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Bodybuilding without counting calories
Posted by: Ron
Counting calories maybe hazardous to your health
Stop counting calories!
Counting calories will lead you down a false path. Thinking that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie is just plain wrong, yet people to this day believe and teach that as long as the total calories taken in is less than the total calories burned up, you will be in a calorie deficit and lose weight. If it was that simple, we would all be lean and healthy.
Let's start with what a calorie really is. First of all, what we normally refer to as a calorie is really a kilocalorie, which is now commonly referred to as a calorie. It's a measure of the energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree celsius. It was first defined in 1824 as a unit of heat.
You might be thinking, what does that have to do with proteins, fats and carbs? Exactly! I keep asking that question too.
The worst part of nutritional labels on processed foods is that they're deceiving. They encourage you to gravitate towards quantity rather than quality. Big marketing budgets are out there touting zero calorie foods and drinks. Unfortunately the unsuspecting public forgets that the body has no need for calories, it requires nutrients to function.
Your metabolism differs greatly from your best friend's and from your sister's or brother's. Your digestive system also differs greatly from anyone around you. Your daily activity and stress levels also fluctuate so going only by the number of calories you consume is somewhat useless. Your body will have a totally different response to eating 500 calories from ice cream than eating 500 calories from a grass fed beef meatball. If you had a choice, which would you rather have your next eye ball cell made out of?
If you have a need to count and you're going to count anything, count the grams of proteins, fats and carbs.
Your body sends you signals when it has received all the nutrients it needs at one meal. The best thing to do to stay healthy and lean is to listen and obey. As I wrote in previous articles, processed foods have chemicals added to them to prevent those signals from getting to your brain which is why you can never stop eating certain processed foods.
My advice is that you choose foods without packaging and without a nutritional label (fresh, whole, natural foods, like fruits, vegetables and meats.)
Remember: Instead of losing weight to get healthy, get healthy and you'll lose weight as a secondary benefit.
Please let me know if the above makes sense or if I should go into more detail as to why it's useless to count calories.
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