Instagram blogger shows why we shouldn’t get hung up on calorie counting
[Photo: Instagram/Sara Puhto]
For the sake of your body and weight it is, of course, a good idea to eat healthily. But a lot of us seem to think that healthy eating equals obsessively calorie counting - and it isn’t the same thing.
Which is why Instagram blogger Sarah Puhto has urged people to rethink their calorie-counting attitude in a recent post.
20-year-old Puhto shared a before-and-after photo yesterday to demonstrate that calorie counting hindered rather than helped her fitness goals. One image shows her body last year when she ate fewer than 1,000 calories each day and weighed 54kg (8st 5lbs), while the other shows her more recently while eating 2,000-3,000 calories a day instead and weighing 57kg (8st 9lbs).
While this weight change isn’t drastic - her fitness and change in attitude is.
In the post, she explained that she used to think it didn’t matter what she ate as long as it was less than 1000 calories, even if she ended up going to bed hungry or binge eating instead.
“This mindset was so messed up,” she said.
“I thought I would be happy if I ate less, weighed less and hit my goal weight of 50kg. But the less I ate the more unhappy I got with myself.”
She explains that restricting her diet in this way actually ended up with her having no control over what she was eating, because she was either in “starvation mode” or “too full to function”.
“I was gaining weight from fat from all the junk food I was binging,” she explained.
“I was so devastated - I didn’t understand why eating less wasn’t working. I thought I wasn’t strong because I couldn’t go a few days without binging.”
She soon realised this wasn’t working, and that all that eating under 1,500 calories a day was was a “quick fix” which ended up backfiring.
So instead, she started eating more and stopped using calorie-counting apps.
“It was hard but I knew if I just trusted my body it would work. Something had to work,” she continued.
“I slowly had more energy and could push myself during workouts! I initially lost weight due to body fat and then gained weight due to gaining muscle. I now weigh around 56-57kg (6-7 kg above my goal weight).
“I’m not sure on exact weight because I don’t weigh myself anymore, I don’t let numbers dictate how I feel about myself anymore.
“I just go on how I feel mentally, and I feel amazing!
“I finally feel like I have a healthy relationship with food. Eating 2000-3000 calories - I roughly estimate and always eat more than 2000 cal because I know I’ll be hungry if I eat less. I eat healthy 70-80% of the time.
“Just remember: don’t let numbers get you down and define you. Don’t go on some silly starvation diet- it won’t work in the long run.
“Food is meant to fuel you, not make you upset.”
So there we have it - according to Puhto, it’s all about focusing on being healthy instead of thinking that the smaller the number, the better.
What do you think about Puhto’s blog post? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.
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