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iQuestions Faculty, Dr. David Eckman 
 
 
Question: 
 
To lose weight, do I just have to count calories? 
 
Answer: 
 
Counting calories is important, but it’s not totally significant.  
 
Let me tell you a story.  
 
My daughter I went to a weight-reduction class that was built all 
around counting calories. During a sharing time in that class, a young 
mother of a little girl volunteered this: she said she’d put on a birthday 
party for her little girl and all of her little girl’s friends, and half the 
cake that she had made was eaten by the kids. Then she took the half-
cake that was left, wrapped it up in plastic, wrapped it up in aluminum 
foil, took it out to the trash, threw it in the trash, threw dirty diapers 
on top of the cake, went back into the house—and then a half an hour 
later, lo and behold, she’s back out at the trash, digging through the 
diapers, grabbed the cake, took it into the house, put it on the table, 
unwrapped the aluminum foil, unwrapped the plastic, and ate the 
whole half-cake that was left. 
 
And then she made this point: “I’ve got a bigger problem than 
counting calories.” 
 
Counting calories is important, but that’s a minor part of it. There are 
many other issues involved. Issues of identity, issues of emotional 
pain, issues of self-worth—all of those things are wrapped in with the 
issue of weight, appearance, and calories. 
 
 
 
That being the case, counting calories is significant, but it’s not the 
most important issue at hand in weight reduction.  
 
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