I’m about to swear a good amount. You’ve been warned.

Bullshit people telling everyone on the internet that they HAVE TO do X, Y, Z when it comes to nutrition are fucking people up. Sure, it also comes down to those peoples ability to think critically, but I think that is asking a lot and is likely a different book entirely.

Counting calories is a tool. Just like fasting, or calculating macros, or weighing out portions, or using a spoon instead of fork. Methods are different ways to get the same thing done and therefore aren’t essential, but instead are context specific and a choice.

Counting calories can be a useful tool to measure daily caloric intake, but as with everything, comes with a cost. Not counting calories doesn’t mean you’ll inevitably go over your daily recommended intake and gain weight. It is just a tool to measure. Many people use the @precisionnutriton method of portion control and are successful. Though more primitive and a little less accurate, measuring palms, handfuls, and thumbs of nutrient dense foods is highly likely to yield a net deficit of daily calories, and come at a lower methodical cost (not having to meticulously weigh and input foods in to a calorie calculator can be a huge pro).

NEITHER OF THESE ARE BETTER OR WORSE. They’re just tools to get the job done and you might be able to execute on one better than the other.

AND guess what? You CAN use these methods interchangeably week to week, day to day, fuck even meal to meal! You don’t HAVE TO do either or.

The principles of nutritional science and thermodynamics are well known, simple to organize, and highly reliable.

Your lifestyle, preferences, psychological needs, environment, and social support networks are highly variable, ever evolving, and therefor inconsistent.

Please, can we stop demanding that the methods we bias and prefer be followed (and death to those who don’t kneel) and start considering how to perform behaviors that abide by the principles, fitting them into our lifestyles by selecting methods based on how well they help us maintain them.