This is a question I often get and the cut and dry answer is… it depends.
I know I know. That’s about the least straight forward answer I could give but it’s true. It all depends on what your goals are and how quickly you want to achieve them. For weight loss or weight gain counting calories / macros is how top physique athletes achieve their desired body state and probably the most effective way to achieve any weight change goals. Counting macros (macronutrients) is when you count how many grams of protein carbohydrates and fat are in your diet. Each of these has a certain calorie number per gram and can help tailor a diet approach that works with you.
For those looking to improve strength endurance or general wellness tracking what you eat can still be a helpful way to meet those goals as well. Your body needs fuel to perform and if you aren’t consuming adequate amounts of protein and calories your workouts will suffer as a result. Overall someone’s goals will determine whether a caloric surplus or deficit is required. Many people exercise to lose weight (calorie deficit required) others look to gain muscle (caloric surplus here) and others are looking to get stronger (also requires a surplus). So whether your goal is one or all of these it’s important to know a few things.
This is important to know because if you are planning on making any changes you need to know where you are starting from. It’s hard to change something if you don’t know where you’re starting from isn’t it? Finding a baseline level helps you make changes that don’t negatively affect other areas of your life so you can stay consistent with exercising and still be a pleasant person to be around.
This may seem obvious when it comes to gaining strength or muscle mass but it’s also very important when dieting to lose weight. When you are exercising in a calorie deficit your body will start to catabolize (break down) muscle for energy if you don’t have an adequate protein intake. Keeping protein high can optimize loss of fat while maintaining fat free mass i.e. muscle. This study suggests that keeping protein as high as 2.3-3.1 grams of protein per kg of fat free mass (1.04 – 1.41 grams per pound) helps avoid muscle loss during dieting. That is somewhere around 0.8 – 1.2 grams of protein per pound of total weight and about double what the Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein is.
So far it seems like the answer should be yes to counting calories so why the answer of it depends?
Well my friend that is because some people absolutely despise the process of counting calories and as a result track inconsistently or not at all. This results in frustration and lack of progress. When you are making a change and creating a habit the most important thing is that you find something that you can stick with. The best plan in the world is inferior to a decent one if there’s no follow through.
Now I like everyone to try to track what they eat for at least one month to see if it’s something they can turn into a habit. However if at that one-month point we aren’t getting good data then it’s time to switch to a different method. Prior to any switches I like to have all clients attempt to track what they eat. This involves counting overall calories along with grams of protein carbohydrate and fat intake per day.
I have all clients start with this while also giving them a protein target per day based on current body weight and training goals. We will track calories for a week or 2 and then come up with a calorie per day target once we determine what their maintenance level is. During this time we will also take weight measurements 2 or more times per week to help guide our calorie goals.
Once an average calorie amount is determined you only want to adjust 5-20% in either direction based on your goals. If you drastically reduce the number of calories this can lead to difficulties with diet adherence difficulty losing weight and overall fatigue and performance during workouts. Remember if you are starting an exercise program to lose weight you still need enough fuel to power those workouts.
On the other hand if you add in a large calorie surplus when training for strength or hypertrophy you may end up gaining fat as well as muscle. This can be part of some client’s goals but most people would prefer to gain muscle and strength without the extra non-muscle pounds if they can help it.If the above isn’t feasible after one month then we can switch to a less intensive but still successful tracking method. The switch will then be to journaling about eating habits each day.
The things I look for will be how many meals someone eats the general portion of each meal (simple as small, medium, or large) how much protein per meal (again small, medium, large) and how many snacks someone has throughout the day. While this still involves tracking it can be effective because it can be done quickly and still creates a general sense of how much someone is or is not eating.When a person is trying to accomplish any goal there needs to be a certain amount of planning and tracking to ensure they are on the correct path. In the business world they call these lead and lag measures. Tracking what you eat is a lead measure something that will lead to your goal if done correctly. If you are trying to lose weight then the weight you see on the scale is a lag measure something that comes about based on your lead measures but can only be gathered after those measures have been put into practice. Ultimately being consistent and creating good habits leads to long term success in any endeavor.
If you are unsure where to start or feel like you need guidance and help with creating good health habits please contact me to schedule a complimentary consult session.
