October 08, 2015
This Is What Happens When You Stop Counting Calories
When you're looking to lose weight, or even maintain weight, you might find yourself taking part in the cruel habit of counting calories. Everyone's sitting down for dinner discussing their day, what's up the rest of the week, and chiming in with a funny story, while you're wrapped up in calculating how many calories your chicken breast has with that added sauce.
While it's been noted by health experts that keeping track of your calories at first is a great way to know how many you're really consuming a day, the constant calculating can take its toll, feeling more like a task than a helpful tool.
Even nutritionists find it daunting, like Lily Nichols, RDN, who had to do it while working toward her nutrition degree."The more I counted calories, the less I was paying attention to the food in front of me," she writes on her blog. "It was like looking at a spreadsheet on a plate." She urges clients to steer clear of counting calories and instead simply opt for eating fresh, whole foods.
Here are five good things that result from giving up on counting calories.
- Those mini chocolate bars will stop having such a hold on you.