Does calorie counting actually work?
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If you are new to the forum, may I suggest utilizing the "search" function to find the answers you are looking for? Nearly every question possible has been asked and answered. You will learn a lot by reading through the different threads.0
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yes I've lost 50 pounds simply eating at a caloric deficit. thats it.0
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you get out what you put in. it works if you are consistent and as accurate as possible...many people are neither.0
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LaurenWilkins293 wrote: »It works until the number you have to hit to lose weight gets so low that you go insane from hunger.
No to this.
Yes to calorie counting working. But ya gotta COUNT THEM ALL! Count the ones you ate....count the ones your burned....count the ones you lost by arguing with people on the internets. Count em ALL!
Haha love it! I only found out this app had a forum a couple hours ago and look what iv started
My. Someone thinks very highly of themselves.
To answer your question, yes, calorie counting works. Being in a deficit is the only way to lose weight.
Um sorry how don't think highly of myself
obviously not if I'm on a fitness app!! 0 -
Oh gosh, this is like being back at school. Think I'm out0
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just take the advice of some here OP
Start logging and counting and you will see that it works.
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LaurenWilkins293 wrote: »Oh gosh, this is like being back at school. Think I'm out
Try to ignore the immaturity and flippant comments. There are helpful people here
If you want help with anything feel free to message me.
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So...calorie defecit
When you first sign up to MFP you give it lots of details and a weight loss goal and it spits out a calorie figure for you to eat which will achieve that goal without purposeful exercise..then if you exercise you eat back 50% of MFP database calories
Let's say you set it to lose 1lb a week...that would be 500 calories a day defecit (eg below the level you would need to eat to maintain. Let's say that gives you 1500 calories to eat whereas you burn off 2000 so your defecit is 500
Over 7 days you would have a defecit of 3500 calories which is roughly a lb
If you choose, you could eat 1200 on 5 days then at the weekend have an extra 1500 calories to blow on your indulgences
Does that make sense?0 -
It only works for those who are most honest with themselves. I may log that piece of cake from the BBQ last night, or I may exercise the same amount of calories and call it a wash.0
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Oh gosh, this is like being back at school. Think I'm outmizzlarabee wrote: »LaurenWilkins293 wrote: »Oh gosh, this is like being back at school. Think I'm out
Try to ignore the immaturity and flippant comments. There are helpful people here
If you want help with anything feel free to message me.
Is that an offer to promote your services? Because you can offer help in an open forum. Especially considering since we don't even know your accomplishments.
Booo boring.0 -
It's my understanding that calorie counting is in fact the only way to lose weight. Any "diet" such cabbage soup egg diet whateve is based on that principle, they just candy coat it with a fancy diet name, but in essence it's all calorie counting. As everyone here on mfp likes saying "Calories in and calories out". I've lost 18 lbs counting calories and only counting calories. I have a food scale and can eyeball if one isn't available when I'm out and about. You get so good at it that you mentally calculate your calories during each meal. It's a lifestyle change, but that doesn't mean you are deprived. If it fits into your calorie goal treats are fine. I eat everything I want in moderation. I don't drink soda 95% of the time. I don't eat fast food at all. I try to eat as natural as possible and cook a lot. No one can be perfect, but it's about how you eat most of the time, not that one bite of a brownie or spoon of Ice cream. It works ! And it gets easy after the first few weeks. I've always lost 5-10 lbs then gone up and down up down. Until I really began to take calorie counting seriously. I'm so close to my goal weight for my wedding it feels amazing. Good luck 0
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It's especially meaningful if you are actually weighing your food.0
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Which is part of the reason it's recommended you reduce the amount of weight you lose per week the less you have to lose.It works until the number you have to hit to lose weight gets so low that you go insane from hunger.
I'd have to eat less than 1,000 calories a day to lose two pounds a week, which would leave me miserable and malnourished. I'd aim for 1,749 if I were still trying to lose.
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mizzlarabee wrote: »LaurenWilkins293 wrote: »Oh gosh, this is like being back at school. Think I'm out
Try to ignore the immaturity and flippant comments. There are helpful people here
If you want help with anything feel free to message me.
Is that an offer to promote your services? Because you can offer help in an open forum. Especially considering since we don't even know your accomplishments.
Promote my "services" - as in, exchange for money? No. Forums can get cluttered and clearly insulting. I wasn't offering anything to a group so I didn't know that I had to prove my accomplishments to the "we" you are alluding to.0 -
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mamapeach910 wrote: »
Or have to learn how to distinguish true hunger from false hunger. I'm not entirely convinced that some of the people who make claims about being terribly hungry all the time are actually, truly hungry.
OR, you have a duodenal ulcer and the pain seems like hunger... Yep, happened to me when I first started. The conversation went like this.
ME: But Doc, I'm having trouble loosing weight because I'm hungry ALL THE TIME!
DOC: What does hunger feel like?
ME: pain in my stomach
DOC: Are you hungry right after eating a meal?
ME: Yes
DOC: That's not hunger, let's look more into this...
The crappy thing about a duodenal ulcer is that it actually hurts more when there is food in your stomach vs a 'regular' ulcer that hurts more when your stomach is empty. So I was hungry when I was hungry, and 'hungry' after eating which was really ulcer pain.
Went on Prilosec and the difference was night and day. I was still hungry when my stomach was empty, but no longer hungry when my stomach was 'full'.0 -
LaurenWilkins293 wrote: »been doing this a week now and sticking to 1200 calories a day, and doing jillion michaels 30day shred
Yes it works on most people, but I found out that stress levels will hamper your results. I ate for 2 months straight with a 50 - 600 calorie a day deficit. I would have expected to have lost quite a bit of weight and body fat. However, though my muscles I am sure grew a bit from my daily exercising, the weight and body fat would not come off. I stuck to the calorie counting like glue and worked out daily. I went to my doctor to tell him about the issue, he said I probably had cortisol level issues from chronic stress (my wife was going through cehmo treatments for her cancer, my daughter had SJIA, and my work was hanging by a thread because I had to take care of my family). So he said to reduce my stress levels and it should begin to work. Well, 20 months later I am able to begin to lose weight and body fat because I changed jobs, and my wife and daughter are totally healthy. I have read quite a bit of research on this as well from the Mayo Institute and NIH, so I am guessing there is something to it. :^)
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quiksylver296 wrote: »If you are new to the forum, may I suggest utilizing the "search" function to find the answers you are looking for? Nearly every question possible has been asked and answered. You will learn a lot by reading through the different threads.
This. It will prevent a lot of hurt feelings.0 -
It does work if you log correctly.0
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It works, but a few tips I have found:
- Be careful when you eat your calories. Loading up at night time because you have some "spare" for the day stopped my weight loss
- Be careful about calculators of your base calorie requirements. Find somewhere that has a body analyser scale (maybe your local gym) that calculates your caloric requirements based on your weight, height age AND muscle mass. The online calculators obvioulsy can't use your muscle mass. I found that the calories calculated by MyFitnessPal as my daily requirement to lose weight were actually too high. Once I got the body analyser figure and based my target calories off that rather than the online calculator I started losing weight again (after a 4 week stall in weight loss)
- If you do intend to indulge, as others have noted, make sure it is within your weekly calorie count - the weekly net calorie graphs in myfitnesspal I have found great for exactly this
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LaurenWilkins293 wrote: »Ok well thanks for the positive feedback, didn't ask for no snotty ones but hey ho
Honestly. If you ask a silly question you're going to get some blunt answers. When you phrase your question like that, does it "actually" work, you are displaying -- at best -- your skepticism to a well-proven fact. At worst, you are displaying not just skepticism but hostility to the idea that it works. What result can you expect? Bluntness. Not rainbows and "positive feedback."
If someone "counts" calories but doesn't lose a reasonable amount of weight, it is either because
1) They are magical unicorns whose bodies never burn calories. Evar.
2) They are eating too many calories because they've set too small a caloric deficit to achieve results.
3) They are bad at or lazy about counting.
Most of the time it's Door #3. To be "good at counting" you have to- Practice accurate portion measurement. The key point here is accurate. Absolutely no guesstimating, no eyeballing. For most people, it means weighing stuff. Weighing is more consistent than volume-based measuring, because sometimes different amounts of food seem to take up the same amount of space. Some people don't want to meticulously weigh / measure their food. Fine. But then those people don't get to complain that calorie-counting doesn't work. Because they haven't really tried calorie-counting.
- Count EVERYTHING that actually has calories in it. Depending on the size of the calorie deficit you are targeting, there's actually a bit of variation in what will work for different people. I don't count water. I don't count diet sodas. I do count salsa and mustard, even though the calories in small portions of these are pretty miniscule. I certainly count fruits and vegetables. They have calories and eating them reduces the size of the deficit I am achieving. Duh. Some people don't want to count vegetables. Fine. But then, those people don't get to complain that calorie-counting doesn't work. Because they haven't really tried calorie-counting.
- Record everything you count. Kind of a subset of #2, but a lot of people make the mistake of not recording "a few bites" of something here and there because they assume that it's negligible. And that might be fine if you are successfully achieving a super-huge deficit and seeing results. Some people don't want to count the 3 M&Ms they ate, and the few bites of an apple, and couple sips of OJ, and those crackers that were just going to go to waste if someone didn't eat them, etc. etc. etc. Fine. But those people don't get to complain that calorie-counting doesn't work.
Is there some variation in people's metabolisms? Absolutely. Do we always accurately know the EXACT caloric value that our bodies extract from every bite? Nope. But this stuff only matters on the margins. Giving a crap about it is a great way to major in the minors. Calculating a reasonable and appropriate caloric deficit, and diligently counting calories as best we can to achieve that deficit works. ACTUALLY.
So much this.
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This is really very basic science so yes it works 100% of the time. Imagine you have a fuel tank and it holds 20 gallons and you know you use 5 gallons a day to get back and forth. If you use 5 gallons and only replace 3 gallons you will deplete the stored fuel in your tank. Now if you lose that 2 gallons a day for 5 days but on day 6 and 7 you put 10 gallons in your tank amazingly your tank will be back to 20 gallons by day 8.
People make this much harder than it is. Make it simple. Track everything even when you are "cheating" (cheating yourself). If you don't know the calories don't eat it. If this sounds too hard then set your goals lower and say "I won't lose any weight but I will try to eat healthier" and then at least you won't be disappointed with the results.0 -
Of course it works!0
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It's my understanding that calorie counting is in fact the only way to lose weight. Any "diet" such cabbage soup egg diet whateve is based on that principle, they just candy coat it with a fancy diet name, but in essence it's all calorie counting. As everyone here on mfp likes saying "Calories in and calories out". I've lost 18 lbs counting calories and only counting calories. I have a food scale and can eyeball if one isn't available when I'm out and about. You get so good at it that you mentally calculate your calories during each meal. It's a lifestyle change, but that doesn't mean you are deprived. If it fits into your calorie goal treats are fine. I eat everything I want in moderation. I don't drink soda 95% of the time. I don't eat fast food at all. I try to eat as natural as possible and cook a lot. No one can be perfect, but it's about how you eat most of the time, not that one bite of a brownie or spoon of Ice cream. It works ! And it gets easy after the first few weeks. I've always lost 5-10 lbs then gone up and down up down. Until I really began to take calorie counting seriously. I'm so close to my goal weight for my wedding it feels amazing. Good luck
Technically creating a calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight, not calorie counting. You can do that via a number of different methods, MFP is set up so that by simply tracking your calories and logging accurately, you can create the calorie deficit without any magical "diet". But there are people who create the calorie deficit and don't "count" their calories.
OP - as others have said, read the stickies.
Here's a good one:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1235566/so-youre-new-here/p1
It gets bonus points from me because of the amazing bearded Trog and the rampant use of sarcasm...
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mizzlarabee wrote: »mizzlarabee wrote: »LaurenWilkins293 wrote: »Oh gosh, this is like being back at school. Think I'm out
Try to ignore the immaturity and flippant comments. There are helpful people here
If you want help with anything feel free to message me.
Is that an offer to promote your services? Because you can offer help in an open forum. Especially considering since we don't even know your accomplishments.
Promote my "services" - as in, exchange for money? No. Forums can get cluttered and clearly insulting. I wasn't offering anything to a group so I didn't know that I had to prove my accomplishments to the "we" you are alluding to.
I think MrM's point is that it's better to keep advice on the forums rather than doing it in private. That way a) others can vet what you (generic) are saying (I'm sure you've witnessed some of the atrocious advice given around here, imagine if no one was countering that?), and b) others can learn from your (generic) experiences.0 -
You get what you put into it.
If you log everything you eat accurately and maintain your deficit, then yes.
If you're just going to go about it halfheartedly and log sporadically or in incorrect portions/amounts, then don't expect to be terribly successful.
Calorie counting DOES work, but YOU have to put in the work too.0 -
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