I was recently interviewed by LIFE apps to be a part of a comprehensive study on the challenges of calorie counting as a means of losing weight. It a bit of a long read, but well worth it! The article makes the case that counting calories often leads to patients regaining the weight they may have lost initially. As a former calorie counter myself, I know how firsthand the tediousness of logging all of your meals on apps like MyFitnessPal and how overcomplicated fitting in your macros can be. I gave up counting calories over a year ago and instead focused on fasting and eating a healthy diet filled with good, whole foods and low in carbohydrates. I haven’t looked back since!! If it worked for me, then it can work for you! Check out a brief excerpt of the article below:
The process of losing weight with calorie counting and macronutrient tracking is often overwhelming. While it works for some people, many others try for years unsuccessfully to lose weight using this approach. Calorie counting is both restrictive as well as time-consuming. It also doesn’t intrinsically foster long-term changes in eating habits.
“With my patients, I try to simplify the concept of weight loss,” said Dr. Cecily A. Clark-Ganheart, a board-certified OBGYN, maternal-fetal medicine and obesity medicine physician. Clark-Ganheart specializes in working with obese women who are hoping to get pregnant in the future and thus don’t qualify for weight loss surgery. Yet the patients she works with, who often weigh 300 pounds and more, are losing just as much weight as they would with surgery – and they are keeping it off.
The first concept that Dr. Clark-Ganheart discusses with her patients is meal timing or intermittent fasting. She works with her patients to help them identify where and when their energy intake is coming from, and she helps them slowly cut out snacking and lengthen their overnight fasting window in order to bring down their blood sugar and insulin levels (more on that shortly!).
“Most people I work with don’t initially have a sense of how much they eat, how often they eat, what types of foods they eat or how often they are drinking calorie-dense beverages like juice and soda,” Dr. Clark-Ganheart said. “We also typically find that when they are snacking, they aren’t eating apples or asparagus, but rather chips and pre-packaged foods that aren’t very nutritious. So we work together to set out a plan based on what each individual feels they can reasonably achieve, whether that’s cutting down their snacks or moving up their normal dinner time by an hour or two to incorporate intermittent fasting. The idea of not eating around the clock is intimidating for some people at first, so we introduce it gradually.”
Click here to read the article in its entirety!
DISCLAIMER: The advice on this page is not meant to replace or represent medical advice. This is nutritional advice, which is NOT the same as medical advice. Before any weight loss endeavor, the consultation of an experienced health care provider is a must. As a general rule, the following individuals should not participate in fasting:
- Diabetics-particularly those on insulin
- Lactating women
- Pregnant women
- Individuals with a history of eating disorders
- Children under the age of 18
This list is not
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