Calories In = Calories Out is BS

You've heard it before - "body weight is a result of calories in = calories out." Well, turns out that is total BS. ⠀
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Sure, we know that in theory 3500 calories equals one pound, but in practice that doesn't hold up. ⠀
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You see, our bodies are way too smart to be outmaneuvered by calorie deprivation. Remember how we were once hunters and gathers? We humans would go from feast to famine and our bodies had to adapt to keep us alive. Well, our brains are still stuck in that "save the human at all costs" mode. ⠀
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So that means that if we purposefully deprive our bodies of critical calories today, our brains get triggered to make adaptations in metabolic rate, digestion, and energy usage -- just like it did in the past. ⠀
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The interesting thing is that some bodies do shrink as a result of calorie deprivation, while others do not. This is due to our genetic differences and likely tells us a lot about who would and wouldn't have survived back in the day. However, all bodies, regardless of size, experience nutritional deficits from too little calorie (energy) intake and many will also experience digestive issues (slowed motility due to weakened GI muscles, and possibly even low enzymatic activity and bacterial overgrowth), hormonal irregularities, mood changes and poorer quality of life. ⠀
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So, if there are no benefits to micromanaging calorie ins and outs, what do we do? We re-learn to eat intuitively and we work on body acceptance, preferably with a professional trained in those fields. You can find a certified intuitive eating counselor like me 🙋🏻‍♀️ and 100’s of others using the directory: intuitiveeating.org/certified-counselors/ ⠀
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Tell me: Do you track your food intake? Count your steps? Analyze your macro breakdown? If so, I invite you to take a step back and ask: What am I getting from this practice? Are you becoming more or less in tune with your body as a result? Do you know when you are hungry or full or are you simply eating according to a calculated estimate of needs? How is this practice benefiting you and how is it harming you?