Why women shouldn't count calories

21 May 2019

For decades, the fitness industry has been telling us that we need to “eat less and move more” to shed fat. The theory behind this is that you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight (burning more calories than you take in). But like so many things to do with the human body, things get very complicated very quickly, and this goes double for women – which is why this advice fails most females.

Health on Female First

What really happens when women count calories

What no one is talking about is the fact that when calories are dropped, the body takes evasive action and drives up cravings, tiredness and hunger. It also lowers thyroid production to slow down the metabolism.

It does all of this to make us eat more and expend less calories – to cancel out our efforts.

Here’s what a PT won’t tell you: body weight is controlled by the brain.

The drive to eat, the cravings we experience, our hunger levels and our energy levels are all controlled by the brain. The same is true of our metabolism.

This is the inconvenient truth that the fitness industry doesn’t want people to know. It’s also the reason why women have such a hard time shedding the weight.

The real reason you can’t lose weight

The reason the brain fights back against weight loss is because the brain wants us all at the weight we’re at right now. This is known as a body weight “set point” in the scientific literature.

The brain’s job is to keep us at that specific weight. If you over-eat calories, then your brain will make you less hungry, it will lower cravings and it will increase the metabolism. All to bring your weight back to the “set point”.

If you under-eat calories then your brain does the opposite; driving up cravings, hunger and tiredness. The metabolism also slows.

The best example of this is the Biggest Loser TV show contestants. In a recent study, researchers found that the competitors had their metabolism’s slow by 704 calories per day. So, take two identical people, same weight, same height, same body fat %. One can eat 2,000 calories a day to maintain their weight, whereas the other is forced to eat only 1,296 calories.

That’s not all the bad news unfortunately. This study was done a whole SIX YEARS after the TV show had ended. The contestants hadn’t given up on their weight loss, but neither had their brains – and the brain always wins!

How to harness the metabolism to slim down

It’s not all bad news however, because while the metabolism fights weight loss, when they force their body to eat less calories, there is a way to get that metabolism to actually help weight loss efforts.

The clue of how to do this is found in that body weight “set point” we discussed earlier. There’s a reason why some people have a high body weight “set point” and others have a low “set point” - why some people can eat what they like and never gain an ounce, and why some people have to be so careful about what they eat, and still have excess weight on their body.

The latest science is revealing a path to slimness that the fitness industry has completely ignored. What if someone can lower their brain’s “set point”?! Then the brain will actually help someone get results. Their metabolism will actually speed up to help weight loss. Their energy levels will increase and their cravings and hunger will disappear. All of a sudden, the task becomes much easier (but still not easy, sorry).

There are several factors that lead to a higher than desired “set point”, but the most important is the complexity of modern food. We have so many different flavours packed into modern processed food that the brain gets overwhelmed and raises that “set point”. In studies, when they simplify the diet, weight loss of up one pound (0.5 kilos) is possible. Without hunger, tiredness and slowing of the metabolism.

So, the take away is: eat simple foods, basically what your grandparents would consider food, not the highly engineered, processed “food” we’re marketed these days.