I think one of the main drivers is to tackle restaurants who are, shall we say, less than transparent in their descriptions - particulalrly when they advertise something as a healthy option when only one component of the meal could ever be considered healthy. A good example would be a meal I had at Chillis a few years back - it was advertised as a healthy option and was basically salmon and vegetables. I asked them how they had cooked the veggies as they tasted very good and they said they were sautéed in salted butter and that only the salmon fillet was the healthy part of the meal.
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Ha! Yes good point! Like selling salads with 200 calorie Caesar dressing! It just feels like another government ill thought out idea where the symptoms of the problem are being patched up but nothing is being done to address the root cause. Where is the national education program on healthy eating to back this up?
Yes this. It’s just a sticky plaster over the symptoms 
Vital life skills aren’t taught in school. Instead they teach algebra, chemistry and how to play a triangle.
Seems like it’s better to have it than not to have it.
For me the biggest game changer has been cutting out the sugar lowering the carbs to just fruits as well as a 6 hour eating window and 18 hour daily fasting.
Feels much better burning fat. All gym workouts too are awesome in a fasted state. Pure fat burning.
I am not sure whether people who never tried to reduce their weight know their caloric need. And maybe people who do not care would ignore it anyway.
The problem with all kinds of abnormal weight is not that people do not know better. Knowing it is one thing, but if you can’t control emotions and affect this does not help. This is true for all extremes.
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Personally I think it’s a damned good thing, why would you ever not want to know how many calories you are consuming?
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Because I’m suffering from a binge eating disorder and seeing numbers in relation to food triggers me, it makes me want to get out of the restaurant and leave, skipping the meal, or get the plate with the highest amount.
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You may well be heading towards 3000!
Was in a Beefeater (UK chain) a couple of weeks ago and we saw it wouldn’t be that hard to hit 3000. Some of the burgers and fries were over 1500. Starters at 500 and banana sundae at over 800. That’s without drinks.
Thing is - we always knew this stuff was packed with calories - but seeing it in print really does make you take notice. It did for me and wife anyway.
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I know. Seeing it in black and white in front of you really shows you how easy it is to over do it.
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They should depict the calories as well as all the ingredients used in their percentages
The problem for me is things I assumed were not too bad but turn out to be calorie bombs – recently when I’ve been at work if I didn’t want or didn’t have time for a full lunch, I’ve been getting just a coffee and scone from a local coffee shop. I knew home-made scones were about 150 calories but then found out the ones from this chain were closer to 500 – even before you added any spreads.
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I guess the fact that there are so many overweight and obese people in countries like the UK and USA goes to show that a large proportion of the population has now idea what their daily calorie intake looks like. And it’s getting worse in kids as well.
I’m not sure that the 2000kc for women and 2500kc for men is really helpful alone. And I don’t think that everyone actually needs as much as that either. We do have very sedentary populations in many countries now. In itself that will cause problems but people do consume so many “empty” calories as well.
The fact that cheap meals aren’t often the most healthy doesn’t help things along.
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I certainly don’t need 2000kc per day. If I ate that much I would quickly climb from within normal range BMI to obese in no time.
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And I would literally die in a few weeks with that amount 
I’m not counting them anymore but I believe i average around 3-3.2k
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I certainly don’t need 2000kc per day. If I ate that much I would quickly climb from within normal range BMI to obese in no time.
For sure, it isn’t as simple as taking the default suggested amount and you’ll be fine. People are individuals and your metabolism is individual too. It also depends in what you do in life.
Back when I worked as a landscaper I burned through the calories like crazy and I could eat loads and not put on weight. I had to eat loads to be able to do the physical work I was employed to do.
Then I got into a desk job and the sudden move to sedentary work really hit me hard as I didn’t adjust my eating that much and I ballooned.
So if you want to be able to eat more, take up something that burns a load of calories and you can eat more. But if you lead a sedentary life, you’ll need a sedentary diet innit?
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I don’t mind it, but I don’t think it’s going to do anything about the obesity epidemic. Countries around the world aren’t putting on weight because they removed calorie counts in the first place.
People are obese for a number of reasons: too sedentary, eating too many of the wrong things, portion sizes. Portion sizes have definitely got larger and I honestly believe many people don’t know how many calories they consume.
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I would argue that far more people at least have an idea about calories than there ever was previously. I would think it’s environmental issues, like you’ve stated. Previously there was less choice, smaller portions, probably less sugar, fewer food scientists figuring out how to keep you eating. A lot of the main culprits we think about are delicious, addictive, and abundant.
To be honest I have no idea how we will tackle the obesity epidemic but I don’t think self restraint will get us there. Which is why I am doubtful that putting calories on foods will really make a dent. I think it’s more of a wider environmental issue.