Counting calories is a very dangerous thing to do, both mentally and physically. It makes me so sad when I see young girls starve themselves, because they think it will help them lose weight and get that “bikini body”. Counting calories (or calorie restriction) does not lead to long term weight loss. It might make you lose weight over a few weeks, maybe even months, but long term you will gain that weight back and more.
When we restrict calories we put our bodies in state of starvation, which means we train it to hold on to fat. Our bodies want to survive more than anything else, so it is only natural for it to try and hold fat when it realizes it is not getting enough food. Short term you will see weight loss results because you are eating less food than your body can use, but long term it is not sustainable.
So what’s the solution? Eat an unlimited amount of calories from high carb low fat vegan food. 600 calories from bananas are a lot different to 600 calories from donuts, so it is insane to think that your body will react to these foods in the same way.
High carb low fat diets leads to weight loss because our body uses these high carb calories as energy or releases them as heat through the process of dietary thermogenesis.
The idea that carbs make us fat is pushed by low carb, paleo and fad diet authors who are looking to make money off the latest amazon trend. How many overweight or obese people do you know who live on fruit, smoothies, white rice and vegetables?
