A Calorie Is a Calorie—Or is it?

Hello!  

So to fill you in on what's been going on, I have been eating very healthy lately. I'm eating close to no processed food, more fruits and veggies, healthy dinners with lots of protein and I just started incorporating protein shakes after my workouts. Hooray! But one of the changes I've made lately is I haven't been counting calories. Instead I've been concentrating on body cues and practicing simple changes like smaller portions. The Result? I'm happier. I found that my attitude completely changed when I wasn't counting calories. I wasn't as stressed or anxious around food and I even ENJOYED it instead of wondering how many calories was in it. When I saw this huge shift in my attitude  I asked myself, "why was I counting calories to begin with? why hadn't I been focusing on the food itself to begin with? when did I stop enjoying food? why was I so anxious? why was the number so important? was it really helping me? why was I counting calories at all?" The answer to those questions resulted in a bit of an experiment. And this is what I found out......(below are my notes over a couple of days of thoughts and research).

Calorie counting is insanely popular as is counting points, sugars, carbs, grams, or whatever the latest diet crazy in the media is counting. But was it really the media that had me starting to counting calories? Why was I concentrating on the numbers and not concentrating what goes in to those number in the first place? For me the answer was easy. I have always heard and even been taught that a calorie is a calorie no matter what you choose to eat. I have even heard from a nutritionist that you can eat a piece of chocolate cake for 300 hundred calories or you can eat a tuna sandwich for the same amount of calories and it is all the same because a calorie is a calorie and that is all that matters. But is that really true?

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 If a calorie is a calorie then honestly I'd prefer to spend my day eating Cheetos, hamburgers, French fries, and pasta in cream sauce. Surely it MUST matter what we choose to feed ourselves? Counting calories can't possibly be enough information in terms of keeping us healthy. Don't levels of fat and sodium count as well? Why don't we count those things?

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Enter my meal experiment. I set up a test that looked at my real meal from yesterday against the worst possible meal I could come up with for my Test meal. Let's start with looking at my meal from yesterday.

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet (no water or milk added) with 2 slices of cheese and black pepper and

1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese and a banana

Lunch: Left over Chicken and Tomato stew with spices and Basmati rice

Snack: Carrots with Greek yogurt dip

Preworkout Snack: Handful of whole wheat braided pretzel sticks (4 or 5)

Dinner: Paneer Masala with Peas and Basmati Rice (Paneer is Indian cheese similar to cottage cheese, and Masala means it has a tomato base with low-fat yogurt or light cream to give it a rich flavor).

 

Calorie wise I have NO IDEA how many calories this is (because I wasn't counting) but I know my typical breakfast like this is usually around 400-ish. Lunch was probably around 400 and dinner was probably a little higher maybe around 700 with 200ish calorie snacks. All together it probably fell around 1750-1850 calories. 

Now let's look at the test day.

Breakfast: Sausage McMuffin Meal - 640 calories

Lunch: Pizza 1 slice – 250-300 calories

Snack: Chips 1 bag - 150 calories

Dinner: 2 McDonald's Cheeseburgers - 600 calories
Snack: 1 Light beer - 64 calories

This test day averages out to 1704.

In total this test day is technically LESS calories than my day above but is this really the same as what I ate? Are these calories really the same as my real day in calories?

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Based on the rule a calorie is a calorie the test day is technically lower in calories so it's better for me and my weight loss goals, right?



Here's what I discovered. 


While calories lead to weight-loss or gain it is important to remember that aside from calories what the food you eat does to your body over the longer-term is just as important. Ingredients in unhealthy foods like high levels of fats, sugars, and cholesterol can lead to health problems such as diabetes, IBS, certain types of cancer, heart disease, stroke and others.


That was certainly reason enough for me to step away from counting calories ONLY and not paying attention to nutrition or the long-term effect the food I was eating had on my body. But what about the short-term?


So, I looked back at my "healthy" day of meals again, and I actually thought back to how it made my body feel. What I noticed was I felt full, energetic, and was able to concentrate. While I didn't eat exactly what was on the test day for comparison I've had days where I indulged in a couple unhealthy meals and I remember not feeling well. I felt nauseated, bloated, and uncomfortable even though on some of those days I technically stayed in my limit for calories for the day and was "in the green" on the counting calorie ap. It was at that point that I realized understanding your body and feeding it nutrient rich meals is just as important as how many calories you are getting.

 

So I started concentrating LESS on the calories in my meals and focused MORE on feeding my body a balanced diet and picking up on her cues. A few days after that I officially jumped OFF the calorie counting band-wagon and started listening to my body full-time.

As a last thought what I've learned in this experience/experiment is: I don't need to count calories, but I should make all my calories count nutritionally.

In other words I am going to pay attention to the nutrition I'm giving my body and will listen to my body for cues.

I feel like that is one of the fundamental problems I had with calorie counting—I lost the idea of, food = nutrition somewhere along the way. Instead I was basing my choices on meals with X amount of calories.

Here is to a healthier lifestyle!