Womens running magazine alternative to calorie counting

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slaite1
slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2015/04/nutrition/lose-weight-without-counting-calories_37377

Basically take pictures of all your foods as you eat them, then review at the end of the week to see how you did. This is easier than calorie counting? Or just writing it down? You can just take pictures of all your labels for the same effort and get actual accuracy. Ridiculous
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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    And when I gain five pounds in a month instead of lose them, that will be the proof as to why I need to count calories.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    It's like weight loss for Instagram. Next week - how a sepia tone filter will double your metabolism!
  • isulo_kura
    isulo_kura Posts: 818 Member
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    well Ok then
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    Reminds me of the Plate Mate app.
  • mleneis
    mleneis Posts: 6 Member
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    slaite1 wrote: »
    You can just take pictures of all your labels for the same effort and get actual accuracy.

    That assumes that everything you eat is pre-processed. If you actually make your own food, it's more complicated than scanning the barcode.

    Not saying one system is better than another, but if there's an option that works for someone, more power to them.
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
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    You can also search for your foods for minimal effort.

    Or just write down what you eat. The point is that the picture taking is no more than a gimmick. And, in my opinion, would be cumbersome to do and to review at the end of the week. Not to mention easy to cheat. Eat a Hershey kiss at work, take a picture? Add cream and sugar to your coffee (I drink many cups a day) take a picture?

    I agree anything that makes someone pay attention to what they put in their mouth can be useful. This one is just silly.
  • Lozibeth
    Lozibeth Posts: 47 Member
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    There's an app that's basically this called TwoGrand...meant to make you mindful of what you're eating instead of just shovelling it in. More useful if you're already at maintenance and have a good idea already of portions and what foods to eat. It's kinda hipster.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    If you couldn't tell that what you were eating was too much when you were looking at it the first time, how is looking at a picture of it later supposed to help?

    How is flipping through a week's worth of your pictures supposed to make you more aware ... I already knew I ate a lot of starchy things when I had cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner. WTF?

    Well, the article was written by a personal trainer. I guess that says it all.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
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    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    If you couldn't tell that what you were eating was too much when you were looking at it the first time, how is looking at a picture of it later supposed to help?

    How is flipping through a week's worth of your pictures supposed to make you more aware ... I already knew I ate a lot of starchy things when I had cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner. WTF?

    Well, the article was written by a personal trainer. I guess that says it all.

    Well , any kind of logging is going to encourage more awareness and focus, very important things. It's just a missed opportunity to do full on tracking and be enabled to most efficiently create a deficit and learn about the contents of foods.

  • cosmiqrecovery
    cosmiqrecovery Posts: 171 Member
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    I've used Twogrand in the past and I think it's more of a useful tool for mindfulness of portion sizes than weight loss? Like obviously if you're going out and having an elaborate dessert just to brag to your followers and take a pretty picture then you're probably not going to lose weight, but if you're reaching for a half gallon of ice cream on a bad day do you really want to post a picture of the empty carton? I think if it were used together with calorie counting it could be useful, but alone and just for weight loss? Nah.
  • crazyjerseygirl
    crazyjerseygirl Posts: 1,252 Member
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    slaite1 wrote: »
    http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2015/04/nutrition/lose-weight-without-counting-calories_37377

    Basically take pictures of all your foods as you eat them, then review at the end of the week to see how you did. This is easier than calorie counting? Or just writing it down? You can just take pictures of all your labels for the same effort and get actual accuracy. Ridiculous

    I tried this (there's an app) and it failed for me for two reasons.

    1. I was greatly underestimating calories. One tbls of dressing is 200kcal? No way!
    2. I had no concept of portion.
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
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    Doing this method could be useful if you consider it "batch processing" and log all your weekly stuff at once. But just looking at pictures is probably dumb.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    I think you're missing the point of the article by summarizing it at "basically take pictures of all your foods as you eat them." The writer also says to develop a weekly meal plan. The purpose of taking pictures isn't to eliminate calorie counting, but to evaluate whether you are sticking to the plan or not. If you plan gives you the 500 calorie per day reduction that the writer talks about and the pictures show that you are sticking to your plan, then you can expect to lose weight. The pictures are an accountability measure.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    The meal planning said nothing about calorie reduction. It just said to plan. The whole idea was to avoid calorie counting.

    The idea of the pictures was to analyze what you ate so that you could make adjustments as you did or did not get results from it.
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
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    He refers to calories and a necessary deficit to lose weight-but does not incorporate it into the meal plan he tells you to make. Probably because it's hard to work in a deficit if you're not counting calories...


  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    slaite1 wrote: »
    He refers to calories and a necessary deficit to lose weight-but does not incorporate it into the meal plan he tells you to make. Probably because it's hard to work in a deficit if you're not counting calories...

    I see no reason to think you would have to count calories to have a plan or to have a deficit. Pictures of food will show how much a plate is filled with food and what kinds. If a person who isn't losing weight adjusts their diet so that their pictures show plates with foods taking up less room, or taking up the same space but with more vegetables, the end result will be a calorie reduction and weight loss, but it will be achieved without counting calories.

  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    slaite1 wrote: »
    He refers to calories and a necessary deficit to lose weight-but does not incorporate it into the meal plan he tells you to make. Probably because it's hard to work in a deficit if you're not counting calories...

    I see no reason to think you would have to count calories to have a plan or to have a deficit. Pictures of food will show how much a plate is filled with food and what kinds. If a person who isn't losing weight adjusts their diet so that their pictures show plates with foods taking up less room, or taking up the same space but with more vegetables, the end result will be a calorie reduction and weight loss, but it will be achieved without counting calories.

    I agree actually. I myself have lost weight without strictly counting calories. This was in response to someone else who mentioned a deficit. The author mentioned a deficit-but didn't mention actually incorporating one. Again, anything that makes people pay attention to what they are eating is a good thing. This whole article just screamed gimmick.
  • PeachyPlum
    PeachyPlum Posts: 1,243 Member
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    I don't know, I think it depends on the person.

    I have spent many years maintaining just by cutting sweets and potato chips out of my life and eating as much as I wanted of the other stuff, which means that my appetite for that stuff basically matches my TDEE.

    Every time I've ever gained weight it's been when I justified eating ice cream multiple times a day, or eating a whole bag of chips every day for weeks on end. I'm back here after two years of maintaining without logging because I hit a rough patch emotionally and started eating tons of candy and ice cream along with my nutritious meals.

    I'd have felt pretty embarrassed with myself taking a photo of my second candy bar before 10am, let alone the 1:00 ice cream sandwich and the 3:00 Magnum Bar after lunch.

    Is it a gimmick? Absolutely? Might it work for some people for whom portion control is not the bigger issue? Possibly.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
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    slaite1 wrote: »
    http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2015/04/nutrition/lose-weight-without-counting-calories_37377

    Basically take pictures of all your foods as you eat them, then review at the end of the week to see how you did. This is easier than calorie counting? Or just writing it down? You can just take pictures of all your labels for the same effort and get actual accuracy. Ridiculous

    Instagram. It's not just a social photo sharing app. It also doubles as a weight loss plan.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    Anything that makes you more mindful of your eating is usually helpful.

    One of the big activity trackers' original food tracking tool was only picture-based. I'm not sure which one it was or if it's still that way.

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