{"id":55258,"date":"2017-01-30T13:04:31","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T18:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=55258"},"modified":"2017-04-27T09:33:05","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T14:33:05","slug":"is-it-worth-the-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/health\/physical-health\/is-it-worth-the-counting\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it Worth the Counting?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of people who consciously watch what they eat and plan and do serious exercise is relatively small compared to the population at large.\u00a0 <\/span>We have watched as obesity and overweight have become epidemics and the amount of people with diabetes and high blood pressure and other disease has grown proportionately with the growth in the size of our stomachs.\u00a0 <\/span>When you couple obesity, poor eating and nutrition along with a very sedentary lifestyle, we end up with what has become a truly deadly combination of bad habits.<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news however, is that there are more and more people who want to take their health seriously. The awareness that our health is largely in our hands is encouraging people to start eating better and to begin making activity and exercise part of their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

While that is good news, it also presents those of us with the responsibility of helping to educate and motivate those same people with a dilemma; how do you help people change their habits and behaviors and not feeling so overwhelmed with the process that they give up?\u00a0 <\/span>When we start asking people to count calories, weigh, measure, and record every little bit of exercise and activity, the average person will think, \u201cthis is too much for me\u201d and quit.\u00a0 <\/span>So how can we make the food part of this equation easier and doable in order to attain success?<\/span><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want handbooks, websites, databases and math equations just to plan lunch.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Problem with Just Counting Calories<\/span>?<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

Calorie counting has some inherent problems. For one thing, calorie estimates are often wrong; sometimes by as much as 25% (Livesey 2001). And calorie-expenditure equations are often wrong, too (Frankfield, Roth-Yousey & Compher 2005).\u00a0 <\/span>This means that for all the effort you are putting into weighing, measuring and logging food\u2014plus tracking your exercise and making the two balance\u2014you\u2019re rewarded with less accuracy than you\u2019d think.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the only issue!\u00a0 <\/span>Counting calories can be giving you too much information. If you are trying to change your life for the better by losing weight or adopting healthier habits\u2014too much detail and conflicting information can make change harder. In other words, focusing on less can help you accomplish more.<\/span><\/p>\n

When eating becomes over-complicated, people are more likely to give up and fall back on old habits. That\u2019s simply human nature.\u00a0 <\/span>And research has repeatedly shown that being able to stick with a dietary approach is the only factor strongly associated with weight loss, regardless of dietary ideology or approach used (higher protein, higher carb, higher fat) (Johnston et al. 2014).\u00a0 <\/span>The key seems to be to find ways to help clients consistently eat quality foods in appropriate amounts. So, I as a coach, have to find a way to help my clients do that.\u00a0 <\/span>What can we all do to better control portion sizes and ultimately my daily caloric intake?<\/span><\/p>\n

A Better Approach for Calorie Counting<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

The people at Precision Nutrition use a simple method that helps people build an awareness of what you\u2019re eating. It\u2019s easy, it\u2019s portable, and it\u2019s scaled to the size of the individual.\u00a0 <\/span>All you need is the ability to count to 2, and your own hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here how it works:<\/span><\/p>\n