07/07/2025
Lately, when I am scrolling through social media - everyone has something to say about counting calories. Whether it is if you want to lose weight, lose fat, gain muscle - and all of this might leave you feeling super annoyed, frustrated, guilty or confused.
Let me help you make up your mind.
You should count your calories:
When you want to lose body fat & weight, if you want to learn more about nutrition or you are really serious about a goal and you have only an X amount of time to reach that goals.
Listen - as an online flexible eating (dieting) coach - I am all for counting calories. I have done it since 2015 up to 2022.
Why did I stop?
Now this is where the tricky part comes in -
I stopped because tracking my calories became too obsessive and lead to binge eating, bad body image and weight gain.
BUT HOW?
The feeling of being restricted to eat only a certain amount of food started to become - jail. I felt restricted. It was also in a very stressful time of my life where I wanted to compete, but in a whole new division as what I usually did - so I had to put on some serious muscle mass, which lead me to eating in a surplus (against my will) and gaining bodyfat. At first it was controlled and not too much fat - until the stress part came in. I realized, that the only reason why I wanted to compete was to get THAT lean again.
I WAS A SLAVE TO COUNTING MY CALORIES AND MACROS
but when I was home, alone - I would stress & secret eat. In front of my friends, I always chose the healthy options - but behind closed doors - I would have my lunch, feel full but grabbed the next day’s prepped lunch. It was a vicious cycle and all I could remember was feeling totally our of control, unbuttoning my jeans and lying on the couch crying.
The point I want to make is - it is good to track your calories but for:
gaining nutrition knowledge
reach a planned goal that has an expiry date
Other than that - I would advise that you stick to 80% wholefoods, have a palm sized piece of lean meat, thumb size fat, fist size veggies each meal and include foods that you enjoy and don’t leave them to ONLY ENJOY on weekends - that is a set-up for failure.
