You won’t need to eat as much. Listen to your body and stay connected to how you feel. This is a hard lesson to learn, and sometimes we’ve had to learn it the hard way. Ask yourself where you stand on all of this and decide if it feels right to make a change.
Leave hunger and craziness behind. Ditch counting your calories. Learn to use proper portions and you’ll be well on your way to a lean & svelte body!
Definitely check out the Precision Nutrition blog on calorie counting & portions!
And let us know your stories & thoughts below by leaving a comment 🙂
