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"The big fat calorie counting con"
Replies
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redfisher1974 wrote: »If you don't count cals why are you on this site? Just for the awesome forums? (honest question)
It may be an honest question but I also find it a strange question as well. From what I have seen there are hundreds of reasons people are here. Counting calories would be at the bottom of my list. It can be a useful tool but I find when I count calories I start to think about food all the time. I start obsessing about food, search for new recipes and I simply become hungry all the time.
Calories in, calories out and exercise works - I don't dispute that, but long term it is not sustainable. It is not something people will naturally do and once they have lost the weight and stop counting calories, the weight will often slowly return. I worked for WW for many years and watched the poor ladies struggle with maintaining. Often returning weighing more than when they started.
Calorie counting, is not something we can teach in schools to educate our young people. They simply will not do it as part of their lifestyle. Teenagers are more interested in eating quickly and using their time in discovering what life has to offer - often sex and alcohol.
However, teaching them about healthy nutrition from an early age so that it becomes just a part of their lifestyle would go a long way for not becoming obese in the first place.
Weight loss, as far as I am concerned, must start with good nutrition. Calorie counting is just one of the many tools available and nothing more.0 -
redfisher1974 wrote: »If you don't count cals why are you on this site? Just for the awesome forums? (honest question)
It may be an honest question but I also find it a strange question as well. From what I have seen there are hundreds of reasons people are here. Counting calories would be at the bottom of my list. It can be a useful tool but I find when I count calories I start to think about food all the time. I start obsessing about food, search for new recipes and I simply become hungry all the time.
Calories in, calories out and exercise works - I don't dispute that, but long term it is not sustainable. It is not something people will naturally do and once they have lost the weight and stop counting calories, the weight will often slowly return. I worked for WW for many years and watched the poor ladies struggle with maintaining. Often returning weighing more than when they started.
Calorie counting, is not something we can teach in schools to educate our young people. They simply will not do it as part of their lifestyle. Teenagers are more interested in eating quickly and using their time in discovering what life has to offer - often sex and alcohol.
However, teaching them about healthy nutrition from an early age so that it becomes just a part of their lifestyle would go a long way for not becoming obese in the first place.
Weight loss, as far as I am concerned, must start with good nutrition. Calorie counting is just one of the many tools available and nothing more.
You can find whatever you want strange, It was my Question and I asked it and he answered... Cheers!0 -
I will keep it short! In any article almost all reporters come at you with their on slant on things Here is the info on the article writer: "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™. " If you want to understand the food you consume and the effects it has on you then the calorie is only one part of that understanding. The plain truth is if you burn more than you take in then the body has to burn fat and muscle. The only problem with that is if food you eat does not have the right balance of all the necessary bodily food requirements then you body ceases to function properly.0
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redfisher, you have every right to be a bit annoyed at me but I honestly did not mean to offend you. Sometimes, because it is a public forum, we think the questions are directed at us and we forget that you were in fact speaking to a specific person. You asked your question, he answered and in normal society that is the end of it. But hey sorry about that, you got my opinion as well. The joys of the internet!!
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Hey I was in no way annoyed! I have been around long enough on forums to understand how it works. I was Just being myself.. A little jerky sometimes but honest. Enjoy your night!redfisher, you have every right to be a bit annoyed at me but I honestly did not mean to offend you. Sometimes, because it is a public forum, we think the questions are directed at us and we forget that you were in fact speaking to a specific person. You asked your question, he answered and in normal society that is the end of it. But hey sorry about that, you got my opinion as well. The joys of the internet!!
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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.
Food scarcity.0 -
Glad to hear that.:) It is morning for me, just after 8am, so thank you I will take that as enjoy your day. Cheers.0
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redfisher1974 wrote: »If you don't count cals why are you on this site? Just for the awesome forums? (honest question)
It may be an honest question but I also find it a strange question as well. From what I have seen there are hundreds of reasons people are here. Counting calories would be at the bottom of my list. It can be a useful tool but I find when I count calories I start to think about food all the time. I start obsessing about food, search for new recipes and I simply become hungry all the time.
Calories in, calories out and exercise works - I don't dispute that, but long term it is not sustainable. It is not something people will naturally do and once they have lost the weight and stop counting calories, the weight will often slowly return. I worked for WW for many years and watched the poor ladies struggle with maintaining. Often returning weighing more than when they started.
Calorie counting, is not something we can teach in schools to educate our young people. They simply will not do it as part of their lifestyle. Teenagers are more interested in eating quickly and using their time in discovering what life has to offer - often sex and alcohol.
However, teaching them about healthy nutrition from an early age so that it becomes just a part of their lifestyle would go a long way for not becoming obese in the first place.
Weight loss, as far as I am concerned, must start with good nutrition. Calorie counting is just one of the many tools available and nothing more.
It was mandatory for both boys and girls in my primary school to take home economics and shop each for half a year (it used to be a year but segmented by sex until the non-discrimination policies came in). We learned a lot the basics about nutrition and how to prepare and cook a "proper balanced" meal but calories never actually entered into the equation. Of course, this was actually before the sharp increase in the overweight and obese people actually started so weight control wasn't really a major concern at the time except for people with medical conditions I guess.
When my three eldest daughters went through primary school, the youngest is not yet 3, they didn't take home economics, which surprised me but I guess they figure that parents are supposed to teach this in the home. Problem is that too many parents themselves these days just don't know enough about nutrition and cooking, or so it seems.
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I think you nailed it Mr_Knight. We simply have too much good food available. Perhaps the old fight or flight came into it as well so they were pretty fit.0
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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.
Food scarcity.
Psh. PALEO duh.
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I eat whatever I want while keeping within everything MFP recommends. I tried to diet in the past and failed every time because I don't like rabbit food, counting calories means I can still have delicious, homemade pizza every week while still losing 2lbs a week (42 total).0
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I think "calorie counting" is just a basis on how people should eat. The beauty of MFP is its not just calorie counting. Yes, when you open the app or log on to the website, the first thing you see on your profile is your calorie count for the day. However, MFP does not just regulate your calories. It also asks you to keep a limit in the nutrition you take in as well. Carbs, Protein, and Fat are the big ones, but the app will flash if you have eaten over your sugar goal, or fats goal. MFP does a fine job at regulating what people can eat, I use to believe eating a turkey sandwich with Miracle Whip, hunks of turkey, on Sunbeam bread. When that 1 sandwich is ~500+ calories and fat, etc. Now I eat wheat bread, 2.75 oz of turkey with Baby Spring lettuce and that is ~250 calories. Basically, I was eating crap that I thought was not that crappy. Panera! I thought every piece of that food was healthy. One Frontega Chicken with a baguette is almost 800 calories. MFP has really brought to light the food that we are eating is not as healthy as it appears. If that isn't enough to learn that one is eating unhealthy, then I do not know what is.0
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Yes, part of it's that. But a huge part of the world now and in history has had no scarcity and no calorie counting tools and maintains (or they have access to calorie counting tools and don't use them). I'm surrounded by maintainers who don't count calories.WalkingAlong wrote: »I wonder how people controlled their weight before calories were invented. I wonder how the animal kingdom does it.
Food scarcity.0 -
I don't monitor macros when I count calories, so I don't think it's difficult. Not everyone who calorie counts uses a site that also includes macro data, too. But they're definitely not mutually exclusive and congrats on your success!srslybritt wrote: »Counting calories and counting macros are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I think it would be quite difficult. But hey, that's just me and my 40lb weight loss talking, what do I know?
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All these non-calorie-counters sound like Kanye West, "Imma let you finish but not counting calories is the BEST method on this calorie counting site!"0
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All these non-calorie-counters sound like Kanye West, "Imma let you finish but not counting calories is the BEST method on this calorie counting site!"
Well TBH this is the first time I've ever actual used a calorie counter. Most of my life I just ate and was active and I was fine but as I got older it became harder and now I think it's the best for me right now. Maybe in a few months once I've become better at portion control again and exercising I won't need it anymore but who knows; at least I know it works and it's there when I need it as a useful tool in my toolbox.0 -
redfisher1974 wrote: »If you don't count cals why are you on this site? Just for the awesome forums? (honest question)
Because this is MyfitnessPal, not MyCalorieCountingPal. There are lots of tools here besides the calorie counting app, and there are the forums.
Which is how I personally found MFP. I didn't even know there was a calorie counting app until a week or two after I was lurking the forums and then decided to sign up.0 -
I think most ( but obviously not all) people on this site lose weight by calorie counting.
But that doesn't make calorie counting the only effective way to lose or maintain weight - people have many different ways to do this.
- Obviously all of them include creating a calorie deficit( or calorie level if maintaining) but they do not all involve counting calories.
- Or using MFP at all.0 -
Iwishyouwell wrote: »redfisher1974 wrote: »If you don't count cals why are you on this site? Just for the awesome forums? (honest question)
Because this is MyfitnessPal, not MyCalorieCountingPal. There are lots of tools here besides the calorie counting app, and there are the forums.
Which is how I personally found MFP. I didn't even know there was a calorie counting app until a week or two after I was lurking the forums and then decided to sign up.
Don't recall asking you this?0 -
"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
So OP cites questionable research, has a blank profile with no weight loss (30 pound to go).
Can I hire him to be my trainer?
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All these non-calorie-counters sound like Kanye West, "Imma let you finish but not counting calories is the BEST method on this calorie counting site!"
I don't think anyone on this thread is saying calorie counting doesn't work well!
Calorie counting works very well on this diet and fitness site (which happens to have a great calorie counting tool attached to it).
This may blow your mind Fred, but there's more than one way to skin a cat (regardless of how much it weighs)!0 -
Cool story brofessor. May I interest you in some coconut oil for your coffee? For you, a special price of $30/litre. I'll send you my bank details.0
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chrisdavey wrote: »Cool story brofessor. May I interest you in some coconut oil for your coffee? For you, a special price of $30/litre. I'll send you my bank details.
It's definitely not that expensive over here in the UK.
What is expensive is decent fresh fruit!
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redfisher1974 wrote: »Iwishyouwell wrote: »redfisher1974 wrote: »If you don't count cals why are you on this site? Just for the awesome forums? (honest question)
Because this is MyfitnessPal, not MyCalorieCountingPal. There are lots of tools here besides the calorie counting app, and there are the forums.
Which is how I personally found MFP. I didn't even know there was a calorie counting app until a week or two after I was lurking the forums and then decided to sign up.
Don't recall asking you this?
Actually about anything that makes one "aware" can be helpful. Macros can help one make sure they are counting and getting a balanced diet.
Until I learned to ask "why" dieting terms were just that. After I ask "why am I overweight" then the different systems started to make more sense.
Being obese per the government I learned was not my "problem" but just a symptom of my problem(s). To go on a diet for me is a waste of time IF I do not try to address why I am FAT.
Counting Calories is not a CON but it does ignore the last 40 years of human dieting research. What is dead wrong is for me to turn dieting into a "religion" and close my mind to new data. Just the data from the past 10 years is 1000x more than the prior 100 years.
Calling any diet a CON does not promote good will.
After I asked myself why I am FAT and have been FAT for many years and did some research I decided it was because I had become CARB INTOLERANT. Counting calories was a way to insure I was meeting the expectations of my macro. Learned I was coming up short on Protein for example. Not good when that and and Fat are required for to be health long term. Learning I seemed to be Carb Intolerant meant if I did not want to stay fat I had to cut out the carbs for the most part. Others have require a different Macro.
Diets are not static but one has to be monitoring and tweaking along the way. Once I understood my object was NOT to lose weight for the first several months but to lose body fat that is in all of the wrong places it was a game changer for me.
Some that count calories seem to think they should see the scales readout to start dropping quickly just because they are eating less than they think they are burning. Finally after doing a lot of research I learned that thought is more based on Myth than science.
When I stop gaining muscle that counter balances my Fat lose I now understand I will not lose a pound per the scales and I am now fine with that now. As a male I know I want the belly fat gone. mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/mens-health/in-depth/belly-fat/art-200456850 -
WalkingAlong wrote: »I wonder how people controlled their weight before calories were invented. I wonder how the animal kingdom does it.
Food scarcity.
Yeah, all those obese lions surrounded by herds of edible animals.
No, wait......
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mustgetmuscles1 wrote: »Psh. PALEO duh.
PALEO!! PALEO!! PALEO!! Get used to hearing that word as you will be hearing it a lot in the future.
Oh my gosh, I am feeling so deprived as I prepare my roast lamb and vegetables for tonight's dinner. Honestly, there is so much food to choose from that I really don't know what the fuss is all about. 0 -
mustgetmuscles1 wrote: »Psh. PALEO duh.
PALEO!! PALEO!! PALEO!! Get used to hearing that word as you will be hearing it a lot in the future.
Oh my gosh, I am feeling so deprived as I prepare my roast lamb and vegetables for tonight's dinner. Honestly, there is so much food to choose from that I really don't know what the fuss is all about.
Mmmm, I'm having tacos with kidney beans, mango with yogurt, and probably a Tim tam for supper......because, dairy and legumes are good for me
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redfisher1974 wrote: »Iwishyouwell wrote: »redfisher1974 wrote: »If you don't count cals why are you on this site? Just for the awesome forums? (honest question)
Because this is MyfitnessPal, not MyCalorieCountingPal. There are lots of tools here besides the calorie counting app, and there are the forums.
Which is how I personally found MFP. I didn't even know there was a calorie counting app until a week or two after I was lurking the forums and then decided to sign up.
Don't recall asking you this?
Perhaps you should recall that:
A. This is a public forum. All are free to respond.
B. You didn't quote anybody directly when you asked the question.
C. I'm the one who first stated that I don't count.
How was anybody suppose to read your mind and know who you were addressing?-1 -
Food fight!!! :disagree: Seriously though, I'm cool with the fact that lbs. can be conned off of my body by calorie-counting. So far, my body has not caught on to the con!0
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Iwishyouwell wrote: »redfisher1974 wrote: »Iwishyouwell wrote: »redfisher1974 wrote: »If you don't count cals why are you on this site? Just for the awesome forums? (honest question)
Because this is MyfitnessPal, not MyCalorieCountingPal. There are lots of tools here besides the calorie counting app, and there are the forums.
Which is how I personally found MFP. I didn't even know there was a calorie counting app until a week or two after I was lurking the forums and then decided to sign up.
Don't recall asking you this?
Perhaps you should recall that:
A. This is a public forum. All are free to respond.
B. You didn't quote anybody directly when you asked the question.
C. I'm the one who first stated that I don't count.
How was anybody suppose to read your mind and know who you were addressing?
No need to apologize, Carry on.0
This discussion has been closed.
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