Is Tracking Every Calorie Worth the Effort?

 Is Tracking Every Calorie Worth the Effort?

September 03.2024  . Muscle Performance   

We know all our calories come with a price tag that we spend our lives paying off. By tracking the calories you consume you figure out how much you are satisfying the daily quote required for your daily activities and the calories you lose are for you to reach your health goals more optimally. Tracking calories is a method often used by people trying to manage weight, but it has its pros and cons. Let’s break it down:

Is Tracking Every Calorie Worth the Effort?

It is our own choice if we want to make our eating and exercise choices bound by the calorie-tracking habit. There are pros and cons to this habit but it holds you accountable at the end. While it may not be possible to be accurate while tracking every calorie, one must understand that even uncalculated calories add up in our body and we need to start seeing a pattern. Calorie-tracking is a useful habit for those with strict goals whether by choice or health constraints. It may feel like a chore but it is a lifestyle one must be ready to embrace. And this lifestyle can either lead to mindful eating or issues related to eating either way.

Building a Habit of Conscious Eating

You don’t need to track your calories to develop an attitude of mindful eating. You can start by just paying more attention to what food means to you. Do you eat as a necessity or enjoyment and then you can think of a strategy to make sure all your health goals are met without compromising or changing the narrative of what food means to you. Understand what food is good for your body first and what food is bad for your body. Food and nutrition is not a one-size-fits-all concept and it is ever evolving to being aware and conscious of your food choices can be good for the long run but that should not drive you crazy or obsessed with putting a number on every bite.

Reality Check: Your Favorite Food Products

Calorie-tracking is truly an eye-opener sometimes. So many foods that are usually marketed as healthy as often not as calorie deficit as they may seem. Your favourite food may go through a lot of processing before reaching you so judging just the calories of the ingredients used in them is not enough. You might need to look at the label for help. Certain salad dressings are some of the most high-calorie foods you can consume. While pairing it with fibres sounds like a healthy idea, it does not negate the number of calories in it. A reality check is the nutritional information table when you flip the packet. For foods that don’t come with the label like the fruits, always do your research to understand which fruit serves your fitness goals better.

 Losing Weight Without Tracking Calories

Yes, you can lose weight without losing your mind over a little weight scale and burying your eyes into the nutrition labels. All you need to do is make a strategy. Something we call portion control is the first chapter of every nutrition lesson. It is said that by eating a little of everything you are cutting the calories without killing your wishes. All the sweet tooth readers must be happy to know it. But portion control is not as easy as just looking at calories and tracking them. You may need to eat around specific windows and the portion size you are thinking of is far more than the actual portion size you may need to add to your plate.

Advantages of Counting Calories:
You are aware of what you consume
You practice mindful eating habits
Improve your self-control and urges
Helps reduce eating things harmful to your body
You start to pay attention to the nutrition labels to look for the truth.
Disadvantages of Counting Calories
Constantly logging every meal can become time-consuming.
This habit can lead to obsessive behaviour and sometimes mental health issues like eating disorders (for which you may need to consult a physician)
You may end up eating in numbers rather than nutrition.
Low Calorie does not always mean healthy.
This practice is not the most sustainable one.
Verdict
While tracking calories may sound like a healthy lifestyle it needs to be embraced mindfully to understand if this is a choice or obsession. Keep a check on what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat it and that should help you become better at consuming the right way. Calorie tracking is not a lifestyle that is good or bad. It is what you make of it with the level of dependency you have on it so understanding when to stop is the key.