Pages

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Why You Shouldn't Count Calories


As far as I'm concerned counting calories just isn't necessary, and it's painstakingly difficult to do the right way. The FDA (a government agency that doesn't really give a fuck about your food or your health) tells us that we need about 2,000 calories a day - which is a huge problem to begin with because everyone's body is different.


 On the very most surface level it can be a great tool for people trying to lose or gain weight, but there's a lot more that goes into calorie counting than just the number.  Age, gender, weight, metabolism, lifestyle, genetics etc all play a factor in your specific formula for caloric homeostasis. But at the end of the day if you're eating a healthy,balanced,plant based diet with limited meat, dairy and sugar consumption you will you will fall into your natural healthy body weight and never have to worry about counting again. No need for "dieting" either. 

After doing some research I've gathered that the average-person-needs- 2,000 calories- a day- rule is most likely based off a sedentary white man who's about 5'8, 150 lbs and in his mid 40's since that is pretty much who is in the government and is the standard person the government models their health guidelines around. That definitely does not describe me, and probably not you or any other of my readers.  You can't tell me that every person in America from age 1-99 needs 2,000 calories, that's just impossible, and quite frankly I don't believe that there's such a thing as the "average person" there's too many different types of people in the world for all that. 


Anyways.



I eat mostly organic everything, yes it does make a difference, and I read the food labels throughly to everything I'm eating. Some days I might eat 1300 calories worth of vegetables and quinoa but the next day I might 2,300 of the same thing. Either way it doesn't matter because I know when to eat and when not to eat.  If you are disciplined enough to eat the right things and if you eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full,  workout 3-5 days a week, and drink enough water (6-8 glasses a day) you're not gonna get fat. When you eat small meals  and snacks like almonds and carrot sticks throughout the day, you keep your body metabolism boosted. When you eat things like white bread and Hersey kisses you're causing an imbalance of sugar highs and lows which will also make an impact on your metabolism thus hindering truly accurate calorie count.


The thought of giving food a numeric value in your body just doesn't make sense to me, and to stress about it everyday makes even less sense to me. 

 Calorie counting is way too complex of a system to track the food you're eating. The general gist of it is if you're trying to gain weight you need more calories, if you're trying to lose you need less, and if you're trying to maintain then that's just one big fuckery because the second you make a change in your lifestyle, or gain weight, or start working out more or less, or get older it all changes. So it's basically impossible to accurately count calories.


 Not to mention that not all calories are created equal - the source of your calories - whether they come from fat, fiber, carbohydrates, protein, meat, vegetables, soy - matters. The quality of your food also matters when it comes to counting calories; your body is going to process calories from organic celery way differently from calories from a Snickers Bar. The percentage of the ingredients you're getting your calories from also matters too when you're trying to get an accurate reading.


it's just too fucking much to deal with on a day to day basis. Why put yourself through it?


I used to be an avid calorie counter, so much that I can still ball park how many calories I've eaten on any given day without looking at a food label. I used to be on calorie counter websites all the time trying to figure out how many calories I've burned from my workouts out, etc. I was obsessed. Like, WTF. 


When I was first trying to lose weight that system was great, but it also made me feel weirdly guilty and contained. I did see results, but it was at the expense of my mental ease, it made eating a much bigger issues than it needs to be. I'm currently in the best shape I've ever been in my life and I don't count shit. I listen to my body and eat the right things.




 If you're eating REAL, natural, organic foods there's no need to count calories.  Eating bananas, and almonds, and brown rice, and black beans is not going to make you fat or give you diabetes.  And when it comes to getting your vegetables you really can't eat too much. 


 There's no special diets that you should be on, or Weight Watchers groups you should join.  Because when you set yourself up for a crazy dieting lifestyle like South Beach or Atkins you're pretty much destined to crash and burn. No matter what it is you're trying to achieve with your body you can't go wrong with eating the food that mother nature provides us. But you can go wrong with all the crazy, chemically/genetically modified, non-expiring garbage that is the majority of your typical grocery store. 


At the end of the day you get in what you put out. If you want to eat cheesecake for every meal then you'll have a cheesecake body. If you want to count calories like a maniac then you're going to be a maniac. If you eat natural organic foods, drink enough water, and get your sleep, and workout enough then you'll look fucking sexy.  The saying is true, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT (can I get an amen?!)


So let me know what you think! Do you count calories? What works for you? Remember this is just my opinion ( but I am right about everything so keep that in mind)


SEXY is a LIFESTYLE


That's all I got for now,


Later Bitches




XoXo, 
 AminaZena

Instagram:   AminaZena
E-mail:        aminazena@gmail.com