Should you be counting calories for long term weight loss? A hormone specialist weighs in…
Finding your happy weight requires a long term, positive and sustainable strategy that is focused on hormone health. In my clinic I never get my clients to count calories. And here is why.
Two words - Adaptive thermogenesis!
This is the decrease in energy expenditure & metabolic slow down during caloric restriction. The human body is not designed to lose weight, it's designed to survive. It will outsmart restriction. It's not as simple as calories in / calories out. As a registered nutritionist, who specialises in hormones and weight loss, I've never asked a client to count calories once. I think it's pretty pointless, time consuming & very hard to accurately count! They CAN have their place but it's not something to solely focus on.
Your body will eventually outsmart restriction in order to make sure it doesn't starve. During periods of underfeeding, compensatory metabolic and behavioural responses occur that attenuate the prescribed energy deficit - which means your metabolism adapts by reducing the deficit to increase your chances of survival.
Resting metabolic rate is modulated by the amount of calories consumed in the diet relative to energy expenditure. So when you eat less and dabble with a very low calorie diet, your resting metabolic rate will eventually start to decrease. This makes the maintenance of weight loss extremely tricky if you decide to tread this path.
Studies conclude that required energy reduces after calorie restriction, & your cells learn to run on less energy and there is an impact on adaptive thermogenesis. Adaptive thermogenesis is defined as the regulated production of heat in response to environmental changes in temperature and diet, resulting in metabolic inefficiency.
Plus calorie counting does not take into account your hormonal roadblocks. You're not a controlled lab setting that incinerates food via a bomb calorimeter after. You are a unique individual who will digest and process food in a different way.
Your metabolic health, your insulin levels, your cortisol levels & your gut microbiome will all impact something called CALORIC AVAILABILITY!
Count how you feel, count your colours, improve insulin sensitivity.
You eat food not calories.
If you’re looking to lose weight for good, make sure you have downloaded my FREE guide, 5 secrets to ditch the diet and why not get in touch to book your free discovery call to see how I could help get you to your goals. Love Hannah x
