Managing weight isn’t just about calories. It’s also — and perhaps primarily — about the quality and character of those calories.

Great article talking about quality vs quantity — and I have found personally this to be true.

Pick and her colleagues in functional medicine say it’s time to reframe the weight-loss debate. Instead of obsessing about the visible impact of extra pounds, we should see them as warning signs that a mechanism inside our bodies needs attention. “If you are 10 to 20 pounds overweight, and if you feel lethargic, moody and sick most of the time, there is a good chance something is biochemically broken,” says Pick. “No amount of willpower will help you lose weight until you identify and resolve the underlying health issue.”

In situations like these, evaluating your food primarily by its calorie counts, rather than its nutritional and metabolic merits, can actually make matters worse and lead to more weight gain.

We talked to leading nutritionists and integrative physicians about the various factors inside our bodies that matter more than simple calorie counts. Here’s their take on the five health-boosting priorities that really matter when it comes to losing unwanted weight and keeping it off for good.

via Who’s Counting? : Experience Life Magazine.