You iPhone offers countless apps that can help you lose weight, exercise more, and make healthier food choices. But there's one type of app that isn't all it's cracked up to be: calorie counters.
Most of us know losing weight requires taking in fewer calories each day — or burning more calories through exercise. But losing weight in a healthy and safe way is a little more complicated than using more calories than you take in. Here's one reason why using your iPhone to count calories is a bad idea.
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The Problem With Counting Calories
When you track the foods you've eaten using an iPhone app, it can accurately give you a sense of the number of calories you're taking in. But there are two major reasons why calorie counting doesn't always work. The first is that many of us are not measuring our food to the ounce — we could be under or overpredicing the number of calories we're consuming.
Another problem: your cooking method affects calories. If you're baking or poaching meals, your calorie intake is probably going to be a lot less than if you're using a frying pan and butter or margarine.
Why You Should Never Use An iPhone To Count Calories
Counting calories is often spoken about as if it's a science, but there are far more variables involved when it comes to relying on this method for healthy weight loss. You may be taking in 1500 calories, but if those calories aren't coming from nutritious foods with plenty of protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats, you aren't fueling your body with what it needs to function well.
And we can't overlook our individual metabolisms, lifestyles, levels of stress, and genetics — all of which impact our weight, regardless of calories.
Bottom line: it's all too easy to focus on counting calories, but it isn't always a safe or healthy method — nor is it a good use of time and energy.