A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. It’s that simple. Right?
Not really.Cutting calories and increasing physical activity will result in weight loss, and vice versa. But metabolically, the quality of the calories matter too. Processed foods won’t satiate your body, so as a result, your body will signal you to eat more. The way your body metabolizes different food sources matters. In addition, drastically cutting calories backfires too because your resting metabolic rate lowers as a result. Confused yet?
Enter calorie tracking apps. If it’s more complex than calories in/out, how effective are they at helping with weight loss? The short answer: It depends on the individual. Some will thrive using a calorie-counting app, and some will not. I’ll use myself as an example. I used myfitnesspal a few years ago to track calories in order to find out if my post-marathon eating was catching up to me. Was I so used to eating larger, marathon-training portions that I had a tendency to do so months after racing, even though I wasn’t training anymore?
I’ve never had to count calories before. After the birth of my second child, I lost nearly 40 pounds by eating clean and exercising almost every day. I controlled portions by listening to my body’s signals. Could my marathon racing have distorted my ability to still listen accurately?
I’d have to say yes. Deep down I already knew, but myfitnesspal confirmed it for me. I religiously punched in my calories consumed and burned, every single day for 4 weeks. I tried my best to stay within my allotted calorie count. And guess what? I lost the few pounds that I had slowly added from racing.
Myfitnesspal is a great way to learn about portion control. It can be a wake-up call about how many calories you’re eating and burning, verses how many you THINK you are. Here’s why:
1. It reminds us how many calories are in the foods we love to eat, even some foods that are considered healthy. Athough some foods may be great for us, they can also be very calorie dense, and should be eaten in moderation. For example, peanut butter and avocados. Both excellent sources of fat, but if you’re trying to lose weight, measure your portions. Two tablespoons of natural peanut butter has 200 calories!
2. It is very easy to erase the calories burned through a good workout by eating badly. Sad, but true. You quickly find out what types of workouts burn the most calories. But you also are reminded that it all adds up. Ten minutes of brisk walking? That counts. Ten minutes on the stationary bike? That counts too.
3. If you mess up one day, it’s not the end of the world. You can still stay within your calorie count for the week! Knowing this may prevent you from throwing in the “healthy eating” towel, and things in perspective for you.
4. You can find out if you have any nutritional deficiencies. Going back to the importance of the quality of your calories, myfitnesspal lets you track your daily nutrition intake, which is a huge plus.
All that said, there are a couple of cons to using the app: 1. It can be tedious scanning food labels and entering every single food you’ve eaten every single day, especially if you make a lot of recipes, like I do. 2. Calorie counting day after day can become a bit neurotic after awhile. If you get to a point where you’re fudging the numbers your enter or you’re saying, “I just ate a cupcake, I’ve got to go run 2 miles now!” it may be time to step back and re-evaluate the situation.
Overall, calorie counting apps can be great tools to help people figure out proper portions, and to learn about what’s in the food they’re consuming. If you use one, find one that tracks your nutrition intake as well as just your calories. Once I figured all that out, I stopped using it. Others may like to use it long-term, but I didn’t find that necessary or realistic for me.
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