Risks and Downsides of Calorie Counting
However, not every expert agrees that weight loss is a simple math equation.
Your Body Defends Itself Against Reduced Calories
Once your body notices that it’s getting fewer calories, the rate at which it burns calories slows down. This can, in turn, increase levels of hormones that increase your appetite. These mechanisms can also make weight loss more challenging to maintain over time. Researchers have also found that even up to a year after losing weight through your diet, levels of hormones that help you feel full (like GLP-1) remain low and levels of appetite hormones like ghrelin that trigger the urge to eat more stay high.
A successful weight management approach needs to move beyond calorie counting to one that helps the body maintain a stable energy balance, looks after your hormones, and supports you in breaking psychological and behavioral loops that defend a higher body weight.
Getting Balanced Macros Might Be More Important Than Counting Calories
Calorie counting was very popular about two decades ago, says Alexandra Sowa, MD, a dual-board-certified doctor of internal and obesity medicine and the founder of SoWell Health, but “it’s not really the healthiest, most sustainable way to lose weight.” Instead of focusing on the number of calories you’re consuming and following a low-calorie diet, she says that making sure you’re getting the right macronutrients is more important.
“If you consume a low-calorie diet without the right macronutrients — without enough protein, without enough fat to keep you full, and without enough carbohydrates — you’ll be ravenously hungry, and you’ll only be able to sustain a very low-calorie diet for a few days at a time,” she says.
Calorie Counting Has Links to Disordered Eating for Some People
Counting calories may also increase the risk of disordered eating. “For some individuals, calorie counting can become an addictive and dangerous activity, where they really don’t allow themselves to eat, even if they’re hungry,” Holley says. “They will not go above a certain number.”
Calorie-counting apps can trigger, worsen, or maintain disordered eating by reinforcing rigid thinking around food. Among people with diagnosed eating disorders, 73.1 percent reported that calorie-tracking apps actively contributed to and perpetuated their symptoms. While harmful impacts can depend on vulnerable personality traits like perfectionism, and not everyone who uses a calorie tracker develops disordered eating, dieting itself may be a major risk factor. Around 35 percent of typical dieters developed disordered eating attitudes in previous research.
Even if you don’t develop an eating disorder, Holley notes that calorie counting puts “unnecessary focus on numbers instead of nutrients, taste, satisfaction,” and everything else that contributes to the eating experience. “I think it sucks the joy from eating,” she says. “I would prefer people follow intuitive eating signals, eating when they’re physically hungry and stopping when they feel full and satisfied.”
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