Why Calorie Counting is Retarded - Fat Loss For the Ladies (Day 4)

Current Weight: 155.6

I notice that some of the most unhealthy dieting and exercise regimens I see in online journals come from the ladies calorie counting. Their daily blogs look something like this:

Ex. 1
Hot Coco: 25
Oatmeal: 160
Garlic Bread: 80
Orange: 65
Jello: 30
Saltines: 24
Pie Crust: 50
Orange: 65
Wrap: 350
Pretzels: 110
Cookie: 150
Starbucks: 100

Total: 1209 BLECH! Definitely cutting it down tomorrow. This is not okay. Apparently something I ate hit me the wrong way.... you should get the idea

Or this:

Ex. 2

Oatmeal: 160
Orange: 60
Coke Zero: 0
2 Crackers: 24
Jello: 15
Twix Bars: 250
Oatmeal Cake: 170
Pretzels: 110
Small Banana: 70
Fruit Bowl: about 80

It's amazing to me that despite how far we've come in fitness science, some people (ladies) are so in the dark about fat loss and nutrition. A large majority of people still think that they want to lose weight, when in actuality what everyone really wants is to lose fat. Ladies, you don't want to look like a a thin blobby surfboard do you? Because if you do, I'll tell you right now, guys aren't into that. You want a thin little waist, toned arms and legs and a perky ass. Because that's what hot girls look like, that's what guys want, and what you're doing with your diet above isn't going to get you there.

On top of this, I hear this mantra too often: "Weight loss is just a matter of burning more calories than you take in. A calorie is a calorie, doesn't matter where it comes from."

If this is the case, a woman eating nothing but 1200 calories of table sugar would look the same as her identical twin eating 1200 calories of a sensible and balanced diet of lean proteins, unprocessed carbohydrates and fresh fruits and vegetables. This just clearly isn't the case. Holding a decent exercise regimen constant between these two, The woman in the first example would probably be starving, have low energy, and would most likely gain weight, while the second would probably exhibit none of these symptoms.

Thus, the problem with calorie counting is that a calorie is not just a calorie and it does matter where it comes from.

With that said, let's take a look at the above diets and explain why they're so bad for you.

First of all, you'll notice that in both these examples there is absolutely zero protein. One of the most important concepts to understand about proper fat loss is that protein is an absolute necessity. The reasons for this are threefold:

1. Consuming protein gives your body vital building blocks to maintain its current muscle mass. Because your muscles consume the majority of your calories by simply being there, you need your muscle mass in order to maintain your current metabolism. If you were to continue consuming carbs and not exercise, your muscles would atrophy thus lowering your metabolism further, causing you to still not lose weight when eating even less; a vicious cycle. If anything, you maintain the same weight but just get flabbier and softer.

2. Protein causes a greater burn when being digested compared to processed carbs. Your metabolism actually increases when digesting protein because the body has to expend energy (read: calories) to break it down. Conversely processed carbs like pie crusts, saltines and cookies cause the body to spend very little energy digesting as they are quickly and easily turned into glucose to be used by the body.

3. Protein keeps you full longer. Psychologically, this is probably the most important point. Do you really want to diet and feel hungry and miserable all day long? Physiologically, because protein takes longer to digest, it has a positive effect on your blood glucose levels and your insulin response. Namely, it keeps them flat. Flat blood sugar and low insulin levels are what keeps your body from gaining fat. More on this later, but back to the diets above...

Secondly, you'll notice that the large majority of the items these people are consuming are all processed and refined carbs. These are the exact types of foods that cause people to be overweight to begin with. Simply eating less of them isn't going to solve the problem. What it is going to do most likely is cause this person to be hungry a lot of the time. This is because as mentioned above, processed carbs are converted into glucose in the bloodstream very quickly causing a spike in your body's blood sugar levels. As a result, your body floods with insulin causing all that sugar to be pulled into your cells very quickly. Shortly thereafter, blood sugar levels plummet and you feel hungry again even though you just ate. This constant spike and plummeting of blood sugar levels is what causes your body to believe it's either in feast or famine mode. Your body responds by conserving more fat. Ultimately, eating like this is an uphill battle toward losing weight and fat. Your body is fighting you every step of the way.

Ladies, if you plan on losing weight, do it in a healthy way. Focus on losing fat instead of just weight in general. Identify a healthy body fat percentage you want to be at (ladies should be anywhere between 20%-25%), calculate what your lean body mass would be at that point, and consume that many grams of protein per day. Fill in the rest of your calories with unprocessed/unrefined carbs, healthy fruits and vegetables, and small amounts of healthy unsaturated fats such as fish oil and olive oil.

For example, if you're 5'4, weigh 160lbs and you're at 35% body fat, you'd have 56lbs of fat and 104lbs of lean body mass. A healthy target weight of 120lbs and 22% body fat would mean 93.6lbs lean muscle mass and 26.4lbs of fat. Consume 93.6 grams of protein (374.4 calories), spread through every meal of your day and fill in the rest of your calorie requirements with vegetables, healthy fats and unrefined carbs.

For simplicity's sake, there's a very decent calculator on About.com that breaks down your daily calorie requirements into how much protein/carbohydrate/fat you should consume along with adjustments depending on your level of physical activity. You'll notice that if you put in the numbers I have above for a 5'4 160lb woman looking to get to 120lbs that the numbers they arrive at coincide with mine. Click here.

For any women out there reading this, I hope this changes your views on what dieting really is.

Cheers!