Should You Count Calories?

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In this video we talk about calories. What matters more? Type and quality or quantity? Do you need to count calories?

What are your thoughts? Join the conversation below :)

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INTRO - 0:33

PART 1 - TYPE AND QUALITY vs QUANTITY - 1:20

PART 2 - SHOULD YOU COUNT CALORIES - 4:38

SUMMARY - 6:03

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[BodyweightWarrior]

Ain't no pop tarts in this video. What are your thoughts on calorie counting?

[ltadeut]

Totally agree with what you said, Tom.

I tracked my calories for a bit more than a year. It was very useful to me, as it gave me knowledge on the
macronutrient (and even micronutrient) composition of the food I eat.

But after a while I got bored of tracking and weighing absolutely everything I ate.

Now I just weigh myself everyday and write down what I eat throughout the day on my
workout/food log. This way I'm able to adjust what food intake based on my current
goal, be it losing fat or gaining weight. It feels pretty liberating :-P

[michaelconner]

I counted calories for a long time and like you, stopped because I didn't find it necessary any longer because I had a good idea of portion sizes and nutritional content. However, when counseling patients on weight loss, I recommend they download an app and log everything they put in their face. Even the few M&Ms they take out of the snack bar at work. When they follow up with me, and they've followed my instructions (😑) we go over the log and I point out the distribution and make recommendations. Truly committed patients will return and are eager to get better and we find a nice balance.

For the beginning dieter, I don't recommend drastic changes because it can't be sustained over the long haul. Just small changes like swapping fries for a salad with the burger or avoiding soda and increasing water intake. Once they see the changes they get excited and want more.

[SephreniasSister]

I didn’t notice anyone mentioning volumetrics in the comments. I like it the best of the many systems I’ve tried. It’s focused on feeling full on less calories, but is focused on how the body digests different foods and psychology instead of calorie counts. For example, veggies are a great choice, but I know that the high sugar in carrots always makes me hungry again quickly, so I should combine them with other foods instead of eating them alone. I’ve become a big fan of homemade soup because it fills me up on quality food more quickly. Your dish size also can make a big difference. If you use a large plate, your meal will look smaller, but if you use a smaller plate your brain thinks the same amount of food is larger. Helped me lose 100 lbs!

[andrewbarnes]

Hi Tom, a subject close to my heart. Started counting calories via MyFitnessPal having failed to lose weight by other means. Had great success with it and went from 97kg down to around 77kg in around 6 months. Having achieved what I thought was my target weight increased my calorie intake to around 2, 200 to maintain but found my weight slowly creeping up, even though I'm exercising more now.
Have dropped my calorie intake to around 1, 800 again to try and get back to <80kg and make those bodyweight exercises easier.
I've listened to many people who say that I should eat more to maintain but find it just doesn't work for me.
Also trying intermittent fasting when I can which helps but TBH, I don't always feel as though I need to eat in the morning.
I agree with you that counting them is not so important but knowing what the good calories are, where the macros are at and where the quality is coming from is essential. Love the vlog, keep up the good work Dude.

[robertjoycetraining]

I've got to agree with you here Tom. IIFYM looks great on paper but have found calories will need to be much lower to improve body comp than with better quality food choices. Also it goes against the minimalist approach I prefer when every meal has to be entered into a chart! Great info as usual dude always look Forward to your vids

[AndresRoaro]

Exactly my thoughts in Calorie counting. But I love your resources they are the bomb.

[JKabc]

Definitely quality over quantity. You want the right nutrients, then count calories later. However, I think calories are important for those who would benefit from keeping track of their caloric intake i.e. athletes, people who really need to lose weight vs those who just want to have a healthier lifestyle.

[the_culture]

Thumbs up Tom! Super practical discussion. I do count calories now and then, but not as much as I should in a disciplined manner.... Do you utilize the basil metabolic rate calculator to determine your needs or did you sort of experiment on what works for you? Also do you ever drink beer or wine?

[Retetop]

Interesting. You say type and quality is more important than quantity.. However I've seen a vast amount of people say the opposite. The entirety of /r/fitness as an example.

[JakubKowalski]

Meat and whey are more insulogenic than carbs from whole foods btw

[Evilleoleo]

What do u say at 00:25 ? "Goes toward me becoming a better >????< athlete"

[ryansegervall]

The article on carb back loading you posted recommended going 30g per day for 10 days and then returning to a high carb on training days and low carb on non training days. Did you do this 10 day period? Any recommendations on how to go about making this 10 day period as easy as possible?

also,
I typically eat a lot of veggies. usually 80g of carbs come from fibrous veggies in my day to day. Would following the carb back loading approach require that to be reduced to 30g carb from fibrous veg per day? or is that 30g of starchy carbs?

If its starch carbs that are being limited, then does that mean fibrous veg is unlimited? any advice helps.

Thanks for the awesome content

[wumurphfu]

Do you work? Do you live with your parents??

[denyuan]

My answer is no. I never do that because it's ridiculous. How do you do that if you don't even know how many calories there are in each food? Are you going to memorize thousands of foods from books? Who came out with this idea? Ancient people didn't count calories but they were doing great right?