"The big fat calorie counting con"

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  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    eric_sg61 wrote: »
    hamoncan wrote: »
    "For Dr Lucan and his fellow researcher James DiNicolantonio, rather than simply counting calories to help dieting, we should be looking at the type of food we are eating."

    Real ground breaking stuff there! /sarcasm

    If you overeat ANY food you'll gain bodyfat. I am still waiting for the 10,000-calories-a-day -approved-food list to not gain weight diet. I guess I'll keep waiting

    LOL for realz ….

  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Iwishyouwell wrote: »
    I couldn't care less about the calorie controversy, but I do think there needs to be a much greater conversation about macros and a de-villainization of the fat macro.

    Is fat still that villainized? It doesn't seem to be on MFP. I guess I don't have that good a sense of the general public, but in my circles everyone seems to have moved on to carbs long ago.

    Anyway, if it is, I certainly agree with you.

    Carbs have definitely taken a hit, but I still see in the "real world" lots of people knocking foods as "unhealthy" simply because they're associated with fat.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    carbs and sugar seem to be the modern day satan ….
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    The study doesn't say what the article claims it says. It actually validates CICO.
  • ViolaLeeBlueberry
    ViolaLeeBlueberry Posts: 182 Member
    edited November 2014
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    Nothing new there, but that's the case with most articles. (Half the articles out there re-state for the general public what people who pay more attention to the issue already know -- whether it's about ISIS or Congress or macros/calorie counting. That's not "bad" or "lazy journalism," it's part of the function of journalism. Not everyone can follow everything.)

    The article is OK, but it has a slant. Which is fully revealed in the tagline at the end, LOL:

    "Ross Edgley is a writer and broadcaster who specialises in the areas of health, nutrition and popular culture. He is also Co-Founder at THE PROTEIN WORKS™.

    The Protein Works is a company that sells protein powders and shakes. So yeah, he's keen on selling the world on "eat more protein." And yeah, he knows it's not a new discovery, or he wouldn't have started his company -- which presumably didn't get started yesterday, after the research he cites came out.
  • fearlessleader104
    fearlessleader104 Posts: 723 Member
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    A calorie is not always a calorie! Muahahahaha >:)
  • gothomson
    gothomson Posts: 215 Member
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    This is the problem: newspapers are NOT scientific journals and over the years I have become sceptical of these "Shock! Horror!" stories. I am no nutritionists but I don’t think anyone that is would say that “a calorie is a calorie” and would point out that 100 calories of protein is going to be better for you that 100 calories of sugar.

    Also calorie counting makes you take notice of the food your eating – before I'd pick up the cream cake and eat it, now I look at it and go “500 calories! That’s a whole hour at the gym to work that off, no way!”, and I get a banana instead.

    Plus it’s The Telegraph – if they told me today was Tuesday I’d check it on three calendars first!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Iwishyouwell wrote: »
    I couldn't care less about the calorie controversy, but I do think there needs to be a much greater conversation about macros and a de-villainization of the fat macro.

    Is fat still that villainized? It doesn't seem to be on MFP. I guess I don't have that good a sense of the general public, but in my circles everyone seems to have moved on to carbs long ago.

    Anyway, if it is, I certainly agree with you.

    I didn't read the entire article but it seems to be pro low carb?

    By more-nuanced thinking, then, what counts for obe-
    sity and related diseases is not the number of calories in
    specific foods but rather the concentration and type of
    carbohydrates these foods contain (
  • Wronkletoad
    Wronkletoad Posts: 368 Member
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    do you even lift bro?
  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
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    herrspoons wrote: »
    But for losing weight? No. Counting calories whilst eating reasonably is the only effective means of controlling the process.

    Really?

    Then I'm confused as to how I've lost over 100 pounds...not counting calories?
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    I wonder how people controlled their weight before calories were invented. I wonder how the animal kingdom does it.
  • 5stringjeff
    5stringjeff Posts: 790 Member
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    BarryK15 wrote: »
    I guess not everyone is on board with MFP. I don't know, it worked pretty well for me.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/mens-health/11249611/The-big-fat-calorie-counting-con.html?fb

    TL;DR version: macros matter.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    Calorie counting certainly has worked for me as far as weight loss goes, but macro ratio seems to work best for energy level and satieaity (for me).

    What macro ratios did you end up with?

    Sabine,

    I have them set at 30% fat/30% protein/40 % carbs. However, I haven't found a way to get my protein level up to par for weight lifting but my energy levels are great. I always end up with more carbs than I've set my goals for.
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
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    WalkingAlong wrote: »
    I wonder how people controlled their weight before calories were invented. I wonder how the animal kingdom does it.

    Wild animals don't lay around and eat all day long. Some predator animals may only eat every few days if they are lucky and they have to exert effort to acquire food..
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    kelly_e_montana wrote: »
    I've only been able to maintain my weight since I've stopped counting calories. I counted since grade school and it led to a cycle of restriction and binging. Now I eat intuitively and move more and have stayed the same weight for the last year.
    Wonderful!

  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    edited November 2014
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    Well, when a journalist starts off an article about a new study that "goes completely against dieting doctrine" and "is set to shake the foundations" you know there is really nothing new in it except maybe to the dim wit journalist who has never actually been exposed to research in the field before. *Yawn* nothing to see here.

    ETA oh, it's worse, the author is selling something. No bias there at all.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
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    Iwishyouwell wrote: »
    herrspoons wrote: »
    But for losing weight? No. Counting calories whilst eating reasonably is the only effective means of controlling the process.

    Really?

    Then I'm confused as to how I've lost over 100 pounds...not counting calories?


    ^^Ditto this. I lost 160#. Works for me, but perhaps I am (and everyone who has seen me before and after) just delusional.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    Iwishyouwell wrote: »
    herrspoons wrote: »
    But for losing weight? No. Counting calories whilst eating reasonably is the only effective means of controlling the process.

    Really?

    Then I'm confused as to how I've lost over 100 pounds...not counting calories?
    Whether or not you counted calories, you ate at a calorie deficit to do so well weight loss. Not counting calories actually works well for some, but for others of us it does not. To each our own. :)

    My hat is off to those people who don't count calories and who are successful at weight loss. I think not counting calories and losing weight is a tool as well, because you've obviously learned to listen to your body very well. My cousin has lost about 35 pounds and does not count calories, though she does do weight watchers.

    Man, I wish I was at that place where I didn't count calories, but every time I have tried to eat intuitively, for lack of a better phrase, I have ended up overeating and gaining weight. For me, counting calories and logging is my accountability factor.

  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    “public health should work primarily to support the consumption of whole foods

    Well, yeah.

    Bioavailability of calories and satiety matter. The Atwater system is very crude.

    How is this news?

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