9 reasons why counting calories is dumb

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  • belinus
    belinus Posts: 112 Member
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    While I do think people get too attached to the notion that calories in < calories out = weight loss and they do not pay as much attention to macros as they should, no weight loss method can escape that fundamental principal either. But even paying attention only to macros is still a form of counting calories. That is why I am having success here while a good friend of mine is having success with Weight Watchers' point system because in the end we are doing the same thing, I am just being more finite about it.

    Even paying attention to the types of food you eat is still a form of counting calories. How many of us here have heard or experienced weight loss simply by no longer drinking soda pop? Someone who drinks 5 cans worth (60oz) of Coke-a-cola Classic is taking in 600 calories a day (10cal/oz). Say they switch to something like Vitamin Water . They just cut their calorie intake by just under 40% to 375cal/day drinking the same volume (6.25cal/oz) which is a net loss of 1,575 calories a week. Or they switched, like me, to plain water. That cuts it out completely for a loss of 4,200 calories a week.

    My undergraduate adviser gave me the best reason to count calories. She is an experimental psychologist and in her lecture on measurement validity/reliability she mentions the phenomenon of what you are measuring is changed by the simple fact you are measuring it. The number one example of this is keeping a food diary. I cannot tell you how many times keeping an honest journal here in MFP has changed my eating habits simply because I have become aware of what exactly I am eating. I have stopped eating a lot of stuff that I used to or I "buy" the ability to eat it by going on one of my insane walks that last over 2 hours.
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    I think the quality of food line of thinking is much more pertinent to long term weight regulation as opposed to weight loss and what you are prepared to do to keep your weight on an even keel over many years.

    If the answer to the question "are you prepared to keep counting calories for many years or for the rest of your life" is "yes" then quality really doesn't have to be an issue. The basis of all weight loss is a calorie deficit as we all know.

    However, if the answer is "no" then focusing of food quality is a way of keeping your weight steady against the trade off from the burden of counting calories over the long term. Some people may choose to do this, others may not. Can you gain weight despite the quality of your diet being nothing other than fresh fruit, leafy vegetables, high quality protein sources etc? Yes. Is it much less likely than if your diet is much higher in "junk" food? Yes.

    Calorie counting can simply be an interface by which you gain real skills for unconscious competence: balanced diet, portion control, hunger and appetite control and so on.
  • CountingCaloriesSuxass
    CountingCaloriesSuxass Posts: 387 Member
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    why you calling me names?
  • calibriintx
    calibriintx Posts: 1,741 Member
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    9 reasons that article is stupid.

    1. NUTRIENT LABELS CAN BE OFF BY 20%
    >Implying I eat enough packaged foods for this to be relevant

    2. YOU DON’T ESTIMATE WELL
    >Implying I estimate my portion sizes

    3. MEASURING CALORIE EXPENDITURE IS SIGNIFICANTLY INACCURATE
    >Implying I log exercise

    4. RESTING METABOLIC RATE VARIES DAY TO DAY
    >implying this doesn't even out over time

    5. WHEN YOU EAT FEWER CALORIES, YOUR BODY BURNS FEWER CALORIES
    >Implying I don't already know about and compensate for adaptive thermogenesis

    6. A CALORIE OF PROTEIN IS NOT THE SAME AS A CALORIE OF FAT OR CARBOHYDRATE
    >Implying I don't count macros

    7. CALORIE COUNTING ISN’T SUSTAINABLE
    Sustainable for whom? It's sustainable for me and has been for a year.

    8. NO STUDY HAS SHOWN LOW-CALORIE DIETS ARE EFFECTIVE FOR LONG-TERM WEIGHT LOSS
    Is the author arguing calories in < calories out doesn't cause weight loss? :laugh:

    9. PEOPLE DON’T GAIN WEIGHT BECAUSE THEY EAT TOO MANY CALORIES, THEY EAT TOO MANY CALORIES BECAUSE THEY’RE GAINING WEIGHT
    Lol wut :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    Now if only MFP let us green text.

    Thread winner.
    7. CALORIE COUNTING ISN’T SUSTAINABLE

    What? I've been on numerous diets and none of them were sustainable. I've tried just eating clean and making sure I put the "right" foods in my body and that wasn't sustainable. I've tried just eating smaller portions. That was sustainable but I didn't lose weight b/c while my portions were smaller, I was still eating at or above maintenance. Counting calories is the most sustainable option I've encountered. Dumb article is dumb.
  • jennrox78
    jennrox78 Posts: 50 Member
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    why you calling me names?

    :laugh:
  • SpeSHul_SnoflEHk
    SpeSHul_SnoflEHk Posts: 6,256 Member
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    This is just ridiculous tripe. Please don't post confusing unfounded advice for the newbies. They have enough trouble sorting out what's real and what's BS.
  • SpeSHul_SnoflEHk
    SpeSHul_SnoflEHk Posts: 6,256 Member
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    why you calling me names?

    You should report this post. It's in violations of the terms.
  • hedgiie
    hedgiie Posts: 1,245 Member
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    he have his reasons.
  • nytius
    nytius Posts: 173 Member
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    This is just ridiculous tripe. Please don't post confusing unfounded advice for the newbies. They have enough trouble sorting out what's real and what's BS.

    QFT. ^This^ one hundred million times
  • hedgiie
    hedgiie Posts: 1,245 Member
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    he have his reasons.
  • SoViLicious
    SoViLicious Posts: 2,633 Member
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    Laughable article and it even references Taubes. Hint, anything that sites Taubes is going to be FoS.

    I'll keep counting calories and gaining weight on my bulks and losing weight on my cuts. Funny how effective that is for so many of us.

    Your brain turns me on!
  • CountingCaloriesSuxass
    CountingCaloriesSuxass Posts: 387 Member
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    why you calling me names?

    You should report this post. It's in violations of the terms.

    I know right!!!
    And...I am not dumb..just for the record..I just suck
  • tom09005
    tom09005 Posts: 1
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    toplel

    [citation needed] :laugh:
  • CountingCaloriesSuxass
    CountingCaloriesSuxass Posts: 387 Member
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    I think that life is too short to be wasted counting everything that you put in your mouth. I do not count calories. I am not one of those people that never gain weight...so I play with it and keep it under control..Like this weekend I had alot of foods and drinks, so today Im fasting...
    But, there are people that need to have a better idea or they lose control...and thats fine...whatever works, nothing dumb here.

    Oh, and these people lost the weight because they ate less, not because they counted calories..thats just a tool that works for some, and doesnt for some others..
  • Kindone
    Kindone Posts: 138 Member
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    You know what is really sustainable for me effortlessly? Being fat. So counting, weighing, measuring, watching macros it is.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
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    Oh, and these people lost the weight because they ate less, not because they counted calories..thats just a tool that works for some, and doesnt for some others..

    Math is hard, we get it.

    If they're losing weight, whether they're actively counting or not, they're burning more than they're consuming. Actively counting works. Maintaining a deficit is why you lose weight. If some folks wanna play around and guess, and can maintain or lose, that's on them.

    counting has worked pretty well for me.. and a LOT of other people.

    ..but that's okay, I get it. Math is hard. If only there was a website.. or a phone app that would just do the hard part for us...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    This guy and that Fitness Beverlyhills chick would get along really well. They both stubbornly resist science.

    maybe they are married....
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    I read this and sighed..... There are SO MANY people out there who tell us that what we're doing is dumb, unhealthy, stupid, etc.etc.
    A calorie, is a calorie (or kilo-calorie to be exact). A kilo-calorie is the amount of heat required to raise one gram of water through one degree centigrade So if you eat 10 calories of protein, or ten calories of fat,. then you need the same amount of energy to burn that 10 calories off. The only difference in the calories is the order, and how, your metabolism burns off calories. That's an exact science, and too involved to dump into a blog.
    I know that counting calories works, it IS sustainable, and it IS a healthy way of losing weight. That is all there is to it. thousands of other people on MFP will agree, we have counted calories and we have lost weight. The only addition to counting calories that we make, and that we know is essential for our success is that we run, walk, swim, cross-train or lift heavy.

    Eat less, exercise more, count calories = lose weight.

    It's not rocket science - and please excuse the quote - MFP works. Count calories.

    to hell with all your simplicity and logic!

    Everyone knows that counting calories is pointless and you can eat more than you take in and still lose weight as long as you do master cleanses, followed by ketone cleanses, and then go on the cabbage diet for a month ...

    calories in vs calories out pffffffffft who does that????
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    I think that life is too short to be wasted counting everything that you put in your mouth. I do not count calories. I am not one of those people that never gain weight...so I play with it and keep it under control..Like this weekend I had alot of foods and drinks, so today Im fasting...
    But, there are people that need to have a better idea or they lose control...and thats fine...whatever works, nothing dumb here.

    Oh, and these people lost the weight because they ate less, not because they counted calories..thats just a tool that works for some, and doesnt for some others..


    Same here. I tried, it sucked, I stopped and am losing. I don't think it's dumb, though. It works for a lot of people. For me? No thanks! Too tedious.
  • CountingCaloriesSuxass
    CountingCaloriesSuxass Posts: 387 Member
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    Oh, and these people lost the weight because they ate less, not because they counted calories..thats just a tool that works for some, and doesnt for some others..

    Math is hard, we get it.

    If they're losing weight, whether they're actively counting or not, they're burning more than they're consuming. Actively counting works. Maintaining a deficit is why you lose weight. If some folks wanna play around and guess, and can maintain or lose, that's on them.

    counting has worked pretty well for me.. and a LOT of other people.

    ..but that's okay, I get it. Math is hard. If only there was a website.. or a phone app that would just do the hard part for us...

    Nobody said math is hard...I said its annoying, and not the only way to lose/maintain weight..

    And again, it works for some, not everybody.

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