How Tracking Calories and Body Composition Revolutionized My Weight Loss Efforts
Up until my late twenties, it didn’t really matter what I ate or how I exercised. Weeks on end of pizza, potato chips, and low to no exercise were never a problem. I still maintained a body shape that was thin and somewhat athletic. Thanks to my youthful metabolism, I was seemingly immune to weight gain.
That immunity wore off rather abruptly, as it does for many people, right about the time I entered my thirties. One day, I looked in the mirror and realized that I had picked up a “spare tire,” that pesky bit of fat that just sits around your midsection, somewhere along the way. Looking in the mirror that day, I knew I needed to make some changes. That was the day I decided to start eating better and exercising regularly.
While these new efforts seemed to stave off further weight gain, I wasn’t seeing the weight loss that I had hoped for. After a bit of research, I decided to try calorie tracking. Two things happened:
I began to see the results I wanted, and
I got surprising pushback from the people around me.
The Impact of Calorie Tracking on Body Fat Percentage
What is a Calorie?
A calorie is a unit that measures the energy value of food. It is defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius. When we talk about calories in the foods we eat and drink, we are talking about the amount of energy each food gives off as your body digests it. In essence, a calorie tells us how much energy the body can get from eating any given food.
One pound of fat is made up of roughly 3,500 calories. So, in order to lose weight, overtime you have to operate at a caloric deficit. What does that mean? Each day, if you consume 500 calories less, or burn 500 calories more through exercise, than you need to maintain your current weight you will lose one pound of fat over the course of a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories).
Not all fats and sugars are bad and not all calories are created equal. Understanding the differences will help you make better food choices and help you achieve your health and wellness goals faster. As you become more comfortable with calorie counting, you can advance the way you track your consumption and start to pay attention to the ratios of different types of fats and sugars you consume, all of which will affect the way your body stores and burns calories.
Calorie Tracking 101: Using an App
Before smartphones, calorie tracking was done with pen, paper, and a lot of math. I can understand why it was not a common things to do, but now, apps do all of the hard work for you.
Most calorie tracking apps operate roughly the same way. You start by entering your weight, height, and weight loss/gain goals, then the app calculates a daily caloric limit (a number that you can refine through a body composition and metabolic rate test). Once your profile is ready, you simply scan packaged foods or search the database for unpackaged items like produce or meat. For every food you eat, you enter your serving size and the app takes care of the math.
I used a simple calorie tracking app to get started. At first, I would often forgot to add my calories, but overtime it became a regular part of my mealtime routine.
From the get-go, however, calorie tracking provoked skepticism from friends and family alike. Sometimes they voiced it when they saw me entering my meals into the app, and other times when I’d wave off a plate of fried food that I wouldn’t normally turn down, sharing that it didn’t fit my calorie allotment for that meal. Either way, the question was always the same: “Why are you starving yourself?”
To be clear, I wasn’t. In fact, what tracking my calories taught me was that I actually needed to be eating more—as long as what I consumed were the right foods.
Sure, I was no longer cramming myself full of deep-fried mozzarella sticks or chicken fingers but that didn't mean I wasn't eating. Instead, I would enjoy a half-pound salmon fillet with a side of asparagus and a salad. In the morning, six-hundred calorie muffins were swapped out for eggs, bacon, oatmeal, and fruit. Starving myself? Quite the opposite. I was eating better than ever before and I was looking and, more importantly, feeling better because of it.
Slowly my “spare tire” started to disappear and I shifted my focus to my next goal, gaining more muscle mass as I continue to lose the remaining excess fat. In order to do that, I had to take a closer look at my body composition.
Using Body Composition Analysis to Track Weight Loss and Fitness Progress
If you are not worried about losing muscle mass, it’s pretty straightforward to lose weight; Calories in vs. calories out. But, reducing your body fat percentage while maintaining, or even gaining, muscle requires a bit more science.
I started with a fairly rudimentary body composition analysis, which was achieved using a smart-scale that provided my Body Mass Index (BMI), a number that shows how much of your body is comprised of fat. From there I used an app to determine not only how many calories I needed to be eating, but also the ratio of macronutrients that would help me best reach my goals. Once I had all of that information, it was a simple matter of tailoring my meals to meet these specific parameters.
Once again, I received pushback from the people closest to me. It was as if they thought the idea of eating specifically with health in mind—even when they were delicious, expansive meals—was for some reason insane.
But as the fat melted away, so did the skepticism. There wasn’t much they could say when my shape started to change and my musculature became more and more defined. By the time my early-thirties had passed into my mid-thirties, friends and family who had once viewed all of this tracking, analysis, dieting, and exercise with incredulity or even disdain were now doling out compliments and asking me for fitness advice.
The results spoke for themselves.
My journey taught me a few key things about calorie tracking and body composition analysis:
The resistance is real
For any number of personal and cultural reasons, people tend to have a great deal of resistance to taking such a close look at body composition and dietary habits and then using that information to make elaborate changes to both. In fact, early on, you will likely resist the change too. But once you get past that resistance, you’ll find that progress comes faster than you anticipate.
Knowledge is power
Few things will sabotage your fitness efforts like going into it blind. The more you know about your body composition, resting metabolic rate, and other physical conditions unique to you, the more you can hone your diet and exercise routine for success.
Progress is exciting and inspiring (but you might have to wait for it)
Early on, you’ll likely be somewhat frustrated when you look in the mirror and don’t see immediate results. But, the process takes time, and once you do begin to see your body change, you’ll find yourself excited and inspired to keep going.
Every week I rechecked my BMI, and each time I found that I was carrying a bit less fat.
For me, the first obvious sign of progress came when I realized my clothes were becoming too big for my increasingly trim frame. I was starting to get compliments and words of encouragement from friends, and then one day I looked at a photo taken a mere two years earlier and realized that my then-chubby cheeks had melted away into the sharper jawline I remembered from my twenties.
There is something tremendously empowering about getting your body composition update and finding that you are carrying less fat and more muscle, or that you are inching closer to the wellness goals you set for yourself. Sometimes the change won’t even be visible to the naked eye at first, but when you do begin to see that physical transformation, you’ll be amazed how inspired you become to commit even further to making positive changes.
That's exactly what happened to me. I started becoming serious about my fitness journey roughly two years ago, and today thanks to the outstanding results I’ve experienced, I’m constantly looking for new metrics that I can use to continue to improve.
In fact, as of writing this, I am already planning the next phase of my fitness evolution including a closer analysis of my metabolism and metabolic needs, a DEXA scan for a complete picture of my current body composition, and VO2 Max testing to help me assess and expand my fitness goals.
My personal health and fitness journey has been challenging at times but mainly satisfying, exciting, and fun—if you can believe that! It has taken me from a skinny, but unhealthy, twenty-something to a trim and fit thirty-something; I look forward to my forties being the healthiest, happiest decade of my life so far.
Conclusion
Ignore the naysayers, overcome the resistance, and equip yourself with accurate information about the condition of your body. While everyone’s body is different and everyone’s path to weight loss success will be unique to them, counting calories and keeping yourself accountable is a great start. The science of health and fitness has never been so available, effective, and energizing and there is no better time to dive in!