![]() “It makes exercising and eating feel clinical, like a job.” “Quantifying everything takes away a lot of the joy around movement and food,” says personal trainer Lauren Pak. Even those without such a history might find that trackers make healthy habits less fulfilling. Experts typically suggest that anyone with a history of disordered eating, orthorexia, or obsessive habits around exercise and nutrition steer clear of fitness trackers. I can’t use a tracker because it’s very triggering for me.” ![]() “I almost died from anorexia in my early 20s. "Calorie counters are built on algorithms, and your body is not an algorithm." -Kerry O'Gradyįor her, it’s personal. “The more we buy into these numbers, the more we’re going to stop listening to our own bodies.” Different bodies absorb and burn calories differently (and, obviously, need more than just calories). Your body needs specific things that other bodies don’t,” says Kerry O’Grady, national wellness liaison with the National Eating Disorders Association. “People need to understand that these calorie counters are built on algorithms, and your body is not an algorithm. And the many health benefits of exercise are not reflected in just one number. We know, for example, that the nutritional value of food goes far beyond simply an estimate of how many calories you might absorb from it. Needless to say, our understanding of the human body has advanced a lot since 1918. That came about in 1918, when doctor and newspaper columnist Lulu Hunt Peters put out a book called Diet and Health: with Key to the Calories. However, calorie counting for weight loss didn’t become popular until a couple decades later. So if these numbers are essentially meaningless, how did we come to accept them as a standard? And why do they have such staying power over seemingly every new piece of fit tech launched? However, they are closer than calorie burn estimates: The Food and Drug Administration only allows inaccuracies of up to 20 percent. The food labels that tell you how many calories are in packaged foods? Those are seriously unreliable, too, because they rely on averages that don’t actually take into account how our bodies digest different foods. This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows the truth about calorie counts. Rena Eleázar, DPT, Rena Eleázar, DPT, is a physical therapist, sports performance coach, and competitive weightlifter.Lauren Pak, Lauren Pak is a personal trainer.Kerry O'Grady, Kerry O’Grady is a national wellness liaison with the National Eating Disorders Association.Jessi Haggerty, RDN, Jessi Haggerty, RDN, is a dietician, certified intuitive eating counselor, and personal trainer.
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