Is calorie counting bad in the long run? Or does it help maintain weight?

[Anonymous]

It’s bad

It helps with weight maintenance

[Sonorous]

Really depends on how well an individuals mind can handle it & also how much benefit they'll receive from tracking.

If someone like me doesn't track, my hunger levels would naturally make me consistently eat 500cals above my actual maintenance calories. To put that into perspective, I'm ~150lbs (glycogen depleted morning weight) at sub 15% body-fat right now closer to 10%. If I ate in a 500 cal surplus for two years, I'd be ~250lbs in just 2 years. That's where I would naturally hover due to a 500cal surplus for me right now being that weight's maintenance calories.

But like I said above, there are all kinds of people. Some find tracking keeps their mind on food & increases their hunger (mind can't handle it) & others can track but it wouldn't get them any different result than if they were to eat & not track (no benefit).

But based on my experience with being low double digit body-fat percentage & even single digit body-fat while maintaining good muscle definition, tracking is extremely essential. One bad eating day while at a lean weight & it could mean that I'd lose.05lbs muscle, have hormonal issues as well as other things.

[InknKink]

Calorie counting is a skill everyone should develop. Not simply those who want to loose weight, but it also benefits people who simply want to maintain or gain it for fitness reasons.

If you count your calories long enough eventually you can look at meals and just eye ball the calories in them to hit your macros easily enough. It's something that gets easier with time and once you've gained guru status... it stays for life.

Not to mention if you know your calories in over the long term and your body weight history, you start to gain a better picture of what it is your body actually needs to achieve a certain goal rather than relying on inaccurate generalized metabolic rates.

Calorie counting is good.

[Flower7]

Weight gain is almost guaranteed without daily awareness of calories.

[Nikki1989]

It is not bad. It is also not essential.

[Anonymous]

It's not bad, but I wouldn't be completely black and white about it. Because calories on a product can be off as much as 15% it's not and EXACT measurement.

I lost 70lbs. over 7 months counting calories and getting in 30 minutes of cardio a day. But there is a 3rd factor that is just as important as these two, and that's QUALITY SLEEP. I know that sounds like nonsense, but I promise it's absolutely true.

[jahaims]

I rough ballpark it. I don't weight it etc. It's a good idea to know generally how many calories something is.