The festive period usually involves a large amount of food, alcohol, and socialising. 

As a result, January comes around and many of us put a huge amount of pressure on ourselves to lose weight and be 'healthy'.

For many, this is done by counting and restricting calories - the most popular fad diet around.

Although this can work in the short-term, it can also have major unwanted side-effects and is difficult to maintain.

Here, Tamara Willner, a senior nutritionist with NHS-backed healthy eating plan Second Nature, explains why calorie counting just doesn't work as a long-term weight-loss solution, as she launches the company's #CancelCalorieCounting campaign. 

She also shares other ways to reach your weight and health goals that don't involve obsessive counting or harsh deprivation - and six balanced, healthy diets for you to enjoy at home.

WHY EATING LESS DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK 

Calorie-counting is a result of the myth that weight loss is as simple 'eat less and move more'.

By this line of thought, if we reduce the amount we put into our bodies and increase how much we use up, we'll lose weight.

The basic idea can work (in the short-term) but when considering something as complex and unique as our bodies response to foods, the science doesn't add up.

Not all calories are equal, for example, 100 calories of avocado vs 100 calories of biscuits, and the number of calories we actually absorb from foods varies greatly between individuals - it's rarely the number we see on the packets.

WHY 'GOOD' AND 'BAD' FOOD IS DAMAGING 

Most of us who've tried dieting before have practised calorie-counting at some point in time. We might not even realise we're calorie counting if we're taking part in a traditional weight-loss programme.

Often programmes provide lists of foods that relate to 'points' or colours that attach moral value (e.g 'red' foods are bad) but these are usually all just based on calorie content.

Interestingly, according to the Second Nature survey of 1,000 people who currently calorie count or have calorie counted in the past, conducted by One Poll, 41 per cent think this language encourages a negative relationship with food. 

If calorie-counting worked in the long term, we'd only need to try it once or twice and then we'd see our results and be able to sustain it.

WHY WE GET TRAPPED IN A VICIOUS CYCLE 

A strict diet that focuses on calorie counting might work for some, but for the majority, it's a short-term solution and will fail at some point, leaving us where we started.

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