The Danger Of Tracking The Calories You Burn

Tracking the amount of calories you eat is smart.

Tracking the amount of calories you burn is not.

Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say you’re a 33 year old man at 5'11" (6 feet in shoes of course), weighing in at 170lbs, and live a moderately active lifestyle.

According to online calculators, your body burns about 2,600 calories per day on average.

To lose weight, you’d eat 500 calories less than that daily.

Quick math suggests that number is 2,100 calories.

That said, these online calculators are purely for estimation purposes, but I’ve found them to be a really good starting point over the years.

But here’s where things can get hairy…

In my experience, it’s best to simply track your meals and everything else you consume, including drinks and sauces which can add up fast.

But where a lot of people mess up is they get some fancy technology like a FitBit or Apple Watch and start tracking how many calories they burn each day.

Hey, I get it.

Being a numbers guy myself, it’s pretty cool to see.

But the issue shows up when you have a day where you go on a hike, have an…