Calories definitely aren&#x27;t accurate but they&#x27;re &quot;accurate enough.&quot; Just as different foods likely result in more human fat development per calorie than others (see bleeding edge research), but ultimately none of that is hugely important because by cutting all calories you&#x27;re likely cutting the &quot;bad&quot; kind too (namely sugars and complex carbohydrates). Counting sugars and those foods that easily metabolise into sugars is just as effective as actual calorie counting for weight loss.<p>One key thing to remember is: You cannot outrun a bad diet.<p>Meaning it isn&#x27;t realistic to achieve substantial weight loss through exercise. Thirty minutes of jogging could be undone by one extra chocolate bar, a Big Mac, or a soda. If you already have control over your diet exercise can HELP with weight loss goals (e.g. extra pound of body weight a week) but a lot of people assume they can run off 20-30-40 pounds of excess body weight which is just totally unrealistic.<p>Base metabolic rate is the primary means of weight loss. As simplistic as this sounds, the goal remains to consume less than you burn through BMR, and the latest research on calorie&#x27;s inherent inadequacies haven&#x27;t yet changed that.