Is CICO the real deal?
Options
samoejr
Posts: 30 Member
So I'm not really convinced that CICO is the formula for weight loss/gain. I'm not questioning the ability to lose weight counting calories and eating healthy (I lost 18 kg counting calories over 15 years ago); I just don't believe excess calories are the thing that makes us fat. My parents' generation for example never knew what calories even were and they used to eat normally and still were slim. And we all have friends who eat like crazy and never workout, but are TOO thin, or at least normal weight. It's just too overwhelming counting every single thing you eat and monitoring your CICO every single day.
So what's the real deal?
Update: I know that counting calories is how you monitor your CICO (and CICO is not equal to counting calories) and I know it works, but I also lost a hell lot of weight with a nutritionist who would let me eat unlimited quantities of food, and even have vanilla ice-cream for dinner if I wanted to! So my point is there must be something else.
So what's the real deal?
Update: I know that counting calories is how you monitor your CICO (and CICO is not equal to counting calories) and I know it works, but I also lost a hell lot of weight with a nutritionist who would let me eat unlimited quantities of food, and even have vanilla ice-cream for dinner if I wanted to! So my point is there must be something else.
0
Replies
-
CICO is simplified, but yes its the real deal.
If you eat more calories than you need, the body will store it as fat for a rainy day, and if you eat too little it will convert fat to energy.
The reason your parents generation didnt gain as much weight, is simply because they used their body more, and thus used more energy.
8 -
CICO is the real deal. CICO does NOT mean counting calories, it means that the calories you eat must be equal to the calories you burn, whether you're AWARE of them or not. If calories in are more, you gain. If calories in are less, you lose. It's science, and science doesn't care if people are actually aware of it or not, it just IS.
17 -
CICO is the real deal.6
-
-
CICO works.
Or more specifically ... CI<CO works.
Losing weight is all about eating fewer calories than you burn.
2 -
The act of counting calories isn't what CICO is. CICO is about energy balance, and the body you end up with is a result of whether you maintain a positive, negative, or neutral balance of intake/outake. It's really quite simple. Quantifying the intake and outake isn't CICO itstelf, it just makes the process easier to monitor.6
-
Don't confuse the process (CICO/energy balance) with a method (calorie counting). Calorie intake and expenditure is the only thing that controls body weight. All you have to do to not get fat, is to not overeat. All you have to do to lose weight, is to eat less than you burn. Every person who is fat, has eaten too much for quite some time.
But what controls intake and outtake of calories, is complex, and if you want it to be, complicated. You can eat appropriately without knowing about calories, and you can eat too much even if you know how many calories there are in everything you eat. Food choice/environment is important, but how it affects people, is individual. Overweight people tend to underestimate intake; underweight people tend to overestimate intake. Habits and attitude is important and covers a wide range: Some people like to eat a lot, or are just used to it, or use food for comfort, reward and entertainment, others are always busy and "forget" to eat, regard food as fuel and eating a chore. Over time, this adds up and is reflected in our bodies.11 -
Yes it is the real deal, previous generations were slimmer because they were more active and ate less junk food, therefore they didn't put themselves into a caloric surplus, it all still came down to cals in/out regardless of whether they were measuring their intake or not. People who "eat like crazy and never workout" are not eating as much as they/you say they are and/or they are not as sedentary as you think, you are not with them 24/7 and have no idea what they consume on a 24 hour or weekly basis and you have no idea how active they are or their NEAT levels, so you're wrong there too. It doesn't matter what you believe, the science is there and it's been studied to death, the ONLY way to lose weight is with a calorie deficit, and you cannot maintain or gain weight while in a calorie deficit, it is scientifically impossible and goes against the laws of thermodynamics.7
-
As much as weight management is about CICO, it's about sustained CICO, and thus adherence to CICO. To lose weight, you HAVE TO reduce calorie intake, and if you have lost weight, you HAVE reduced calorie intake. Over time. The problem with reducing calories is that we can be so eager to get the weight OFF, that we reduce too much, restrict too much, and we can't feel restricted for very long before we have to give up. Letting yourself eat without feeling restricted, making smart choices that appealed to you, made you more prone to adhere to the reduced amount of calories, which in turn made you lose weight. There really is no mystery.Update: I know that counting calories is how you monitor your CICO (and CICO is not equal to counting calories) and I know it works, but I also lost a hell lot of weight with a nutritionist who would let me eat unlimited quantities of food, and even have vanilla ice-cream for dinner if I wanted to! So my point is there must be something else.1 -
Update: I know that counting calories is how you monitor your CICO (and CICO is not equal to counting calories) and I know it works, but I also lost a hell lot of weight with a nutritionist who would let me eat unlimited quantities of food, and even have vanilla ice-cream for dinner if I wanted to! So my point is there must be something else.
I'm sure nobody could eat unlimited quantities of all food and not gain weight.
In practice, nutritionists probably do put out diets where one can eat unlimited quantities of things like lettuce, cucumber, carrot, gherkins - knowing nobody is really going to eat too much of them to push their calories over the limit.
Not sure what you mean by ' and even have vanilla ice cream for dinner if wanted to' - so could I doing calorie counting.
Of course not in unlimited quantities and of course within my calorie allowance - but I certainly ate plenty of ice cream whilst losing weight.
5 -
Eat less calories. Lose more weight. Eat more calories. Gain weight. It's actual simple and proven science. The reason people are more overweight now than before is because of the easy access to cheap and high calorie foods. You don't even necessarily HAVE to count calories but if you find yourself gaining weight, you need to look into how much you're eating because sometimes a very small quantity of food can be way too many calories, and cause you to gain weight. Calories are energy and if you consume more energy than what is used, then that energy will be stored as fat. There is no magical secret for weightloss, no perfect balance of macros to make you shed pounds. It's simple. Eat less. Move more.3
-
If you don't believe in CICO then you are misguided. Just because people didn't actively use a calorie tracker doesn't mean that the principal didn't work.
CICO is just an energy equation and has many variables.8 -
"Eating normally" and maintaining weight is called energy balance, aka CICO. Some people are just better at it.6
-
So I'm not really convinced that CICO is the formula for weight loss/gain. I'm not questioning the ability to lose weight counting calories and eating healthy (I lost 18 kg counting calories over 15 years ago); I just don't believe excess calories are the thing that makes us fat. My parents' generation for example never knew what calories even were and they used to eat normally and still were slim. And we all have friends who eat like crazy and never workout, but are TOO thin, or at least normal weight. It's just too overwhelming counting every single thing you eat and monitoring your CICO every single day.
So what's the real deal?
Update: I know that counting calories is how you monitor your CICO (and CICO is not equal to counting calories) and I know it works, but I also lost a hell lot of weight with a nutritionist who would let me eat unlimited quantities of food, and even have vanilla ice-cream for dinner if I wanted to! So my point is there must be something else.
Well my little n=1, I cut back on calories, dropped 50lbs, improved all my health markers and blood panels (including normalizing a prediabetes glucose number), have successfully maintained the loss for almost 4 years, have a current bmi of around 21 and a current waist circumference of 25. The only thing I monitor/adjust is my calorie intake.
So yeah, CICO is working good enough for me 7 -
CICO is simplified, but yes its the real deal.
If you eat more calories than you need, the body will store it as fat for a rainy day, and if you eat too little it will convert fat to energy.
The reason your parents generation didnt gain as much weight, is simply because they used their body more, and thus used more energy.
I keep hearing about this magical generation that wasn't overweight, but in my family we have overweight/obese people going way back-my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents etc, When we do our big family reunion (oldest person there is in their late 80s), I stick out like a sore thumb
3 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »I keep hearing about this magical generation that wasn't overweight, but in my family we have overweight/obese people going way back-my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents etc, When we do our big family reunion (oldest person there is in their late 80s), I stick out like a sore thumb
Whatever your family history, there is no doubt at all that the current prevalence of obesity is unprecedented. Look at the graph on the right. The thinnest state today is way fatter than the fattest state of 25 years ago:
http://stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/1 -
So I'm not really convinced that CICO is the formula for weight loss/gain. I'm not questioning the ability to lose weight counting calories and eating healthy (I lost 18 kg counting calories over 15 years ago); I just don't believe excess calories are the thing that makes us fat. My parents' generation for example never knew what calories even were and they used to eat normally and still were slim. And we all have friends who eat like crazy and never workout, but are TOO thin, or at least normal weight. It's just too overwhelming counting every single thing you eat and monitoring your CICO every single day.
So what's the real deal?
Update: I know that counting calories is how you monitor your CICO (and CICO is not equal to counting calories) and I know it works, but I also lost a hell lot of weight with a nutritionist who would let me eat unlimited quantities of food, and even have vanilla ice-cream for dinner if I wanted to! So my point is there must be something else.
CICO is an energy balance equation: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) + Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) + Thermal Effect of Food (TEF) + Thermal Effect of Activity (TEA) = Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
The reason why some don't believe in it, is 1. They don't understand what it is, 2. They don't understand how each of these factors are influence, or 3. The feel it's too simple.
If you like science: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/242610068 -
4. They don't want to believe it, because it makes it their responsibility for eating too much and doing too little.15
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.9K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.4K Fitness and Exercise
- 403 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 983 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions