Some people feel that tracking calories are beneficial because they believe losing weight is a matter of calories in vs. calories out.
Meanwhile, some say that calorie tracking is outdated, ineffective, and frequently results in heavier individuals than when they began.
Both sides claim that their theories are supported by science, which further adds to the confusion.
This article examines the research to determine whether calorie counting works.
What is a calorie?
A calorie is the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
Calories commonly indicate your body’s energy from the foods and beverages you consume.
Calories may also be used to explain how much energy your body needs to execute physical tasks such as:
- breathing
- thinking
- maintaining your heartbeat
Food’s quantity of energy is often measured in thousands of calories or kilocalories (kcal).
One carrot, for example, has around 25,000 calories, or 25 kcal. On the other hand, running on the treadmill for 30 minutes requires you to burn 300,000 calories or 300 kcal.
People frequently use the phrase “calories” instead of “kilocalories” since “kilocalories” is a difficult word to use.
For the sake of this article, kilocalories shall be referred to as “calories” (kcal).
How does your body use calories?
If you’re wondering why calories matter, you should know how your body uses them.
It all starts with what you consume. Food and beverages provide your body with the calories it requires to function. Those calories are derived from one of three macronutrients:
- carbohydrates also referred to as carbs
- protein
- fat
Your body breaks down the meals you ingest into tiny components during digestion.
These subunits may be utilized to either develop your tissues or give your body the energy it needs to address its immediate demands.
The quantity of energy your body receives from subunits is determined by where they originate from:
- carbs: 4 calories per gram
- protein: 4 calories per gram
- fat: 9 calories per gram
- alcohol: 7 calories per gram
Your body uses the calories from metabolizing these foods to power three major processes outlined below (1, 2, 3).
Basic metabolism
The majority of calories are used by your body to conduct essential processes, such as giving energy to your:
- brain
- kidneys
- lungs
- heart
- nervous system
Your basal metabolic rate is the amount of energy necessary to maintain these tasks (BMR). This is also known as Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) since it relates to the calories your body expends when resting for basic survival. BMR (or RMR) accounts for most of your daily energy requirements (4).
Digestion
Your body will use some of the calories you ingest to aid digestion and metabolization of your meals.
This is referred to as the thermic effect of food (TEF), which changes depending on the consumed foods. Protein, for example, takes somewhat more energy to digest, but fat requires the most minor (5, 6).
Approximately 10% of the calories you consume will be utilized to sustain the TEF (6).
Physical activity
The rest of the calories you consume from meals power your physical activities.
This covers both your daily activities and your workouts. As a result, the total calories required to protect this category varies substantially daily and from person to person.
You need a calorie deficit to lose weight
After your body’s immediate energy requirements have been addressed, any extra energy is saved for later use.
Most of it is stored as glycogen (carbohydrate) in your muscles and liver, while the remainder is stored as fat.
As a result, if you consume more calories than your body requires, you will gain weight, primarily from fat (1, 7, 8).
If the calories in your diet are insufficient to meet your immediate demands, your body is compelled to draw on its energy reserves to compensate.
This condition, known as a “calorie deficit,” leads you to lose weight, primarily from body fat. However, suppose your body experiences an enormous calorie deficit due to dietary limitations or strenuous activity. In that case, it will also draw from protein reserves (muscle breakdown) in addition to burning body fat for fuel (5, 7, 8).
This calorie balancing notion has been demonstrated repeatedly, and it holds whether your calories come from carbohydrates, fat, or protein (9, 1, 11, 12).
Not all calories are created equal
The simple subject of whether calories from fat, protein, and carbohydrates differ is debatable since it depends on how you look at it.
Calories, like inches and pounds, are a unit of measurement.
Thus, in terms of weight loss, 100 calories will remain 100, whether from an apple or a doughnut.
However, regarding health, not all calories are created equal.
It is critical to distinguish between quantity and quality. Even foods with the exact calorie count might have diverse nutritional qualities and distinct effects on your health. Furthermore, nutrient-dense diets, including fresh fruits and vegetables, have decreased the risk of death (13, 14, 15, 16).
Aside from their impact on health outcomes, different meals have distinct effects on your metabolism, hormone levels, hunger, and appetite (17, 18, 19).
Because of the balanced proportions of refined carbohydrates, sugar, and fiber in donuts, eating 100 calories of donuts may not satisfy your appetite, as well as eating 100 calories of apples.
As a result, a doughnut may increase your chances of overeating later in the day, preventing you from attaining the calorie deficit required for weight loss.
Why it may seem like calories, don’t matter for weight loss
Creating a calorie deficit is required for weight loss on a biological level.
Nonetheless, many individuals believe that when it comes to losing weight, what you eat is more important than how much you consume.
This notion is often supported by studies in which low carbohydrate diet individuals seemed to lose more weight than high carbohydrate diet participants, although eating the same or even more total calories (20, 21, 22).
These findings imply that a calorie deficit is not required for weight loss at first look. They are frequently used to demonstrate the futility of calorie counting.
However, various additional factors may impact the findings of this research. Furthermore, low carb diets are not only difficult to maintain, but the study does not support them. (23).
People are bad at estimating what they eat.
Many studies depend on self-reported data from participant food diaries rather than direct measurements to establish how many calories people consume or expend via physical activity.
Food and activity logs, however, are not usually totally accurate.
In reality, studies show that individuals frequently underestimate their calorie consumption and might underreport it by up to 2,000 calories per day.
Similarly, people tend to overestimate their movement by up to 72 percent. This is true even when participants are compensated correctly (24, 25, 26).
According to one previous research, even dietitians fall short when correctly reporting their calorie consumption, albeit to a smaller amount than non-nutrition professionals (27).
Low carb diets are higher in protein and fat
Low carb diets are heavier in protein and fat by default, which might help you feel fuller.
This reduces hunger and appetite and may cause low carb diet users to consume fewer calories per day (16, 28, 29).
Protein also needs somewhat more energy to break down than carbohydrates and fat, which might, to some extent, add to the energy deficit required for weight loss (4).
According to some earlier research, the slightly more significant amount of calories burnt during protein digestion is unlikely to substantially impact your weight loss (6, 30, 31).
Studies often measure weight loss rather than fat loss.
Many studies merely report total weight loss without mentioning whether this weight loss was from fat, muscle, or water loss.
Low carb diets have been shown to diminish the body’s carbohydrate storage. Because carbohydrates are generally stored with water in your cells, reducing your body’s carb storage will result in weight loss (32).
This may give the impression that low carb diets help individuals lose fat faster than they do.
Studies controlling for these three factors put the myth to rest.
To properly settle the argument over whether calories matter for weight loss, look only at evidence from studies that adjust for the three characteristics listed above.
Such studies repeatedly demonstrate that persons who eat fewer calories than they exert lose weight. It makes little difference whether this shortage is caused by eating fewer carbohydrates, protein, or fat (9, 10, 11, 12).
Why counting calories generally works
Calorie counting is a tried-and-true method of losing weight.
In reality, several studies demonstrate that keeping track of your food consumption and physical activity is an efficient strategy for losing weight (33, 34, 35).
According to a recent study, individuals in weight loss programs that included calorie tracking lost around 7 pounds (3.3 kg) more than those who did not. The more you record your consumption, the better (36, 37, 38).
For example, in one research of 272 adults, those who tracked their food consumption, physical activity, and body weight more regularly lost more weight (37).
Calorie counting is likely effective for three reasons:
- Tracking your calories will help you discover which eating habits you should avoid if you want to lose weight (39).
- Despite its limitations, recording what you eat can provide an estimated baseline to work from and compare against when attempting to minimize the overall amount of calories you consume daily.
- Finally, maintaining a food diary might help you check your behavior. This may assist in holding you accountable for your everyday decisions and push you to keep working toward your objectives.
However, it should be noted that calorie counting is not required for weight loss (40, 41).
What counts most is your capacity to produce and maintain the calorie deficit required to lose weight. Calorie counting, on the other hand, can be an effective strategy for establishing this energy deficit.
The best ways to keep track of what you eat
There are numerous approaches you may use if you want to count calories.
They all entail keeping track of what you consume on paper, online, or with a smartphone app.
According to research, the technique you choose is unimportant. Thus it is best to choose the one you want (42).
Here are the top five calorie-counting websites and apps.
Using scales and measuring cups can also help you measure meal servings more correctly.
You might also try using the visual recommendations below to determine your portion proportions. They’re less precise yet handy if you don’t have access to a scale or measuring cups:
- 1 cup: a baseball or your hand closed (appropriate for raw or cooked vegetables)
- 3 ounces (90 grams): a deck of cards or the size and thickness of your palm, minus the fingers (appropriate for measuring meat, poultry, and fish)
- One tablespoon (15 mL): the size of lipstick or your thumb (can calculate nut spreads)
- One teaspoon (5 mL): the tip of your finger (can be used to measure oils and other fats)
Finally, it’s important to note that counting calories only allows you to analyze your diet in terms of amount. It speaks virtually little about the quality of your food.
Regarding health, 100 calories from apples will affect your body differently than 100 calories from doughnuts.
As a result, it is critical to avoid selecting foods exclusively primarily on their calorie level. Instead, be sure to consider their vitamin and mineral composition as well.
You may eat whole, minimally processed foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, nuts/seeds, and beans/legumes.
Are there drawbacks to counting calories?
Although calorie tracking can be an efficient strategy for weight management, it may not be appropriate for everyone.
It may not be appropriate for people with a history of disordered eating since it may promote an unhealthy relationship with food and increase symptoms.
According to one research of 105 patients diagnosed with an eating problem, 75% reported using an internet application to track calories, and 73% believed this contributed to their eating disorder (43).
Another study found that monitoring calories and self-weighing more frequently was associated with an increase in the severity of eating disorders among college students (44).
Several research has shown similar results, suggesting that measuring food or using calorie or fitness monitors may lead to poor eating patterns in certain people (45, 46, 47).
As a result, if you discover that counting calories or measuring your food consumption cause emotions of guilt, shame, or worry, you should stop doing so.
Intuitive eating, which entails listening to your body and eating when you are hungry, maybe a better option for people with a history of disordered eating (48).
The bottom line
To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn.
Some folks can achieve this without even counting calories. Others feel that counting calories are an excellent strategy to develop and maintain a mindful deficit.
Those considering calorie monitoring should remember that not all calories have the same impact on health and other elements that influence weight reduction, such as hunger and hormones.
As a result, rather than basing your meal selections only on calories, design your menu around minimally processed, nutrient-rich foods.
Also, counting calories can lead to an unhealthy connection with food, especially in people with a history of eating disorders.
If you discover that counting your calorie consumption causes you to feel guilty or ashamed, explore alternate methods, such as intuitive eating.
Consult a healthcare practitioner to evaluate whether calorie counting is appropriate for you and your requirements.
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