NO. As we mentioned earlier, this is not a course on counting calories and we do not recommend that everyone does so, at least forever. Most people who are only starting out paying attention to their nutrition can get the greatest ‘bang for their buck’ by improving food choices and their macronutrient intake while looking closer at food labels and managing portion sizes as we will discuss in later modules. It is very possible to get into great shape and achieve perfect health without ever counting anything.
We advocate the idea that people should use an approach which will give them the best chance of adhering to their diet and improving their health, and if a calorie controlled diet makes that easier, then it should be used, but conversely it cannot be ignored that calorie counting is more or less unsustainable for an entire lifetime for just about everyone. At some point a different strategy is going to be necessary. We will be offering multiple strategies throughout the course, however, so sit tight.
Rather than thinking of calculating your calorie requirements and counting calories as the means by which fat loss is managed, we would urge you to think of them as tools. If you roughly know how many calories you need, then you have a tool which makes label reading and food decisions a little easier, and if you are able to eyeball the calorie content of a meal and therefore understand it’s impact on your daily diet, then that’s all the better.
Whether you count calories or not, calories make a difference, and understanding that affords you a far greater understanding of nutrition than you could ever have without it, even if you don’t specifically use the information every day. It’s an absolutely critical factor which is inescapable no matter what you do, so being cognisant of it is always a good thing.