Do you need to or should you track your calories and macros? Short answer, YES! Sure, there are some people out there that either have a great metabolism or a blue collar work schedule that keeps them in check but at some point things will change. When those things change, it’s good to have some understanding about what you’re putting in your body.
Should you count every calorie?
I’m not saying you need to count every calorie that you eat for the rest of your life, I’m just saying it’s good to become a Professional Nutritional Estimator.
If someone gave you a huge pile of money to retire with, do you wanna just spend it whenever you want with no plan or do you wanna know how much you’re spending to make it last as long as possible? Sure, spending it whenever you want would be awesome but at some point you’ll probably run out.
Don’t understand what I’m saying? Let me try it this way. At some point you get older and things stop working as good as they did in the past. Habits change, retirement happens, your metabolism slows down, and so on. If you understand the process, you’ll be more likely to succeed.
The importance of counting calories can carry over to almost everything. Not seeing progress? Calories. Not seeing your abs? Calories. Tired? Calories. Libido not all there? Calories. Can’t sleep? Calories.
More energy
Sure, there could be other reasons for all of these problems but calories are a big factor. Speaking from personal experience over the years, whenever my calories are on track, I feel a thousand times better. If I, for some reason fall off of that wagon, it’s a downward spiral of bad. I need more sleep, energy is lower despite more sleep, motivation lacks, and so on.
So the point of this post is not to dive into it too much or overthink the question but rather maybe just help you understand the importance. Getting too technical here can overcomplicate it much like everything in this health and fitness world and my goal is to help people, not make them overthink.
Having said that, should you count your calories? Yes. Should you be so strict that counting your calories harms the quality of your life? NO!
Now I have a question for all of you. If you don’t count calories, is it because it takes too long, just isn’t a habit you’ve gotten into, you just don’t feel like you need to, or something else?
If you count calories, how do you count them? App? Computer? Pen and paper? Just guess? Let me know in the comments below.
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