Calorie counting used to be a popular method that many people believed would help them lose weight. However, as we get more acquainted with nutrition, we gradually transition to healthy weight loss with less focus on daily calorie tracking and more on nutrient-dense food choices.
Focusing on nutrient-dense foods offers many benefits. For one, it relieves the stress and pressure of strict calorie counting. Many people become overly fixated on staying within a ‘calorie limit’ rather than listening to their body’s natural hunger and fullness cues, which may lead to increased hunger hormones and stronger cravings for high-energy foods.
Here, we’ll help you adopt a healthier weight loss approach with a focus on nourishment over calorie counting, making your journey more sustainable and enjoyable.
Key Takeaways
- Calorie Counting Isn’t Necessary for Weight Loss – While creating a calorie deficit leads to weight loss, strict calorie tracking can be stressful and unsustainable.
- Nutrient-Dense Foods Are More Effective – Focusing on protein, fibre, and healthy fats helps curb cravings, promotes satiety, and supports a healthy metabolism.
- Exercise and Strength Training Matter – Building muscle through exercise and resistance training increases metabolism, making it easier to maintain a healthy weight.
- Balanced Diet Over Restrictions – Limiting sugary drinks, choosing whole foods over ultra-processed ones, and following smart food combinations support long-term health.
- Healthy Lifestyle Changes Lead to Sustainable Weight Loss – Meal prepping, mindful eating, stress management, and proper hydration help maintain progress without obsessing over numbers.
- Avoid Calorie Tracker Apps – The use of calorie tracker apps is reported to trigger eating disorders among teenagers and adolescents.
- Quality Sleep Supports Metabolism – Proper rest regulates hunger hormones, preventing overeating and promoting effective weight management.
What Are Calories?
A calorie is a measurement unit of energy. The amount of energy released from your foods or beverages is measured by calories.
You need to eat fewer calories than your body burns to lose weight. Conversely, when you eat more than your body expends, the extra calories will be stored as fat, leading to weight gain.
However, the body’s mechanism is a lot more complex than simply cutting your calories to lose weight. We’ll go into detail about how it actually works.
How Many Calories Should You Consume to Lose Weight?
Theoretically, eating fewer calories than your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and above your basal metabolic rate (BMR) will lead to weight loss.
But this doesn’t mean you should rely solely on counting calories. Counting calories, in many cases, creates a pressure to stick to a certain “calorie limit”, which is neither sustainable nor enjoyable for a long-term weight loss journey.
Instead, you should focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods that are rich in protein, fibre, and vitamins. Even when these nutrient-dense foods are high in calories (e.g., red meat, oily fish, and avocados) are high in calories, they promote satiety better than ultra-processed or sugary foods.
This way, you naturally feel full faster and get fewer cravings—taking away the stress of calorie counting and preventing you from overeating at the same time.
What If My BMR And TDEE Are So Close Together?
While theoretically consuming less than TDEE and higher than BMR helps in weight loss, it can be an issue for individuals with narrow differences between their BMR and TDEE.
This phenomenon is common among individuals with sedentary lifestyles. For them, restricting calorie intake often leads to fatigue and lack of energy that can interfere with their daily activities.
If this sounds like you, consuming nutrient-dense foods, combined with weight training and cardio exercise is more sustainable than limiting calorie intake. It helps your body build muscle for a faster metabolism, allowing you to burn more by doing less.
How To Achieve A Balanced Diet For Weight Loss?
Since counting calories won’t be sustainable for a long-term weight loss journey, you need to strive for a balanced diet instead. Doing so will keep your health in check and prevent the pressure of calorie restrictions. Here’s what we recommend:
- Limit Sugary Beverages
Sugary beverages like sodas, energy drinks, and boba drinks are high in calories. Your body also responds to liquid calories differently from solid calories. Liquid calories generally don’t trigger satiety hormones as effectively, leading to overconsumption and weight gain.
Beyond weight gain, sweetened drinks also absorb quickly into the bloodstream, causing your blood sugar to spike only to crash quickly later on. Frequent blood sugar spikes can increase the risk of developing insulin resistance, which may lead to health issues like diabetes, heart disease, and liver problems.
- Opt For High-Quality Calories
Have you ever been so tempted to keep eating despite already consuming a lot? That may be because your brain isn’t satisfied enough with what you consume.
In this case, opting for high-quality calories can help curb your appetite. 100 calories from, let’s say, fish vs. sugar, will have different effects on your body. Fish is rich in protein, which takes longer to break down in the digestive system when compared to simple carbohydrates like sugar, helping you feel full for longer and eat less.
Protein consumption is also essential for muscle mass maintenance and growth. Muscle mass is especially important for maintaining a healthy metabolism rate, which affects your body’s ability to burn calories.
- Curb Refined Carbs And Ultra-Processed Foods
Refined carbs are the type of carbohydrate that has been stripped of all fibre, nutrients, and bran. These include white bread, white rice, and pasta among others. In comparison, ultra-processed foods (UPF) are foods that have been industrially processed multiple times and are high in additives, salt, and sugar.
While consuming them in moderation is generally fine, they offer little to no benefit for your body. Refined carbs and UPF consumption are also linked to spiked blood sugar, which only drops quickly. This cycle keeps you wanting to consume them more, leading to overeating and weight gain.
- Master Smart Food Combinations
Smart food combinations help nourish your body better, making them essential for a healthy, long-term weight loss journey.
For example, you may want to eat iron-rich foods like spinach, lentils, or red meat together with foods that are high in vitamin C such as broccoli, bell peppers, or strawberries to enhance iron absorption. Iron, along with protein, helps support muscle function and growth, which in turn supports a healthy metabolism for more effective weight loss.
You may also pair healthy fats like avocados, nuts, or olive oil and vitamin D-rich foods like salmon, egg yolks, or fortified dairy to support nutrient absorption and overall health.
- Drink More Water
Drinking an adequate amount of water keeps you hydrated and offers numerous health benefits. With enough hydration, weight management also becomes more effective.
When you drink water before every meal, you can reduce hunger, so you’ll instinctively eat fewer calories.
Water may also increase your metabolism by triggering lipolysis, or the process of breaking down fats into glycerol and fatty acids, which can help you lose weight.
- Exercise Daily
Combining a balanced diet with regular exercise can help you lose weight more effectively. For instance, weight resistance training will maintain, or even grow your muscle, which is essential for a healthy metabolism.
Cardio exercises like walking, swimming, and cycling should also be a part of your routine. They help burn fats by increasing your heart rate, encouraging your body to use stored fats for energy and supporting gradual fat and weight loss.
Aside from fat and weight loss benefits, regular exercise is also beneficial for:
- Heart health
- Mental health
- Energy levels
- Get Enough Rest
Your body burns approximately 30 – 50 calories per hour of sleep. Multiply that by 8 hours of sleep, you’ll burn 240 – 400 calories each night.
Beyond the calorie-burning benefits of a night’s sleep, getting enough rest also helps maintain a healthy metabolism. It allows your body to regulate appetite-controlling hormones (i.e., leptin and ghrelin) and balance your metabolic rate fluctuations—slowing down during sleep and increasing after waking up.
Lastly, lack of sleep causes you to need 25% more energy. Your brain will release a greater hunger signal, causing you to feel hungrier, which often leads to overeating as your body attempts to meet this extra energy requirement.
6 Practical Tips For A Healthy And Sustainable Weight Loss
Easier said than done, achieving a balanced diet for weight loss can be tricky. This is why you should switch your lifestyle for a more manageable weight loss journey. Here’s how:
- Try Meal Prepping
If you’re a busy person, sticking to a healthy and balanced diet can be challenging. There is little to no spare time to cook healthy meals consisting of high-quality calories.
Your packed schedule may also influence your food choices of quick, fulfilling foods, with less attention to the nutrients.
This is where meal prepping comes in handy. We suggest that you spend your days off planning and stocking your meals for a week ahead, consisting of pre-portioned proteins, vegetables, and whole grains.
Whenever you need to eat or pack for lunch, you can easily cook the prepped ingredients, without the hassle of chopping and measuring.
- Eat Slowly
Eating slowly helps you feel fuller. It gives time for your digestive system to send satiety signals to your brain, and you’re likely to become more aware of fullness cues.
It also helps break down your meals into smaller pieces. As a result, your digestive system can process nutrients more easily for better absorption and digestion.
- Stock Up ‘Real Food’ Snacks
Having a bunch of ultra-processed snacks goes against an effective and healthy weight loss journey. It’s time for a change by switching to ‘real food’ snacks like almond nuts, apples, and whole-milk plain yoghurt, among others.
- Eat More Fruits And Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are rich in fibre and essential nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, and minerals, among others. Increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables helps curb your appetite and maintain your energy levels.
However, you may need to limit the consumption of sugary fruits like mangos, bananas, and grapes. Though they are nutritious, they’re high in fructose and glucose, which can contribute to the same caloric surplus that leads to weight gain.
- Implement The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule helps balance your diet as it allows you to lose weight without being too restrictive, ensuring your journey is sustainable and enjoyable in the long term.
With this approach, you basically consume 80% of healthy foods like lean meats, fruits & vegetables, and whole grains, leaving 20% of your daily intake for not-so-healthy foods that you enjoy.
- Manage Your Stress
For some people, stress is linked to overeating. If you also struggle with stress-eating, you may alternate your response to a healthier coping mechanism.
You may engage in your hobbies or practice mindfulness through yoga or meditation. This way, you can manage stress without turning to food, making it easier to maintain a healthy weight loss journey.
Is It Necessary To Track Your Daily Calorie Intake?
It’s not necessary or recommended to track your daily calorie intake, as it will only create pressure and stress on your weight loss journey. You may become overly fixated on the number rather than prioritising nourishment and listening to its natural hunger and fullness cues.
Instead, focus on eating nutrient-dense foods, limiting sugary drinks, and paying attention to your portion sizes. Combine these practices with physical movement and consistent sleep patterns, and you’ll be on a path toward sustainable weight management without the need for obsessive calorie counting.
In fact, excessive use of calorie tracker apps has been reported to trigger eating disorders in young adults. Usage in less vulnerable demographics might be helpful, but that’s only for short-term weight loss. It remains unsustainable for a long-term journey, as obsessively restricting calorie intake by relying on the tracker app may lead to slowed down metabolism from eating far fewer calories than the body needs.
Final Thoughts: Find Support For An Effective Weight Loss Journey
Losing weight itself is already tricky, especially for individuals with certain medical diagnoses, health issues, or metabolic conditions. What we provide here only serves as a general guideline. If you have specific concerns, consulting a physician may be recommended for a tailored weight management programme.
Here at Prologue Clinic, we offer science-backed guidance and professional support to help you achieve sustainable, healthy weight loss—without extreme restrictions or unhealthy dieting habits.
Start your weight management journey with us. Contact us for more details.
FAQ
How many calories do I burn in a day?
Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) tells the number of calories you burn in a day, which depends on your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and activity level.
Is losing 2kg a week healthy?
Losing 2kg a week is not recommended. Aim for a gradual weight loss of 0.5 — 1kg per week to keep the weight off in the long term.
How many calories are burned in 10,000 steps?
The number of calories burned in 10,000 steps may vary by individual. But on average, walking 10,000 steps at a moderate pace can burn 300 – 400 calories.
Are 1200 calorie intake healthy?
1200 calories may be sufficient for some individuals. However, in general, eating only 1200 calories a day is too restrictive and won’t be healthy or sustainable for long-term weight loss.