Devlin Brown at the water cooler: All calories are not created equal

I feel like I need more control over my diet and want to start tracking my eating. Do you recommend counting calories?

Well done for taking the first step to maintaining a healthy body weight: gaining control over your diet. It’s useful to know the calorie content of your food, though it is not the only factor at play.

Earlier in the week I was conducting training at an SA business. It is a business that everyone reading this knows about, and many have paid for its services. At the start I was introduced very politely as the day’s expert (gasp), who is also “Devlin Brown, from the Water Cooler in Business Day on Mondays”.

As I sucked in my stomach and pressed out my chest, I nervously smiled and observed the room. First thought? Not only is this column a weekly highlight for the bored, but very important people from very important companies read Business Day’s hallowed pages regularly. But we knew that already. Second thought? Behind polite smiles, one can’t help but suspect people assume that everyone who’s passionate about exercise is an obsessive food prepper who polices every bite.

Calories are everywhere, aren’t they? No matter where you look, there’s another one waiting to spoil your day. Some are out in the Open, others are lurking in the shadows of fridges and shop shelves, waiting to pounce when you least expect it.

However, maintaining a healthy weight is not just about calories in vs calories out. There, I said it. It’s like watching the government of national unity (GNU) soap opera. There’s far more than meets the eye.

Banters will tell you cut the carbs and sugar (they’re really just the same thing at varying levels of complexity) and you’ll lose weight. That’s not the only way you can lose weight — many people lose weight while eating unprocessed carbohydrates. But the point is, hormones matter. The food you eat affects hormones differently; 300 calories of sirloin steak is not the same as 300 calories of red velvet cake.

Metabolism matters. Ever noticed how when people lose big amounts of weight quickly they tend to gain it all back? Your body fights to hold onto reserves — it stockpiles fat just in case. And when the dreaded famine (less food) does happen, it slows its metabolism down to rebuild its reserves.

A number of resources talk about the gut microbiome. Researchers are starting to understand (or maybe they have for ages, but society is finally starting to listen) that naturally thin people have different types of organisms living inside them, and we’re not referring to tapeworms. Genetics are also important. Ox Nche and Kurt-Lee Arendse will never be built the same. Then there’s age and gender. It all matters.

The case against counting calories is clear, but it is not entirely decisive. Having an idea about the energy content of the food you eat is still important. By understanding what, and when, you eat, and seeing how your body reacts, you can learn to eat in a way that’s right for your body.

It also provides a reality cheque that you are probably eating significantly more than your body needs. In the modern world food is a tool for socialising, for comfort, for boredom — and nourishment.

I don’t use apps to plan my meals and I don’t count the calories of all my meals. I’m not a competitive athlete. No app will really know how much energy I am expending during workouts, so chasing a target of 3,100 calories, for example, may not be right for me. However, I find some apps, such as Fatsecret, which has an impressive database of foods sold in SA, incredibly useful when trying to understand how much energy I am consuming.

Did you know a Beacon Marshmallow Egg has 69 calories? I had 10 last Sunday. That’s a reality cheque — 3,500 calories above maintenance is said to equate to one pound (almost half a kilogram) of fat gain. That doesn’t mean I automatically gained 100g of fat on Sunday, but it reminds me just how easy it is to gain weight when we stop being mindful about what, and how, we eat.