CICO ??

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janine831
janine831 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi can someone explain to me how this CICO diet works? I keep hearing about and I'm curious...

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  • rkcampbell
    rkcampbell Posts: 188 Member
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    It's not a diet. It's the foundation of MFP. Basically you burn more calories than you take in.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    You take in fewer calories than you burn.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Your body uses a certain number of calories daily. This includes all of the calories you burn just keeping your body alive, plus calories burned through things like work, exercise, and day-to-day activities. Eating less than this number of calories will allow you to lose weight.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Calories In versus Calories Out

    You can eat what you want as long as you eat less calories then you burn.
    So creating a deficit.

    So when you create a deficit of 500 calories a day. you should lose 1 pound a week
    Of course there are many factors that can have an influence on this.
    But for most people this works.

    Just weigh ALL your solid food on a food scale. Measure your liquids.
    Start logging your food here on MFP to count how much you calories you eat.

  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    rkcampbell wrote: »
    It's not a diet. It's the foundation of MFP. Basically you burn more calories than you take in.

    It is actually the foundation of any weight loss plan. How they calculate the calories in and/or the calories out varies but it is still all about eating less than you burn.

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    it is actually the foundation of any weight loss plan.

    This. No matter what diet you've heard of or done, the way it works is the same.

    To lose weight you need to burn more calories (energy) than you are eating. This means your body will burn fat as fuel.

    To gain weight you need to eat more calories (energy) than you are burning. This means your body will store the excess as fat.

    in the most simplistic of terms of course. that's how it works.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    janine831 wrote: »
    Hi can someone explain to me how this CICO diet works? I keep hearing about and I'm curious...

    There is no CICO diet. All CICO means is that you have to eat less less than you burn to lose weight.

    The tricky bit is figuring out how to do that! :drinker:
  • tibby531
    tibby531 Posts: 717 Member
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    this is a nice place to start. there are many calculators out there, which you can research at your leisure.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    the BMR is the bottom amount of calories that your body needs to keep you alive.
    the TDEE is the guesstimated amount of calories to sustain your activity level. eating 300-500 less than this number "should" result in a .5-1 pound loss per week.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    janine831 wrote: »
    Hi can someone explain to me how this CICO diet works? I keep hearing about and I'm curious...

    There is no CICO diet. All CICO means is that you have to eat less less than you burn to lose weight.

    The tricky bit is figuring out how to do that! :drinker:

    Nope, the tricky bit is figuring out how to continue doing that, day after day :p

  • Childfree1991
    Childfree1991 Posts: 145 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Interesting. I lost weight without counting or measuring anything. All I do is eat mainly clean and when hungry until satisfied. And do resistance workouts. Over 60 lb and 15+% body fat lost. To each their own I guess.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Childfree1991 wrote: »
    Interesting. I lost weight without counting or measuring anything. All I do is eat mainly clean and when hungry until satisfied. And do resistance workouts. Over 60 lb and 15+% body fat lost. To each their own I guess.

    Whether you counted the calories or not, it doesn't change the fact that you ate less than you burned...which is what the OP is asking about.
  • Tubbs216
    Tubbs216 Posts: 6,597 Member
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    Childfree1991 wrote: »
    Interesting. I lost weight without counting or measuring anything. All I do is eat mainly clean and when hungry until satisfied. And do resistance workouts. Over 60 lb and 15+% body fat lost. To each their own I guess.
    But, it was still a case of eating less than you were burning. Calories in were less than calories expended (out).
    Congratulations on your loss!
  • KittenTamer91
    KittenTamer91 Posts: 54 Member
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    CICO means "calories in calories out". You have to burn more calories than you take in to lose weight. I had to burn a lot to lose my weight! There are people out there who are lucky though. My boyfriend is a bottomless pit. He eats enough for 3 people and eats a lot of fast food and soda yet remains the size of a twig haha :P
  • nancyjay__
    nancyjay__ Posts: 310 Member
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    Childfree1991 wrote: »
    Interesting. I lost weight without counting or measuring anything. All I do is eat mainly clean and when hungry until satisfied. And do resistance workouts. Over 60 lb and 15+% body fat lost. To each their own I guess.

    What everyone else said :) you did a caloric deficit
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Childfree1991 wrote: »
    Interesting. I lost weight without counting or measuring anything.

    CICO doesn't require counting - you did CICO without it. :drinker:
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,840 Member
    edited April 2015
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    CICO = Calories In < Calories Out

    You can meticulously weigh and log everything ... or not. Just as long as your calories in are less than your calories out.

    When I was cycling 10,000 km/year, I struggled to keep weight on. Why? Because I was burning a whole lot more calories than I was consuming. CI < CO

    My activity level dropped for a number of reasons, I dropped the amount I was eating to try to compensate, but I didn't drop it far enough. So I gained weight. Why? Because I was consuming more calories than I was burning. CI > CO

    My activity level is increasing again, and perhaps it would have gotten to the point where I'm burning more than I'm consuming without any calorie counting ... but I decided to start logging everything I eat here to ensure that I'm consuming fewer calories than I'm burning. CI < CO

    ~~~~~~~~~~
    And it also means that you can eat whatever you want to eat ... as long as you consume fewer calories than you burn. So you don't have to restrict yourself to bland and boring food, or drop whole food groups out of your diet.

    However, you do have to put a little thought into what you choose to eat so that you have energy and remain somewhat full.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Lifestyle, not diet.
  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
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    the common denominator of all the trillion diets that ever existed? Eat less and move your *kitten*!

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