This Instagram Account Will Change Everything You Thought You Knew About Calories

Counting calories on an app, scanning through a plethora of websites to find the 'right' food that will boost weight loss, gazing wistfully at the brightly illuminated dessert counter at your fave bakery but only to kill your craving—you know you've done it all.

With the aid of various tools that we are blessed with today, we (by that, we mean people who are moving towards fitness) are gradually moving towards counting our daily calorie intake in an attempt (successful or unsuccessful, that depends though) to monitor our amplifying waist-line — ultimately scrapping off certain foods from our diet. A fitness Instagrammer Lucy Mountain, however, is trying to open our eyes to the reality of it all.

To help us understand better, Lucy recently started a second Instagram feed, 'TheFFFeed', where she posts a series of food-related pictures which have given us a whole lot of perspective on calories, and what it means to count them.

Lucy is pretty clear on her point — even when she says that "lesser calories" does not necessarily imply "healthy", she still advocates that awareness plays a major role in weight loss or gain.

Now this works both ways. Just like the quantum of calories in something is not necessarily indicative of how healthy it is, similarly you don't always need to cut down on portion sizes to minimise calories. She tries to demonstrate this very fact through a series of posts on her feed —prepare to get startled.

[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BV9Z9KCBu26/" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

While Lucy posts a handful of almonds in one picture, and a handful of fruit pastilles in the other by its side, she points out that they contain equal calories. She quotes,

"I'm fully aware that a handful of almonds contains lots of wonderful nutrients that would keep me fuller for longer, but some days (no matter whether I'm looking to gain, maintain or lose weight) I'll choose to eat sweets or a chocolate bar as a snack. Why? Because when the majority of my diet has consisted of well-balanced food that's full of micro nutrients, I have no issue eating something that's less so just because I love the taste of it."

In a simple comparison, Lucy objectively and realistically emphasises that we need not obsess over calories, but instead seek a balanced diet. Also, she compares two foods which look absolutely identical to the naked eye, but have a striking contrast when it comes to their calorie-intake!

[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BWawVk3Bhgv/" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

Lucy explains that the only differences leading to the almost-200-calorie-discrepancy are "the percentage of fat in the meat and the oil used to cook it." According to her, the body needs both fat and calories as fuel and hence, making a simple swap could take help weight management, as long as the fat requirement of the body is met via other meals of the day.

Negligible swaps in ingredients here and there along with a tad bit of portion control, could lead to massively substantial differences in the calories consumed. Like this —

[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BV9aHFDBf96/" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BV9ZnT6hoX7/" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

Lucy also helps suggest alternatives that are equally yum, but you never knew were lower in calories.

[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BXLkZPKBqep/?taken-by=thefffeed" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BV9awe7hdGV/?taken-by=thefffeed" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

By running a second account dedicated to creating awareness about food and nutrition, fitness enthusiast Lucy endeavours to make people less conscious of their culinary choices, and to not over-stress on their weight-loss diets. Through each post, Lucy is trying to tell people that in the end — they should just follow their hearts, and never let anyone project their own issues onto them.

[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BYq6Pa3HrkW/?taken-by=thefashionfitnessfoodie" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

Talk about some perspective on calories, eh?

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