Counting Calories Just Sucks...and Waist of Time for Weight Loss

I've never liked counting calories, or carbs or fat grams for that matter. But, boy did I.

Religiously.

Until I realized that no only was it sucking away my time and pleasure, it just wasn't working! Counting calories was in the period before I really figured out that diets don't work...I may have had an inkling, but just wasn't convinced.

Is it important to be aware of calories? Well, if you've never looked at calories it might be an eye opener to see comparative values...but generally speaking most people who are counting calories already know that when something is fried it has more calories than that plate of steamed vegetables.

But counting on counting calories to lose weight? Not for me. I did it for years and it doesn't work! For me it was such a negative focus and it became about math...how many calories am I eating and how much exercise do I have to do to burn that off? No thanks!

But here's another reason why counting calories doesn't work--they lie about the calorie content! Who is checking the labels?

Recently a study was conducted of a variety of well-known chain restaurants...looking at the calories they claimed were in their foods and how many they contained. Surprise! They actual count averaged almost 20% higher than what was advertised!

Think you can count on the frozen foods from big name "diet" labels like South Beach Living, Healthy Choice. Think again. Even Lean Cuisine and Weight Watchers fell short when it came to accuracy in numbers--they all had on average 8% more calories than claimed.

Is this because of some plot to keep us fat? Probably not. Experts recognize that there are variations in testing methods and small changes in portions and also the human factor...you might actually get an extra dollop of mayo on your meal for example.

So is it a waste of time reading the nutritional content when we look at labels or go to restaurants? No! It might be the only thing that gives you a clue that there are "hidden" ingredients in the meal...it can give you a general comparative value...just don't believe that it is 100% accurate.

Bottom line--don't count calories. Be aware that some foods have enough calories to meet your minimum daily requirement...but losing weight is not about math...it starts with your mind!