We are constantly being told that losing weight is just a simple formula of eating less calories. Calories in v calories out.
If this is true then why are calorie counters still fat? As Mike Geary points out we have been calorie conscious for the last 4 decades yet we have become fatter!!!!!!!!
Calorie counting has so many flaws and the one biggest mistake people make is...............
Calorie Counting does not take into account the hormonal effect on food.
So you might have a choice of eating 200 calories chocolate bar or eating 200 calories from organic almond butter. You might think I will have the bar "it doesn't matter as they have the same calories".
Sure, it's the same 200 calories, but here Mike Geary explains what happens hormonally...
When you eat the high-carb energy bar, your body secretes insulin in response to the elevated blood sugar. Insulin is a "building" hormone -- in other words it is fat-storing. It takes the sugar in your blood and drives it into fat cells, making them bigger.
The butter, on the other hand, blunts insulin, leading to a more sustained energy release and a feeling of fullness. But that's not all, the butter actually sends signals to your body to BURN body fat.
So... same calories in both, but certainly not the same reaction in your body!
Unfortunately, many of the commonly recommended "low calorie" health foods are exactly the ones that set off that cascade of fat-STORING hormones. So no matter how low you take your calories, you end up becoming a fat-hoarding machine.
When you eat the high-carb energy bar, your body secretes insulin in response to the elevated blood sugar. Insulin is a "building" hormone -- in other words it is fat-storing. It takes the sugar in your blood and drives it into fat cells, making them bigger.
The butter, on the other hand, blunts insulin, leading to a more sustained energy release and a feeling of fullness. But that's not all, the butter actually sends signals to your body to BURN body fat.
So... same calories in both, but certainly not the same reaction in your body!
Unfortunately, many of the commonly recommended "low calorie" health foods are exactly the ones that set off that cascade of fat-STORING hormones. So no matter how low you take your calories, you end up becoming a fat-hoarding machine.
So don't stress about strict calorie counting. Calorie counting does matter in the scheme or things but its more important to focus on eating clean healthy protein, carbs and fats that don't cause you to store fats. Just because a food item has low calories doesn't mean it wont store as fat.
So what do I eat to prevent this from happening?
Eat plenty of protein & tons of vegetables. Load up on healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil, and grass-fed full-fat butter. And reserve "starchy" carbohydrate intake to the hour immediately after your hardest resistance training workouts, and ONE weekly cheat meal.
