The Great Calorie Counting LIE- How Legal Loopholes, App Errors & Your Microbiome are Messing with Your Weight Loss

Here’s an overview of what you can expect in today’s episode: 00:34 - Intro 02:31 - Calorie Need Calculations Really Kinda Suck 05:37 - Calorie Labels On Foods and Apps Are Notoriously Inaccurate 07:58 - Our Gut Microbiome Impacts The Calories We Get From Food 12:24 - We Just SUCK At Estimating Our Intake and Needs 14:49 - Risks for Disordered Eating 17:32 - Tips for Navigating Calorie Counting that ACTUALLY Work References: Indirect Calorimetry in Clinical Practice Ability of the Harris Benedict formula to predict energy requirements differs with weight history and ethnicity Validation of several established equations for resting metabolic rate in obese and nonobese people A cellular level approach to predicting resting energy expenditure: Evaluation of applicability in adolescents Nutrition labeling of food Energetic consequences of thermal and nonthermal food processing Effect of host genetics on the gut microbiome in 7,738 participants of the Dutch Microbiome Project Roles of gut microbiota and metabolites in overweight and obesity of children Review article: dietary fibre-microbiota interactions Host-diet-gut microbiome interactions influence human energy balance: a randomized clinical trial The portion size effect: Women demonstrate an awareness of eating more than intended when served larger than normal portions Calorie counting and fitness tracking technology: Associations with eating disorder symptomatology My Fitness Pal Calorie Tracker Usage in the Eating Disorders The Effect of Adherence to Dietary Tracking on Weight Loss: Using HLM to Model Weight Loss over Time Tracking food leads to losing pounds Reducing Calorie Intake May Not Help You Lose Body Weight Disclaimer: The content in this episode is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is never a substitute for medical advice. If you’re struggling with your mental or physical health, please work one on one with a health care provider. If you have heard yourself in our discussion today, and are looking for support, contact the free NEDIC helpline at 1-866-NEDIC-20 or go to eatingdisorderhope.com. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •✨ Reach Your Weight & Health Goals — Without Dieting! Pre-order The Hunger Crushing Combo Method, Abbey’s revolutionary additive approach to eating well. Learn how to boost satiety, stabilize blood sugars, reduce disease risk, and improve your relationship with food — all while getting the best nutrient bang for your caloric buck. With 400+ research citations, cheat sheets, evidence-based actionable tips, meal plans, and adaptable recipes, The Hunger Crushing Combo Method is the only nutrition bible you’ll ever need. 👉 Pre-order today! 🛒 Where to Purchase: Amazon Barnes & Noble Amazon Kindle Apple Books Google Play Kobo Apple Books (Audiobook) Audible abbeyskitchen.com/hunger-crushing-combo • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •✉️ Subscribe to My Newsletters: Abbey’s Kitchen Newsletter 📘 Check out my FREE E-Books: Hunger Crushing Combo™ E-Book Protein 101 E-Book 👋 Follow me! Instagram: @abbeyskitchen TikTok: @abbeyskitchen YouTube: @AbbeysKitchen Blog: abbeyskitchen.com Book: The Mindful Glow Cookbook • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 🎧 Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen — and leave us a review! It really helps support the show ❤️ 💬 If you liked this podcast, please like, follow, and leave a review — and let me know who you’d love to hear about next! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Now, more than ever, we need someone on our side. But Rob Whitman? Whitman's votes drove up costs, cut Medicaid, and risked 350,000 Virginians' health care to pay for tax breaks for himself and his donors. He's not on our side. Shannon Taylor will fight corruption, cut taxes, and bring down costs. This November, vote for Shannon Taylor. She's for us. Paid for by HMP, the HouseMajorityPac.com. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

• 0:30Abbey Sharp?

  What does a healthy gut microbiome have to do with calorie counting? Get ready to have your mind blown.

• 0:42Abbey Sharp?

  Welcome to another episode of Bite Back with Abbey Sharp, where I dismantle diet culture rules, call it the charlatan spinning the pseudoscience, and help you achieve food freedom for good.

• 0:55Abbey Sharp?

  Today, we are diving deep into the most widely-used diet tool in the weight-loss toolbox: calorie counting.

• 1:04Abbey Sharp?

  If you've ever tried to lose weight, you've probably heard that you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. Calories in versus calories out: the coveted calorie-deficit formula. And while, of course, a calorie deficit is a necessary prerequisite to weight loss, counting every sprig of parsley on your pasta and every step in your walk to work and expecting to see predictable weight-loss outcomes is scientifically and psychologically flawed. So today, we are getting into the science of strict calorie counting for weight loss. Is it the only way to see results? Or is it too fundamentally flawed to actually work? Before we get into it, a quick note that this episode is not to disregard

• 1:49Abbey Sharp?

  the obvious usefulness of calorie counting for a lot of people, but rather to shed light on some of its limitations and inaccuracies to help you see that perfection in this process is often a futile endeavor. And we're obviously talking about weight loss in detail today, which is not and should not be the goal for everyone. So if this is not supportive to your journey, please feel free to skip it, and I'll see you next time. All righty, folks, let's talk calories.

• 2:24Abbey Sharp?

  When we talk about counting calories, we're having to make some hopefully educated assumptions about how many calories our body needs to maintain its current body weight, how many calories we are burning through activity, and how many calories are in each of the foods we are eating in the specific quantities and forms we are eating them in. The problem is, the body isn't a perfect little calculator. And the calculators that we do have don't accurately capture our unique body. So let's dive into some of these inaccuracies.

• 3:01Abbey Sharp?

  Number one, calorie need calculations really just kinda suck. The energy expenditure or the calorie output side of the calorie balance equation consists of four main components. Our resting metabolic rate, which is basically just what we burn at rest, our NEAT, which stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which is all of your non-deliberate exercises or daily movements. Then there's the thermic effect of food, which is the energy it takes to digest and absorb nutrients. And then we have intentional exercise, which, believe it or not, only makes up about 5% of most people's total calorie burn each day.

• 3:44Abbey Sharp?

  Our resting metabolic rate makes up around 60 to 70% of our total energy expenditure. So it's kinda important to understand, but the only accurate way of determining this is through a very expensive scientific method called indirect Calorimetry, which is generally done in a lab or hospital. So as an alternative, we often turn to online formulas to estimate our daily calorie needs. The problem with these formulas is that they're generalized for the wide population. But we know that muscle mass, climate, hormonal status, weight history, ethnicity, and even your caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and medication use can influence our metabolism.

• 4:28Abbey Sharp?

  One of the most common formulas used by online calculators is the Harris-Benedict equation, which has been shown to overestimate needs by as much as 27%. This could be the difference between a recommendation to eat 1,500 calories versus 1,900 calories, which is more than enough to throw off your progress. And even when we do try and account for weight, height, age, and gender, people will still have unique body cell masses that can greatly impact their resting metabolic rate. Online calculators can also be inaccurate with exercise, especially when it requires

• 5:10Abbey Sharp?

  individuals to grade their own activity level. It is all too easy for us to overestimate the amount or intensity of the activity we're doing, especially with all these natural variations day to day and activity to activity. And even if you're logging your workouts on a smartwatch, we know that those are not accurate either. Studies comparing the calories burned according to smartwatches have been shown to be up to 30% off compared to indirect Calorimetry, which then just further compounds the calorie inaccuracy gap. All of this is just to say that you shouldn't stress about being ultra meticulous on matching

• 5:51Abbey Sharp?

  your calorie intake to what is calculated in your app, especially if it's coming at the expense of your mental health. Because as we've just discussed, that calorie goal might be wildly off.

• 6:06Abbey Sharp?

  Number two, calorie labels on foods and apps are notoriously inaccurate. If we're tracking our calories consumed using an app like MyFitnessPal, or even just reading labels and putting pen to paper the old-fashioned way, there's a lot of assumptions being made. The first is that the calories on the label are even accurate. The reality is, food manufacturers are allowed to be legally off by 20%. Food systems like the FDA also don't have a standard formula to determine calorie content. And there are actually five different approved formulas that manufacturers can use, some with less accuracy than others.

• 6:50Abbey Sharp?

  This means that manufacturers basically can just pick the results that are most favorable to them, AKA, the ones with the lowest calories. The problem here is that you might again be thinking that you're eating a perfect 1,600 calories, but you could actually be looking at closer to 1,920. Again, more than enough to crush results. And whole foods are also not immune to inaccuracies either. If you were to Google "ground beef calories", you're gonna get a number for raw meat. But, most of us aren't raw dogging it straight from the pack. And cooking meat denatures the proteins and improves the bioavailability

• 7:33Abbey Sharp?

  of both the nutrients as well as the calories. So you're actually able to extract up to 25% more calories from cooked meat versus when eaten raw. Blending or grinding certain foods, especially high-fat foods, can also increase their calorie availability. So with whole nuts, for example, since the fat is bound up with indigestible fibers, the calories from about 15% of their fat content doesn't actually get absorbed. But if you were to grind them up into a smoothie, or turn them into nut butter or nut flour, the calories available to our body will then increase. And it's not just the calorie availability of the food,

• 8:18Abbey Sharp?

  it's also about how our body processes those calories as well. Which brings me to the next consideration.

• 8:28Abbey Sharp?

  Number three, our gut microbiome can impact the calories we get from food. When I say our gut health influences almost every system in our body, I am really not exaggerating. And we have ample evidence that when it comes to our weight, those critters in our gut play a crucial role. Studies have shown that the gut microbiome looks different in thin people than it does in larger bodied folks. Although there are many bacterial species that may vary, the main difference seems to be in the Firmicutes to Bacteriodes ratio, also known as the F to B ratio.

• 9:09Abbey Sharp?

  Larger bodied folks often have a higher F to B ratio, which is a type of dysbiosis or gut imbalance related to obesity. So what causes this imbalance? Well, at this point, we don't totally know. It could be at least partially inborn, since we do know that specific genes and mom's microbiome during pregnancy can influence the colonization of baby's gut. We also know that diet plays a huge role, with research suggesting that guts of folks with diets rich in animal proteins and low in fiber showed evidence of that high F to B ratio associated with obesity.

• 9:52Abbey Sharp?

  But what does a healthy gut microbiome have to do with calorie counting? Get ready to have your mind blown. Research suggests that how many calories can be harvested from a given food depends both on the quality of that food and the activity and vitality of the microbes in our gut. Imagine we're in a tug of war for calories, AKA energy, with our gut microbes. And while I am like admittedly a very competitive girlie, this is one competition we don't want to win. See, ultra-processed foods like chips and cookies are very low in fiber.

• 10:34Abbey Sharp?

  So instead of making their way to the large intestine where microbes await their feast, they get quickly and efficiently digested and absorbed in the upper GI tract.

• 10:45Abbey Sharp?

  In other words, we're able to harvest more calories from more heavily refined foods. In contrast, high-fiber whole foods take much more work to digest. So they arrive at the large intestine where our microbes are able to harvest or steal some of their energy from us. And there's this really interesting study that looked at this in a heavily controlled lab environment where they tracked every single bite of food going in and the poop that was coming out. And what they found was that those who ate the high-fiber foods lost, on average, 218

• 11:24Abbey Sharp?

  calories per day, whereas the low-fiber processed food group lost only half of that. Some people in the high-fiber group lost as many as 400 calories a day, and that was just based on the health of their unique microbiome. The greater microbial diversity and vitality, the more healthy bacteria to gobble up those calories before you absorb them. And I just want to note that losing more calories in this tug-of-war to bacteria doesn't actually make us more hungry. In reality, these fiber-rich foods would actually prolong satiety. So it is really a win-win when it comes to weight loss all around.

• 12:06Abbey Sharp?

  The bottom-line implication for calorie counting here is twofold. One, 100 calories on paper of cookies may not actually be the same as 100 calories on paper of apple. And two, 100 calories to me may not be 100 calories to you. But let's just say for simplicity's sake that we were able to harvest the exact same number of calories from that McValue meal. There's another issue with strict calorie counting.

• 12:55Abbey Sharp?

  Number four, we just suck at estimating our intake and needs. Studies suggest that dieters tend to underestimate their intake by around 25%. And obviously, depending on the food, how it's served, how many ingredients a food contains, how much oil was used versus retained, et cetera, that number could be even more off. But even with this conservative 25% variance, if you tracked your calories to a T to log 2,000 calories on MyFitnessPal, it actually means that you could have ingested closer to 2,500.

• 13:36Abbey Sharp?

  Now, if you be meticulously counting calories, I don't want that sentence to stress anyone out, but it just does reiterate the importance of listening to our natural hunger and fullness cues instead of completely relying on external numbers like a calorie goal spit out by our app. The other problem is that we're not great at estimating our own energy needs either. I discussed the problem with online calorie calculators and formulas earlier, but even if you were to spend the money and do an indirect Calorimetry test to determine your precise resting metabolic rate, that number is not going to be stagnant.

• 14:16Abbey Sharp?

  You aren't going to need a perfect 2,000 calories every day for the rest of your life. For most healthy individuals, resting metabolic rate varies around 3% to 8% each day. And then, once you actually start losing weight and your body mass, or more significantly, your muscle mass starts to decline, your baseline needs are also going to decline. In other words, you're going to burn more calories just living your basic life when you were 150 pounds than after a 20-pound weight loss. This is one of the reasons why folks will often hit a frustrating plateau during their weight loss.

• 14:56Abbey Sharp?

  Loss journey because what you thought was a calorie deficit may actually have just become your baseline as your body shrinks and I am not even getting into all the compensatory adaptation mechanisms that your body throws into play just trying to maintain status quo. And that brings me to number five, the risk of disordered eating. Even if you were to do calorie counting perfectly, it wouldn't be without psychological risks. Weighing, measuring and tracking every single bite of food you put into your mouth takes up a remarkable amount of mental energy, time and thought.

• 15:40Abbey Sharp?

  And in many cases, especially when the calorie goal you've set is very different than your body's current needs, it can require a lot of effort to override your body's innate cues. And while calorie counters don't all have EDs and signing up for my fitness pal isn't an inevitable path to disordered eating, it absolutely can be a slippery slope. Research has shown that tracking apps like my fitness pal are associated with enosorder symptomology and may exacerbate symptoms, especially for those already at risk. In fact, one study of 105 enosorder patients found that 75% used my fitness pal and of

• 16:25Abbey Sharp?

  those users, 73% said that the app contributed to their ED. So if you have a history of disordered eating or feel that you may be at risk, absolutely work with a dietitian to determine if calorie counting is safe for you. So all of this brings me to the question, should you count calories if your goal is to lose weight? Well, first of all, I need to point out that research does show that calorie counting can help folks stay consistent with their weight loss goals for short periods of time. There's even evidence that when people start tracking their intake, even before they intentionally apply a calorie deficit,

• 17:09Abbey Sharp?

  they tend to naturally just kind of create one without any effort, probably because of increased awareness and decreased mindless eating. That said, many practitioners are now acknowledging that a strict and absolute approach to calorie counting may not be a good long-term solution, simply because of its inaccuracies, its disregard of interceptive data, and its potential impact on mental health. At the end of the day, different people and personalities will find success with different weight loss tools. Professionally, I don't think anyone needs to or even should be weighing and tracking every single morsel of food that enters their mouths,

• 17:52Abbey Sharp?

  especially considering all the variables we just discussed. But I do think that calorie awareness can be very helpful. So I wanted to share some of my top tips. Number one, spend some time reading and comparing food labels and nutrient listings, whether in grocery stores, restaurants, or cafes. Knowing that the barbecue bacon pizza at Papa John's has 20 more calories per slice than the pepperoni and using that to inform your order will do far less for your weight loss outcomes when compared to simply knowing that ordering pizza every single night over chicken salad may tip the calorie scales.

• 18:35Abbey Sharp?

  And it's not just the obvious stuff like that, but reading labels can also help you see patterns with certain surprising ingredients that may be driving up calorie counts. So for example, drink smoothies and parfaits made with syrups, sweetened froyo, or granola, bowls with lots of rice or noodle bases, thick or creamy sauces, or any kind of fried or oily toppings can all add a lot of calories, even to "healthy" foods. You really don't need to know the granular details to have an appreciation that these things might be best enjoyed in moderation. Number two, focus on satiety over just calories.

• 19:18Abbey Sharp?

  And this is really where my hunger crushing combo comes into play. Reading labels to learn about the core nutrients in different whole foods can help you better understand which are better sources of protein, fiber, and healthy fats, AKA the hunger crushing compounds, and which are more rich sources of naked carbs, AKA sugar, and ultra-processed grains. The calories from whole foods are not only processed and harvested differently than ultra-processed foods, as we discussed earlier, but these foods are also more likely to keep you full on fewer calories. They're often low in energy density and high in nutrient density, so they give us better satiety bang for our caloric buck.

• 20:02Abbey Sharp?

  So for example, for 400 calories, you could eat a big breakfast bowl made of oats and Greek yogurt and topped with almond butter, flax, chia, and berries, or you could have a sweetened coffee drink and Krispy Kreme. The former may keep you full for hours, thanks to the volume, protein, fiber, and healthy fats, while after the latter, you might be crashing an hour in and looking for another hit. Thousands of people have had success simply thinking about those three components when building meals and snacks, which has ultimately absolved them from getting into the weeds on how many milliliters of honey ended up in their tea. And that brings me to tip number three.

• 20:46Abbey Sharp?

  Integrate these practices with interceptive awareness of your hunger and fullness cues and the changes you're seeing on the scale or in the mirror. So for example, if you have your evening meal and feel very full every single night before bed, it could mean one of two things, depending on what is also happening in your body. So if you are gaining or not losing weight, your evening meal or snack might be too large. So that might be time for a portion shift or change up in choice. But if you are losing weight and managing to stay full, you've probably just chosen a hunger-crushing-packed meal. And you can decide if this is a feeling that you like,

• 21:29Abbey Sharp?

  or if you want to tweak the macros slightly with perhaps more protein or fat and less fiber. On the flip side, if you're always hungry an hour after you have lunch, again, there's two main scenarios to explore. If you're gaining or not losing weight, you likely are not incorporating enough hunger-crushing compounds, leading to a rebound eating episode later on. But if you're losing too rapidly and are hungry despite having lots of fiber, protein, and healthy fats on board, you might simply just need to eat more. So again, upping the portion size or tweaking the macros can help. What I hope you got out of this episode was not that all your calorie trackers are BS

• 22:10Abbey Sharp?

  and you need to apply an even stricter approach or deficit to accommodate their flaws, but rather that combining some calorie and nutrient awareness with a more flexible, adaptable, and intuitive approach may be essential to long-term success. In an ideal world, you work with a dietitian who can help teach you the basics of calorie and nutrient awareness, identify troublesome patterns, and adjust the plan based on the unique data gleaned from your interceptive experiences and weight loss results. But if you're doing this alone, I hope this gave you some tips on how to make calorie counting more sustainable for you. And that's all I have for you guys today, folks. Please, if you are not already subscribed,

• 22:54Abbey Sharp?

  I would love if you would hit that subscribe button and leave me a little comment wherever you're getting your podcasts, because it really does make my day. But signing off with Science and SaaS, I'm Abbey Sharp. Thanks for listening.