Stop counting calories. Your body neither recognises nor cares about them.

We are all familiar with the energy balance equation:

Fat gained = Calories in - Calories out

When you gain weight, you have to count, cut back and sweat. 

Nutrition has borrowed this concept from physics. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or transformed. This has been translated into human physiology and nutrition by the idea that body weight is largely determined by the balance between energy intake (calories consumed through food and drink) and energy expenditure (calories burned through metabolic processes and physical activity).

What are calories?

Calories are a unit of heat. Wilbur O. Atwater is credited with developing the method of measuring food calories using a device called a bomb calorimeter. It works by burning food in a sealed chamber surrounded by water. As the food burns, it releases heat that raises the temperature of the surrounding water. The amount of heat produced is equal to the energy content of the food.

Source:https://www.open.edu/openlearn/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=98501&section=_unit6.1.1

Your body's 'fat thermostat' is the key.

If you are struggling with stubborn weight gain, are counting and restricting calories, chances are you are not losing weight, even if you are exercising.

Your body fat percentage is controlled like a thermostat, which determines whether you lose weight or not.

• When you lose weight, your body tries to gain it back by increasing hunger and decreasing your basal metabolic rate (BMR).

• When you gain weight, your body tries to lose it by decreasing hunger and increasing BMR.

BMR is your body's energy expenditure that is NOT exercise. Most of it is breathing, maintaining body temperature, heart pumping, maintaining vital organs, brain, liver and kidney function.

It seems that there is a body weight set point (BSW), in the same way you have a set point for the temperature at home. Focusing on calories alone is a losing strategy because the body resists changes in body fat. Instead, the important question is - what controls the body weight set point? The answer is hormones. We cannot simply restrict calories. We have to adjust that target weight.

But all calories are the same, right?

According to the mechanical logic of calories in/out, if you want to eat a meal of about 800 calories, you can choose between

• 300g of pork chops and a large salad with olive oil dressing, OR 

• 1 pizza OR 

• 2 medium doughnuts with 2 scoops of ice cream. 

Depending on the choice you make, your body will react very differently, regardless of the calories. The human body doesn't measure calories, it doesn't care. All the research in human physiology over the last 200 years has failed to show that the body can measure calories, there are no receptors for calories, there are no hormones stimulated by calories. A piece of 200 grams of dry wood can produce about 800 calories of energy when burned, and it is guaranteed not to trigger your hormones should you decide to eat it.

Whatever you eat, and most importantly, every time you eat, it triggers a hormonal response. Hormones are the body's internal messaging system, they tell you what to do. Different macro-nutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates) cause different responses. Rather than thinking in a mechanical way of "calories in and calories out" (whatever the calories are), you need to understand that different types of food will cause certain hormones to rise.

If you eat the pizza or the doughnuts and the ice cream, that is a lot of carbohydrates and your insulin will go through the roof. Its job is to bring your blood sugar levels down and to convert and store excess sugar into fat. For more details on how insulin can go from friend to foe, read Insulin resistance: the hidden cost of modern living. The main point is that when your insulin is high, you can only use sugar as fuel and you CANNOT access your abundant fat reserves and use them as fuel instead.

When you eat the pork chops (or any meat), the amino acids trigger mTOR, which tells your body to start building muscle. A hormone called peptide YY (PYY) will slow down the passage of food through your stomach and intestines, allowing more time for the nutrients to be absorbed and contributing to a longer-lasting feeling of fullness. It signals to the brain that you are full, helping to prevent overeating. PYY is triggered by protein and fat, complex carbohydrates (oats, rice, quinoa) can have only a moderate effect. Have you ever heard of someone overeating with pork chops?

The fuller you feel after eating, the less often you need to eat. You should consider combining a low carbs diet intermittent fasting (IR) as a more effective way to lose weight than calorie restriction. IR gives the opportunity to your organism to rest between meal and clean itself of all the rubbish it can accumulate. During your fast, another set of hormones is released. These hormones help you burn fat.