FORGET COUNTING CALORIES TRY THIS INSTEAD...

Calorie counting isn't just difficult, it's riddled with problems that make it practically useless for anyone trying to lose weight.But there are alternatives

- HATTY WILLMOTH

Want to lose excess fat? There's one method scientifically proven to work: the calorie deficit. In simple terms, that means eating a little less food than your body needs to fuel itself each day. Do that, and your body starts dipping into its energy reserves - its stored fat - to make up the shortfall.

It sounds straightforward, but anyone who's tried to lose weight this way knows the story. You dutifully keep track of the calories in every meal - right down to the last grain of rice to ensure your daily total remains below your regular tally, and yet the needle on the bathroom scales refuses to budge.

It's frustrating and disheartening. But there's good news: you're not to blame.

Recent scientific findings suggest it's almost impossible to count calories with any degree of accuracy. Now, that alone explains why trying to lose weight by calorie counting is so hard, and should come as some reassurance to anyone struggling to do it. But it doesn't stop there. It seems the very idea of what a 'calorie' actually is might need a rethink, especially for anyone who's serious about losing fat.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

It's hard to keep track of the calories you consume. But the worst part is, you can make every possible effort to get the count right and you're still likely to get it wrong - even if you're a weight-loss specialist.

“Trying to reliably measure how many calories I’m eating - let alone how many calories I’m burning – is a near-impossible task,” says Dr Adam Collins, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Surrey.

It’s not bad maths that trips most of us up, though. Anyone who’s ever tried to judge what counts as a ‘small’ bowl of cereal or a ‘drizzle’ of olive oil knows that estimating portion sizes — and matching them to the numbers on the packet — is anything but straightforward.