Hi friends! Coach Stefanie here!
For the last few days, I have been giving Calorie Command a try and it has been really eye opening. Yesterday I spoke to my husband about this experience and he raised the very interesting question of why, exactly, counting BITES is different than counting calories. This brought me to thinking about why we use BITES instead of just calories and I wanted to share this reasoning. Furthermore, why I personally, still think BITES are the way to go!
During dinner last night I had one of those realization moments as I prepared my two slices of 45 calorie bread and paired it with a tomato. As I went to the app to track everything, my bread came out to 45 calories per slice and my tomato to 32 calories for a 4oz tomato. So instead of eating the healthy tomato, I could have also chosen to eat another slice of bread for the same amount of calories. Similarly, this morning I grabbed a banana which clocked in at 105 calories, close to the same as an ounce of pretzel twists! On Better Balance, those pretzels would have clocked in at 3 BITES and the banana at 0.
You can probably already see here that I am noticing that it is much easier on calorie command to make less healthy food choices. Especially for someone who is used to consuming pretzels instead of bananas or toast instead of tomatoes. But I think we can all agree that, from a health aspect, choosing the fruit and vegetables is the better choice. And in the end, we want to learn better habits for the long term so being encouraged to make better choices is always a good thing in my book. It hasn't bothered me a lot because I have been on this journey long enough that I love fruits and vegetables and will still make them a big part of my meal. But for someone just starting out, this might not be the case.
You can certainly lose weight doing either plan but, I have found BITE counting to be much easier. It just takes a lot of factors into consideration, for me! Something it takes into consideration is the fact that protein will keep you full longer. So generally, the BITES encourage you to consume more high protein foods (hello 0 BITE food list on Better Balance!)
Being full for longer will also help you make better choices and feel more satisfied with your diet. I experienced the same thing this week. On Monday I ate all of my calories and in the macros could tell that I was over in carbs but low on protein. Most of the day I felt like I could eat something. Yesterday on the other hand, I was high in protein and low in carbs and I came in about 150 calories under my goal because I felt full and didn't feel like eating just to eat.
There is a lot of research and thought that went into the design of the BITES. And on the newer plans like Sugar Smart and Better Balance, the BITES don't necessarily translate 1 to 1 to calories but that is ok. If you feel lost on the weight loss plans, completely; read THIS POST. Our coaches break down which plans they think are "best"! The plan works and encourages you to make better food choices for your body which is something we should all strive for. I'm curious to know, are you team BITES or calories?? And why? Comment below!