Calorie counts are front-and-center on treadmill screens, food labels, and evenrestaurant menus.
you gotta create a calorie deficit to achieve weight loss; that’s clear.
But thecalories you adjust via diet and exerciseare impossible to measure exactly.
You’re working with estimates, not precision calculations.
First, a clarification.
Which is why we need to stop using phrases like “are all calories the same?”
and “it’s thekindof calories you eat that matter.”
That’s like saying “Here’s 20 pounds of groceries, but whatkindof pounds are they?”
Calories, like pounds, are just a measure of how much.
We’re also bad at eyeballing portions (even the experts get it wrong).
Cooked foods tend to yield more calories than raw foods, which labels sometimes get wrong.
Processing matters, too.
But you might’t always see or control your energy burn, certainly not down to the single-calorie level.
Similarly, take in 3,500, and you’ll gain a pound.
That’s simple on paper, but not so simple in real life.
There are other places that energy might go.
Calorie Burn Estimators Aren’t Always Right, Either.
How many calories did that workout burn?
Or maybe “weight lifting, general.”
It’s not clear how to choose.
Evidence suggests they’re better, but not perfect.
What to Do Instead
The situation isn’t hopeless, though.
You just can’t.
Use food labels as a maximum, but know you may be getting fewer calories in some cases.
Eat less-processed foods, especially with fiber, if you’re trying to reduce calories.
You may be eating fewer calories that way, and burning more to digest.
If tracking calories helps you make better choices in the big picture,it’s a tool worth using.
Photos byPaul Papadimitriou,Joe Loong,E.
Dronkert, andJoao Trindade.
